PS

If nurses, doctors, or pretty much anyone else in the science field were as inaccurate as weather forecasters, I feel confident in saying they would probably be out of a job.  If I was only 10-20% accurate in starting IV's, or doctors were only 10-20% sure on diagnoses ( though there are times I think that's the case..), we would certainly not succeed and thrive in our respective fields. They call weather forecasting a science but it seems like there accuracy rate, at least locally, is really poor.  How do they still have jobs or is it really not a science?  I am baffled and perplexed by how often they are actually just dead wrong.  Not even close.  Its like saying you have a brain tumor when you actually have the flu.  Though obviously not the same degree of seriousness, still it seems that they should have some level of accountability and improvement for their complete inaccuracy.  Yet, I haven't seen much change in the last few years.  Since in all honesty I hardly ever pay attention to the weather, for that very reason, maybe I am not a good measure of whether there has been improvement.  Maybe they have improved and I just don't pay any attention. Or maybe I am rambling on because I actually have time to write.  Better stop writing so that I don't confirm to everyone how certifiably crazy I am!

A week without Jeff

Well we have survived almost a whole week without daddy home.  Jeff's travel schedule seems to have picked up a bit and we are pretty used to him traveling.  But this week he left on Monday earlier in the day to beat the storm that never happened to materialize on Monday.  He was scheduled to fly out at 8:45 Monday night but instead he came home early from work and was gone before the girls got out of school.  He left early so that he would actually be able to get out before "the storm."  "The storm" was going to be 1-3 inches of snow followed maybe by some ice.  It was "supposed" to start Monday evening during the rush hour commute and close schools for the following day and apparently cause utter chaos.  The last time I looked out my window, prior to heading for bed, there was no precipitation falling from the sky.  I got up the next morning and wonder of all wonders..still no precipitation of any form falling from the skies.  The kids had school but it did start snowing around 10 and some schools did get out early but not ours.  However they did manage to cancel afternoon preschool and kindergarten throwing a serious wrench into my plans.  I have a sitter who comes on Tuesday for 2 hours.  She gets Ellie on the bus and transport Ainsley to school and then leaves.  I had already left for work even though it was snowing because it wasn't snowing the hard.  I get to work only to find out that they cancelled afternoon preschool and kindergarten.  I only worked 45 minutes or so before I had to turn around and head home because my sitter had to pick her son up at preschool and didn't have enough car seats for all three (my two and her son).  What normally take 30 minutes, took over an hour.  Mind you there was less than an inch of snow but apparently this warrants all the crazy people to take to the roads and drive 5 miles  and hour!  I think there are certain states, meaning any states that don't receives tons of snow, that should require special driving permits when they do receive snow.  The only people who are allowed to be on the roads are people who were born in states that did receive lots of snow and they actually know how to drive.  All other people should be forced to stay home.  By the time I got home, I was tired and a bit frazzled and had only managed a mere 45 minutes of work!  So what is one to do in that condition..play in the snow!  Since my sitter put Ellie down for a nap prior to me getting home, Ainsley and I went and played in the snow and then she helped me shovel the driveway:)  So needless to say, when it was time to pick up the other kids from school, the snow had stopped and the roads, though not perfect, were definitely ok to drive on.  No more snow since then thankfully!  I would like to get to at least Christmas break without having to go to school in June.  The schools here don't build in snow days anymore so every time we use a snow day, which was fairly significant last year, they just tack it on to the last day of school.  That would seem to make sense if you don't use a lot of snow days but they use a lot here so it makes no sense to me.  But then again, there's a lot of things in life that don't always make sense to me so it's probably just me!

The rest of the week has been busy but we have survived the week without daddy and everyone is very excited that he is coming home tonight!

