I Still Have This Blog

I remembered that I had a blog. Mostly, I realized the link to this blog is still on my Instagram profile thing. So I checked to see when I last updated and then thought I should maybe update again? Sure.

Soooooooo, my family no longer lives in Illinois. We live in Iowa now. So there's that. All of my kids are in school now, too! My oldest is in second grade, my middle is in first grade, and my youngest goes to preschool (because it's free in our city); so I get about three hours a day for four days a week to do stuff kid-free. I would have said "to do whatever I want" but that's not true. I mostly have to spend one of those kid-free chunks of time doing grocery shopping and another of those kid-free chunks of time doing laundry. I really don't know what I do for the other two chunks but one of those days I probably nap because mmmmmmm naps. And I think I probably just watch TV or read or something one day.

I think I'll throw in some pictures from the last however many months because people like pictures...

I like to beard our family photos. This one is on the bag I use when we go to the library.

Simon turned 7 in April. He had a creepy crawly birthday party.

Charlotte turned 4 in May and had a rainbows & unicorn party.

Jonas turned 6 in August. He had a Mario party.

Chase had a Michael Jackson birthday party in September.

Halloween: Batgirl Charz, Ninja Jonas, Enderman Sime

I creeped kids out with my Bearded Lady Halloween costume.

So that's my random update. There ya go...

Wanda and Peanut Butter Swift

Charlotte (age 3) and I (age a lot more than 3) were watching her favorite music video, Taylor Swift's Shake it Off. Then the Charz got the idea that if we put on a bunch of accessories, we can pretend to be "different Taylor Swifts" like how TS tries out different personas in the video. After we put on different headbands (it was mostly headbands, by the way) that made us look just like different Taylor Swifts in the eyes of my three-year-old, this conversation happened:

Charzie: We can change our names…

Me: To what?

Charzie: I can change my name to Wanda and you can be Peanut Butter Swift.

Me: Wanda and Peanut Butter Swift?

Charzie: Yes.

Me: Where did you come up with Wanda? Where did you hear that?

Charzie: God told me. This day. When we were at the store, God told me.

Me: God told you to change your name to Wanda?

Charzie: Yes.

Me: For real or are you pretending?

Charzie: God told me this day for real.

Me: OK. Wanda and Peanut Butter Swift.

Charzie. Yes. But we can change them back if we want to.

For whatever reason, and maybe this gives you a glimpse into the odd-ness of my family, Peanut Butter Swift didn't seem as strange of a name for Charlotte to choose as Wanda was. Oh, and apparently those names are Spanish, so we have to speak Spanish when we change our names.

A Halloween Story by My 3-Year-Old

We are a Halloween-loving household. During lunch, 3-year-old Charzie wrote a Halloween story. I couldn't resist sharing it, so here ya go...
   

Once upon a time, a guy was walking across a field and there were CREEPY CARROTS! He was scared and he ran and then there were zombies. He told his mom and dad and they turned into MONSTERS! Then a wizard came and turned everyone into BAD GUYS! Then they got turned back normal. (Who turned them back?) God turned them back, no, JESUS! Jesus turned them back to normal. Then the wizard died from a zombie, a zombie cat, a zombie robot cat. And everyone was afraid. The End. [Insert creepy laugh.]

Writing

Well, today is the last day of September and my previous blog was posted in the beginning of January, so as you can tell, I'm really on top of things...

Yeah...

I really enjoy writing. Specifically, I enjoy writing stories. Even more specifically, I like to make up those stories. Giving regular updates on what my family is up to (at least in blog form) is pretty boring for me. With Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it also feels redundant. Social media allows me to post those silly conversations, proud moments and daily craziness right away; then I feel like there's no need to expand on those things here. So I don't.

But I am writing, I promise you that. I get a little giddy just thinking about the story I have to tell, too. It is not a children's book. It is not a short story. It is not a book to encourage moms of young children. (I'm actually quite bored and tired by the mommy blogs anymore unless it's a blog of someone I know personally.)

I'm writing a novel. Or maybe a series, I'm not quite sure yet. I don't know if I can get the whole story out in one book. Or if it will be just one book and then do a spin-off book with a certain character or storyline from the book. I've been inspired!

