Well.... I HOPE I'm back......

It's been over a year since I last wrote here. What a crazy year, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. The quickest run down I can give you is this: last Thanksgiving we took the kids and my 83 year old dad to Disney World. When my mom past away, she left me some money and it seemed like the right thing to do. When my brother and I were kids, my parents took us all over the place. My mom wanted us to experience different places and cultures, so I thought it was a nice tribute to her. Otherwise, we just couldn't pack up 5 kiddos and hop on a plane on one salary. So off we went and hopefully made memories to last a lifetime. And the cherry on the top? I could eat everywhere! Celiac disease, no problem! It was great.

In January, I bit the bullet and went back to work. I am now a homebound English teacher. Basically, I go to the homes of high school kids that are too sick to go to school. It was a HUGE adjustment in the house, one I'm not sure we've conquered yet. We're lucky, Billy works for himself and just moved his practice into the house, but it's still so hard for me. I miss my kids. I know, they're all in school now, but I feel unavailable and it still smarts. But, there are so many positives. Health insurance is no longer purely out of pocket, we have more money to put away in college funds for the kids and honestly, we're probably making the kids more independent. Billy now does laundry and the grocery run (although not as well as I did, of course!). I do most of the high school/middle school shuttling. So I do spend time alone with the older kiddos. And I will survive....

The summer comes and I have gall bladder surgery.. (It's always something...) Surgery wasn't bad, my first at 42, so I figure I shouldn't complain. I'm still having trouble with some foods, but what else is new.

School started back up and I now have 2 high school freshman. God help me. A beautiful 8th grader, and gasp.... 2 kindergarteners.... Where has a time gone?? But they are loving school, so I have to be at peace with that. In 2 weeks, they turn 6. It feels like the social worker dropped them off 6 months ago,  not 6 years. We have been so incredibly lucky to have been given these beautiful kids. Yes, life is good, even the bad parts....

Summer 2013 Is Coming To A Close.....

I must admit there is a big part of me ready to get back in the swing of the fall schedule. Not because the kids get back to school, but I need a schedule back. Less gets done, I get lazy, kids get lazy, we need order to return. Now I say this with one week of summer left for the big kiddos, see me in a month when I am juggling football practice, volleyball practice, and band with them and goodness knows what with the shorties....

I am happy to report that Emi's collar bone has been given the green light and she is now brace free and back to her wild ways... I have a feeling this will not be her only broken bone. The girl is fearless....

Miss Emi right after being released from her brace.

My dad had foot surgery, only to be told that he could not go back home until healed. I'm not sure who was regretting the surgery more, him or me. I love my dad, but moving him into my house without a head's up is a bit overwhelming. But we seemed to figure most of it out without bloodshed. Emi was thrilled to be able to spend so much time with her PawPaw and I think that if the time came and we had to make that a permanent situation, we could do it in this 4 bedroom house. He is back home now, but he still has the other foot to go....

We then took off for a quick last beach trip.....

Kevin was THRILLED to pose for me....

Some of us are more than happy to pose....
 

And as I start heading up to school for football pads and locker check outs, I will miss these hot summer days. This is the last year Aaron and Kevin are in middle school. I cannot believe that they are so close to high school. Kevin is now 2 inches taller than me. So wrong.....  :) So while a lot of the past year has not been good for us, I am hoping that the rest of 2013 is something special.....

Ok, I May Be Back Into Blogging..... Baby Steps Anyway....

We'll see how this goes.... So much has happened this year, I must say 2013 has not been the best for my family. I lost my mom in February. After many year of fighting Parkinson's and dimentia, she fell quite ill and eventually passed in hospice February 7th. I miss her terribly. The silver lining if there ever is one, was to watch my father with her in those last days and then planning her funeral and eulogy that he wrote over and over again. Somehow, he managed to stand up at the funeral mass and speak about his wife of 47 years. I didn't think he could, I had my husband practice the eulogy just in case my dad couldn't finish it. But he surprised us all with humor and deep respect and love for his wife. I will never forget that moment.

Since then, in the months that follow, we have struggled to define a new normal. My dad is still, at 80, fiercely independent. But I worry. There will be a time that he needs to move in and we have to be able to decide when that is. I have convinced him to have dinner with us once a week. He doesn't always come, but it's a start. Billy and my dad have become closer, something I never thought I'd see. They have always been pleasant and friendly, but since Dad is around more and they have started really talking, I see a stronger bond between them. Maybe it's because Billy's dad passed away and my dad is filling a void, I don't know.....

The kids are doing well. Kevin found out that he is pretty good at the pole vault, and ended up at the district meet. At 13, he's 5'7" and looking down at me. Where has the time gone? Aaron is still slow on the growth chart, only 5'2" right now. I'm hoping he has some kind of spurt to catch up with his twin... Olivia is immersed in being a tween, watching endless youtube clips and asking me to go shopping 24/7. And my last catch up are my 4 year old babies. Ahhh, no babies here they say to me.... Simon is still in occupational therapy working on fine motor skills that he struggles with. Emi, oh this girl is going to be the death of me as a teenager... She is sporting an awesome brace after breaking her collarbone playing "Ring Around the Rosy" too wildly.... 13 years of being a mom and that's our 1st broken bone....