Faster than a speeding bullet

Sometimes I am completely and utterly perplexed as to where the time goes.  I am amazed to get to the end of a week and not remember how on earth I got there.  The last few months have been a whirl of activity for me and I am learning yet again how to balance my time.  About two months or so ago I started working part-time as an administrative assistant for my church.  Now I am know that some of you are wondering why on earth  I would do this when I have a perfectly good 4 year degree in Nursing.  I wondered it myself.  But since I hadn't found a Nursing job that I even remotely liked, it seemed like a good option at the time.  And in reflecting on this choice, I am so thankful I took it.  I LOVE my job.  I do things that fit with my personality and my gifting and it is fun.  I never have been able to say that about Nursing.  Though I would love to find SOMETHING in nursing that I like, for now I am content and even happy not to be in the field:) Which leads me to this post.  Though I love my job, learning how to balance working part-time with all the others things that I do has been rough for me.  I only technically work 10 hours a week.  But since our church office building is 30 minutes away on the days that I work I have to an hour for travel.  I also swap child care to be able to work because even though I think I am fairly paid, I am not raking in the dough by any stretch and can't afford any kind of traditional childcare and actually bring home money.  So I swap child care with a good friend of mine.  She watches my two youngest on Friday and I watch her two youngest on Wed..for 6 hours.  So that knocks off some time that I can accomplish much.  Her youngest son is a gem when he is a asleep but when he is awake, he is a gem that is a hurricane of activity.  I am pretty sure he will have something to do with engineering in his future...and he is also very cute.  I am certain that is what saves him a majority of the time.  Her daughter and Ainsley are close to the same age and usually do great together.  They are like two peas in a pod, which causes conflict some of the time but most of the time they go off and I don't hear much from them accept when can we eat:)  So learning how to use my time more effectively has become my goal.  What I have found out for me is that I truly do need to let some things slide.  I can't do it all and still function properly.  I can't have the perfectly clean house, with every one's stuff in the perfect spot, time with the kids, dinner on the table, devotions and exercising done...you get the drift.  I just can't and trying to makes me frustrated, snappy and crazy.  So the cleaning is not going to happen as often, and I will have to learn some other concessions so that I don't give up one of the things that really matters to me...my family.  Spending time with my kids and watching them grow up.  Not missing the day to day fun time of playing hide-and-seek with them.  Playing Memory and Go Fish as often as they want without feeling like I have millions of other things I could be doing.  Just hanging out on the couch and cuddling with them.  Not acting like a drill sergeant in the morning because we always are on the go means that I have given up going to the gym as much as I would like for right now.  But it is only temporary.  Someday my kids will be in school all day and I won't have the same opportunities that I do now.  And so for now I want to be able to enjoy just hanging out with my girls and Jeff without the constant stress of something else I need to do.  Taking more time to just enjoy life, reaching out to those in need around me and being sensitive to what God has for me each and every day are some of my goals for 2009.  

More Thanksgiving Pics

The girls also had to get pictures taken in the matching dresses that my mom bought last year since we forgot to take pictures last year.  They all look really cute!

Back again

 We had a really great Thanksgiving with our family.  The weather was beautiful except for the last day and the kids had so much fun with their cousins.  Janice and I went out shopping the day after Thanksgiving and had a lot of fun.  We left really early...somewhere around 4:30 but honestly were done before lunchtime!  We got some great deals and had fun.  I did have to wait for what seemed like forever at McDonalds for my cappuccino though as they had to change something out in the machine and it took them a really long time.  I thought that might be my biggest wait till I was standing in line at the Christian bookstore.  Those lines were lengthy and they only had two cash registers going even though there were more people there that could run one.  Janice and I couldn't figure it out...but it was still lots of fun!  Janice also gave all the girls haircuts.  I didn't take any new pics of Mackenzie or Ainsley as it wasn't a big change.  But Ellie looks really different with her hair in a bob so I took a few pics!  We have been busy since getting back and I think I am looking forward to the weekend already!  I helped out in Ellie's class yesterday and tomorrow I am helping out with Santa's workshop, where the kids can go buy cheap gifts for people they want to buy something for Christmas.  The girls decided to buy for their sisters this year:)

Here are some pics from the Moody gathering.  Hope you enjoy!  