Inspiration is a wonderful feeling. I've basically been wanting to write a great story since my freshman year in college. I must have started at least ten times, but then I'd determine that those stories were either lame or have been done before. Then sometime this past January/February, an idea just came to me.

Now, I'm not going to reveal what the story is, but it is definitely in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre. And if you don't like that genre, you will probably hate it. And even if you do like that genre, you still might think it's a lame story. But I'm excited about it and my mom will at least tell me it's great. I concluded some time ago that I have an overactive imagination and it can actually be productive by making up characters, environment, imaginary physics and such for others to read and enjoy. I hope to publish some day, but I probably won't seriously start looking into that for some time yet. It is a goal, though.

So, that's the update on me. I'm writing. For real. And I guess I can post some kid pictures since you're used to seeing kid pictures on here.

Simon turned 6 in April and had a Skylanders party

Charzie turned 3 in May and had a Mickey Mouse party

Jonas turned 5 in August and had a shark party (at the end of Shark Week)

 Chase turned 33 in September and had an R2D2 cake because I found a sweet R2D2 cake pan at a thrift store. He's not a kid, but he does have a sweet cake.

There's no picture of me with my birthday cake because no one made one for me and I won't make one for myself. I do cakes and birthday parties for my family, but I don't do it trying to be better than other moms or make other moms feel bad for not doing it. I just enjoy coming up with cake & game ideas, executing those ideas and eating cake. Mmmmmmmmm caaaaaaaaaake. (Another reason I'm done with the mommy blogging world is when the birthday party issue comes up the blogs are often either showing elaborate/expensive birthday parties with styled pictures I find mostly ridiculous or the blogs bash those parties saying those moms are ruining it for all the other moms. I feel I fall more in the middle but could be seen as making other moms feel bad. I'm terrible at keeping up with cleaning & laundry, but at least my kids have fun birthdays!)

So if you want to see an inordinate amount of pictures of my kids, follow me on Instagram @weesher. If you want to read dumb stuff I say, follow me on Twitter @weesherweesh. If I know you in real life, we can be Facebook friends (but only if I know you in real life) if you search for me. I may occasionally post something or other amusing on here or maybe give a book update, but this blog will probably be neglected.

I will leave you with things I've been into lately...

Books: George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. I am currently finishing the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons. I think I'll get into the Halloween spirit by reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein once I've finished.

TV: Doctor Who (I don't get BBC America, so I have to wait until the current season comes to Netflix or Amazon Instant Video), Classic Doctor Who (I started from the beginning of what they have on Netflix/Amazon and am currently on the episodes with the fourth Doctor, the one with the long scarf), Game of Thrones (HBO), True Blood (HBO- started this one over the summer when the GOT season ended and now only have a few episodes left of the series!), The Walking Dead (AMC- don't get AMC so we bought the series on Amazon, but we don't get to watch it until the day after it airs), Drunk History (Comedy Central), Impractical Jokers (TrueTV- we don't get this channel but watch it online sometimes).

Movies: I go to maybe two movies a year. The last movie I saw in the theater was The Lego Movie with my kids. I am pretty set on seeing the next Hunger Games movie in the theater when it comes out, and I'm totally cool with seeing it alone. I'm sure we'll watch lots of horror movies on Netflix/Amazon this October, too, after the kids go to bed. 

Sports: HAHAHHAHHAHAHHA (this is a joke because I don't watch sports, except my kids doing gymnastics class, and that is quite amusing- the boys do cartwheels like Oompa Loompas.)

Food: Entenmann's snack size (chocolate) frosted donuts, Eggo pumpkin spice waffles, Count Chocula, burgers with BBQ sauce, crab cakes, crescent roll sandwiches, cake, Breyer's lactose free ice cream

Kids' Activities: sending them outside to play, sending them to the basement to play, telling them to color rocks they find outside, gluing stuff they find outside to paper, Legos, reading books with them

Music: The Flaming Lips, Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Beck, Lucius. I mostly like 90's alt rock with a bit of newer music. Alice FM is my favorite radio station.