That's my toe dip into blogging again, it felt right to return, but of course now I have to bore you with family summer pics....

Summer Birthday Dinner for the boys
 

Olivia and the shorties

Aaron, Emi and Kevin
 

Emi and her new brace
 

I May Not Be A Blogger... Right Now....

I needed to stop for awhile, school and after school activities were taking up all our time and then my mom's health began to really deteriorate. She has Parkinson's plus, which basically means she also suffers from dementia. I probably haven't had a conversation with her in 6 months, and I'm not sure if she even knows who I am anymore. My parents adopted me older, so where I feel that I shouldn't be dealing with this at 41, my mom is 80 and this is just where we are. My dad sits with her in the nursing home every day for hours. He is truly dedicated to her. Several weeks ago he called me crying (I have never seen my dad cry.) saying he found her unresponsive in bed and they were calling for an ambulance.

Long story short, a UTI led to sepsis, which eventually leads us to today where my mom is dying in hospice. Her body is shutting down, and as my dad's only person to turn to, I have helped choose a casket, her last outfit, the plot, you name it. I am glad to be there for my dad. I am blessed to have a husband that says "just go, I have it here". I also know that I want to get this stuff out of the way for Billy and I, my kids don't need to do this stuff.

My kids all have appropriate clothing, they know it's coming soon. (well, the 4 yr olds don't) Soon I will no longer have a mom here on earth. And I will have to figure out a new path with my dad. Change (no welcome friend of mine) is coming and there is nothing I can do. I told my mom last night that I was going to take care of my dad. I hope she heard me. Pray for her peace and my dad's....

And Fall Is Upon Us....

Well, we got a taste of fall this past weekend, it was 50 in the morning, plenty cold for me... The biggest news that comes with this is finding out how much clothes shopping I have ahead of me when all I hear is, "my hoodie is too short" or "my jeans are too small!" Sigh... My sweet babies (my husband will disagree with the term "babies" ) are now too big for 5T jeans. Did I mention that they will turn 4 next month?! As I type, Simon is wearing 6X jeans... Good Lord.... Kevin's hoodie from last year looks like a 3/4 sleeve. I just can't believe how much they've all grown in a year....

I picked the party location for Simon and Emi's 4th birthday. We're going to do it at the Children's Museum. Fingers crossed that it's a lot of fun, it's their first "real" birthday party. :) Now I'm starting the goodie bag search, and lucky me, no presents to buy, we're biting the bullet and getting a giant playscape/ backyard thing...

The kids are great, grades are good, everyone is healthy and happy. So now to Halloween and the shorties' party!

Olivia's 11th Birthday Party....

We took a handful of girls along with our own 5 kids and headed to Amazing Jump here in town. I have to tell you, I think it was a big success and they all seemed to have a great time. Not always easy to get when you want her older brothers and younger sibs to have fun too. It included dodge ball and wall to wall trampolines. I think the best thing to do is upload the pics...

Olivia (2nd from left) and her posse

Emi and Simon had fun too!

Olivia in action

Dodge ball

We came home and opened presents then somehow I got gluten poisoned and felt awful for the rest of the night and even now I have a killer headache... (hence, the short post...) So onto Halloween costumes and then Simon and Emi's birthday in November!!!!

Monday, Monday....

Well, here we are at the start of a new week... I'm tired already. :) I was lazy over the weekend, so I am paying for it now with mountains of laundry to catch up on. My favorite part is that Kevin has a football game tomorrow and on game day, the players have to wear khakis, dress shirt and a tie. He looks adorable, but I could do without the ironing... So I still have to get that done today and figure out dinner. As you can tell, I was really phoning it in this weekend. I have no dinner menu planned, laundry everywhere, complete catch up day....

Saturday was fun, we celebrated Olivia's upcoming birthday (tomorrow she will turn 11!) at The Cheesecake Factory. Her choice and she loved it. Billy called ahead to see if I could eat there gluten free and the manager told him they had a "skinny menu" I could choose from... Ummm, not the same thing.. No big deal, PF Changs is in the same mall, so I ran in and grabbed my lunch and we were off... (I did miss out on the cheesecake, but my thighs didn't need it...) My dad met us there, so I'm glad he came out and had some fun with us. Next Saturday is the party with the girls, so I'm sure there will be tons of pictures then...

I need to set up an occupational therapy evaluation for Simon. I'm hoping of course that he doesn't need it, that he's doing fine and "normal". Wouldn't that be nice? I have to also take the shorties in to the eye doctor this week to see if Simon's glasses prescription is correct and to also check on Emi's stye on her cornea.

All in all, I can't complain. The big kids grades are good, they appear to be happy. Everyone is back in school and finally it feels like a normal schedule to plow through. If I can get myself back into menu planning and that stuff, we'll be good as gold....