Jackson, Madelyne, Mackenzie, Jessica, Ainsley, Molly, Ellie, Jenna

  

Ainsley

Mackenzie, Madelyne and Jessica

Ellie

Jessica, Ellie, Molly and Jenna

On the way

We are so excited to be going to SC for Thanksgiving this year. We haven't seen my brother and his family since last Thanksgiving and the girls have been dying to see their cousins for a LONG time. We will be seeing my brother and his family, my mom and my other brother, Aaron. We are really looking forward to it. Other than seeing family, I asked Ainsley what she was looking forward to most. And I quote, "the things you roll up with cinnamon." I was perplexed and couldn't for the life of my figure out what she was talking about so she went on to explain that they are the things you roll up and eat. And then it hit me...she's looking forward to Aunt Janice making roll-ups. Hopefully Aunt Janice knows this since mommy doesn't make them! Mommy is pretty much a dismal Moody failure when it comes to many things I am sure my mom thought she would pass on to me when I grew up. I can't sew-my mom made lots of my clothes. I can't knit, crotchet or anything else remotely domestic other than clean. AND I can't cook Norwegian pancakes (or roll ups as some affectionately call them). However I have taken one step forward on the roll ups front. I have purchased a griddle! I now have the capacity to make the roll ups though probably not the skill. Alas! However, I will attempt to get the recipe from either my mom or Janice even though I am not sure if it is formally written down. Maybe at some point in Ainsley's lifetime I will be able to make roll ups. I wouldn't hold out for them till maybe High School or even college but maybe just maybe I will acquire at least one skill that she hoped to pass on to me. I am pretty sure my mom gave up the dream of me ever being a domestic queen long long ago. But maybe there is still hope for me yet! Here are some recent pictures of the girls.

The girls sitting for Christmas pictures

Ellie with her speech therapist, Lori

More Christmas picture sitting

Random nature shot

Ainsley

Bike riding

I know that I have already posted video of Ainsley riding her bike.  But she is now riding down the driveway and wanted me to post new video of her doing that, so here it is!:)

Ellie Year One

I can't believe that it has already been one year with Ellie.  How time flies by when you are busy! Ellie's technical "gotcha day" was on Halloween but that isn't really a good day to celebrate since we are so busy with other stuff.  So we chose Sunday to celebrate and we went out for Chinese after church.  We went to Memories of China and had a great time.  The food was great and the girls had fun and Ellie polished off an insane amount of noodles!  She seemed to have a lot of fun.

In a year's time, Ellie has made vast improvements in her language acquisition and expression. Though she is still very much delayed, her improvements are very noticeable.  Her gross motor is very close to being age appropriate which is huge.  Her fine motor skills have improved though they weren't as severely delayed.  Her ability to interact with other kids her age has improved tremendously.  She is in preschool and doing well.  She is able to identify 10-15 letters, count to 10 and identify numbers 1-10.  I am still blown away by how God has done such amazing things in her life and in ours.  She is a beautiful and amazing little girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family.  While she still has temper tantrums on occasion, she has made vast strides in this area...moving from maybe 15/day to 1-2/day and some days none. Thanks to everyone who has offered us encouragement and prayed for us over the last year.  I look forward to what the next year holds and the ways that God will continue to use us and Ellie to further His plans for our lives.

Halloween

So I am finally getting around to updating the blog again!  The girls had so much fun on Halloween this year and Ellie seemed to really enjoy it too!  She had a halloween party at school and loved it and then seemed suprised that she got to dress up in her costume again halloween night:)  We went trick-or-treating with the neighbors as we usually do but the older girls took off like a wildfire and I could barely see them let alone catch up!!  I had Ellie, the single stroller and Ainsley while Jeff stayed out in the culs-de-sac and passed out candy with all the other men.  Ainsley was a bit grumpy at first and we almost came home but she did eventually perk up and have fun and catch up with the older girls.  I took Ellie to only a few houses as keeping up with Mackenzie required a much faster pace than Ellie! But she had a blast anyway and was pretty content to stay in the stroller after about 6-7 houses which was great.  My neighbor Erin stayed with the older girls so they weren't alone in their pursuit of the most candy any child could ever need!!  Here are some pictures of the girls and Ellie at her party:

Sick!