I don't really know how to end this. Hopefully next time it won't be quite so long between posts. And hopefully next time I'll have made real progress on my book!

2014 the Year of Medical Stuff

We just might have someone in our family seeing some sort of doctor about every other day in January...

Let's see, Simon has some booster shots tomorrow and a dentist appointment Tuesday. Jonas will see the eye doctor the following Tuesday, then a dermatologist appointment the Tuesday after that (to check out a big ol' hairy mole on his knee, he was born with it), and then he has a dentist appointment the day after that. Charlotte will see the dentist the same day as Jonas.

How I felt

I had a crazy bloating episode on Christmas Day. Seriously, I ate two medium pancakes for breakfast and then my body filled up with gas. It was miserable; I couldn't eat a thing until the next morning when I had a small bowl of gluten-free Chex cereal. Then it happened again. I ended up going to an urgent care (we were visiting family in Kentucky) where they did an x-ray to be sure there was no blockage, and the doc told me my stomach and intestines were filled with gas. It was more than bloating; I had nausea and other, ahem, symptoms... That was the fourth time that month that it happened, but the other three times it happened in the evening and was gone by morning. This time it's lasted for over a week. I saw my doc on New Year's Eve and he ordered some bloodwork. I got most of the results today and they were OK (we're still waiting on the Celiac's test). So I see a GI specialist on Monday afternoon. Really, it doesn't seem to matter what I eat, afterward I bloat. It's not miserable like it was when it started, but it's quite uncomfortable. At least I'm up to eating three meals a day again and even one or two snacks. I lost six pounds in four days and it was kind of scary. I'm glad to say I'm currently holding steady and no longer losing weight.

Chase has been wearing a heart monitor because he's been having some episodes of rapid heart beats. He's been to prompt care, an internal medicine doctor and a cardiologist. The preliminary diagnosis is something long that I don't remember, but basically he has some nerves or something telling his heart to beat at times it shouldn't. He's started taking some medicine to hopefully take care of it; another option is surgery. The medicine has side effects that make him feel bad, but surgery is scary. He has an appointment to meet with the potential surgeon next week, and he'll see his cardiologist at the end of the month.

So it's looking like our 2014 is The Year of Medical Stuff or maybe The Year of Co-Pays. I'm going to try not to think of it and be thankful we have insurance. Also, I'll think about my trip with my sister to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter I have planned this month.

A Semi-wasted Morning Ending in Donuts

Our Internet kept dropping because our modem was too old (we've only had it a bit over a year, but Comcast upgraded or something since then). After dropping Simon off at school this morning, I went to Comcast to switch to a new modem, but Google sent me to a non-existent location prompting me to call customer service to find out where they actually were.

I had to go through all the "Press 1 for ____" and "Enter your 10-digit phone number for this account" and "Does your phone number end in 2000?" (it doesn't, that is not what I entered, the robot asked me this twice). I had to go through many of those prompts two or three times before actually getting to speak to a person, who also wanted me to tell her all that info yet again. All I wanted to know was where the freakin' building was! She looked it up for me and Jonas, Charzie & I were on our way. Seriously, I think I sat in that parking lot for 20 minutes trying to talk to someone! I'd come that far and there was no turning back. I wanted my Internet! Amazingly, the kids were great even though I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack.

There's just something about being sort of lost and having kids in the car that makes me feel on the verge of panic. I mean, I wasn't really lost, I knew where I was and how to get home and all; I just felt like I was wasting soooooo much of our morning looking for this stupid building so we could have our stupid Internet working so we could watch our stupid shows and I could stop using all my stupid data on my stupid phone. Stupid.

ANYWAY, we got to the actual building and I saw & talked to an actual person right away. I was sure to let him know about my predicament and told him I know it's not his fault, but whoever is in charge of that sort of thing, you know, letting the biggest & most popular search engine know that your building is no longer where it once was, should get on fixing that.

As I was receiving our new modem, Charzie informed me she had to go potty. Not to be outdone, Jonas decided he needed to go, too. And since we were in a building where we had never been before, I knew Jonas needed to mark his territory with a poop. He did. They both did. I guess it was fun for them. I assure you it was not fun for me, especially the part where Charzie wanted to touch every crack/hole/weird thing on the bathroom floor. Kids are gross. I knew it was best for us to all wash hands together, otherwise we'd be washing them over and over and over and over. Again, kids are gross.

I was stressed. It was snack time. I had seen a Mel-O-Cream Donuts near the non-existent Comcast location. We had donuts for snack. Now we're home. I got out some markers and a big roll of paper for the kids. I'm ready for a nap, but I should probably check whether they actually colored on the paper or on the walls first...

We're Still Breathing

It's been what, almost two months since my last post? That sounds about right.

If you follow me on twitter, you may have read:

According to my 2yo, I'm wrong about everything, always, even if I give her exactly what she asked. She lets me know with screams.
— Alisha Abner (@weesherweesh) November 14, 2013

I feel like most of my day is spent having small tyrants yell at me. When one makes behavior progress, another gets worse. But I guess that's just the way these things go.

Photo by Emily B Photography

These little things aren't tyrants 100% of the time, though. The other day 4-year-old Jonas "walked" at least a quarter mile of the walk home from school dancing like Jamiroquai. Seriously, when I asked him who he was being (suspecting his answer but not wanting to influence it), he said, "Jamiroquai." Lately he's been singing "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" by the Backstreet Boys, "Volcano" by The Presidents of the United States of America (this is his favorite to sing while sitting on the potty), "The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)" by Ylvis, and "Talk on Indolence" by The Avett Brothers (who he calls "Ado Brothers"). The kid has said for a couple years now that he has music in his bones. I've started playing rhythm/pattern games with him on his drums.

Jonas in his favorite sweater. Photo by Emily B Photography

Simon has a best buddy at school. He and his auntie have been to our house twice now. Everyday I ask Simon who he played with at recess, and the answer is always this friend. When I ask him what they played, 95% of the time it's Spider-Man (and there's often a game or two of "Chase the Girls" as well). I took this picture of them at their friend's birthday party. It makes me happy. Both boys have a framed copy now.

Best Buddies

Charzie, oh Charzie! This one is so incredibly smart, so incredibly adorable and so incredibly manipulative! She is an absolute joy one moment and will drive me to the brink of insanity the next. We had to take pretty much all of her toys out of her room to keep her from getting up to play during nap time. It is vital that I get her into bed for nap before 1:00pm, otherwise legendary battles ensue. She doesn't have to be asleep by 1:00, just in bed. But this girl completely melts my heart when she does things to make me happy. She will say, "Are you happy, Mommy? I want to help you and make you happy!" then she will give me a bite of what she's eating or clean up or whatever she can think to do.

Photo by Emily B Photography

Let's see, what has happened in the last couple months? Well, Halloween happened...

Boo-tiful Ghost, Swamp Creature & Skeleton

I made/adapted the kids' costumes. Jonas' make-up irritated his eyes and we had to go with a partially painted face with a bandit-type mask for actual Halloween since we had family portraits scheduled for a couple days later. The kids had fun with Halloween, but I sort of lost my love for my favorite holiday. The weather was dreary, we didn't really do anything all that special and the kids misbehaved pretty badly. But Chase & I had a pretty great couple costume (even if no one got it)...

Vampire Weekend at Bernie's

In case you need it explained, Vampire Weekend is a hipster-y band. Weekend at Bernie's is a movie from 1989 where a couple guys have a party at Bernie's house only Bernie is dead and they pretend that he is alive and partying with them. (There are sequels.)

Let's see, what else? I'll be discontinuing my job as our church's administrator, but I do hope to start doing the occasional freelance cake and/or invitation designs. I was on the ball and already designed and ordered our Christmas cards for this year; I just received an email that they've been shipped! And now you're probably pretty much caught up. So here are a few more pics from our session with Emily B Photography:

Accurate depiction of what it's like wrangling our kids for a nice pic

Check out Charzie's face

Sword sticks

Sword sticks

Okay, I guess by a few more pics I really meant a bunch more. Oh well!