Sorry it has been a while since I have updated the blog.  Between being busy and sick it just seems that time escapes me and it doesn't get done.  I have been sick the last week and half just generally feeling blah with allergies and not sleeping well.  I finally went to the Dr on Monday and saw the nurse practitioner.  She looked at my eye, which was infected, and then barely looked at my throat.  Pretty much did nothing and said there was nothing she could do accept prescribe eye drops.  I filled the prescription and they made my eye worse.  And I felt worse so I went back again on Thursday and saw the Dr I usually see.  She did a thorough evaluation and gave me antibiotics for a sinus infection and changed my eye drops.  Though I am not completely better, I am feeling MUCH improved!  Maybe I will get a good night's sleep tonight!!  This has been my first week of work too so I am glad that I was feeling better today.  I started working part-time at our church and am enjoying it so far.  The role I have it right up my alley so I think I will enjoy it a lot.  

The girls have had a good week.  I had Ellie's first home visit today.  Her teachers came and visited our house and that was fun.  They make home visits two times a year.  Once before Christmas and once after Christmas.  Ellie is doing well and we are excited to see her progress.  Mackenzie and Ainsley both had good weeks at school as well.  We are planning on going to the local Jack-o-Lantern walk tomorrow night but if the weather continues to be rainy we may not go.  We have gone the last four years so that would be a bummer...hopefully it clears up enough to do it though!

Face painting and burger king

My butterfly ...... some of it got washed off:(

Ellie at Burger King....only a remnant of her butterfly remains...

Ainsley at Burger King...

Mackenzie, Ainsley and our friend Ashley

Ellie at our friend's house...cool kitchen, huh?

Ainsley riding her bike with no training wheels!

Ainsley has just recently learned to ride her bike without training wheels and has done very well. We are excited that she has finally reached this milestone and so is she so I thought I would share what little video I got of her riding her bike:)

Soccer and playground pics!

Mackenzie with her coaches

Mackenzie with her trophy

Mackenzie on the playground afterwards

Ainsley on the playground afterwards:)

Elliana on the playground afterwards

Long weekend

With daddy home on friday night we had a long weekend to enjoy each other as a family again. Jeff took Monday off from work and we ended up going to our favorite park again.  The girls love the outdoors and exploring the stream and and the surrounding woods.  And of course most importantly, they got to search for and find new rocks and shells.  They all had lots of fun.  I didn't take my camera this time so I didn't get any pictures but Ellie did get pretty wet.  We have taught her to lay on her tummy instead of sitting and bending over to try to touch the water as she seems very close to falling in.  So she did what we asked but she ended up getting pretty wet!  The front of her pants and shirt were pretty wet as were her shoes as she walked through water multiple times...hmmm.....that might have been my fault:)  Daddy tried to build a dam and water took over the dry parts....can the engineer in him never stop?:)  For the life of me I can't remember what we did on Saturday and Sunday which seems crazy!  Oh yes..we went out to dinner Saturday night and then made it home in time to watch the Red Sox get creamed. And then Sunday we watched the Patriots get destroyed...and and then again on Monday with the Red Sox.  Can you sense my frustration with my sports teams this weekend???  I sure hope they pull themselves together or Thursday night will be out last game of the season!  Oh well, apart from sports, it was a pretty good weekend.  

Daddy's Home!!!

The girls and I are excited that Jeff is finally home from his business trip.  He was able to come home a day early and we were so glad to see him.  He stayed home last night with the girls while I went to a friend's wedding.  I had a lot of fun and so did he with the girls.  Ellie even seemed to miss him and ran to give him a hug when he drove in.  She is a bit of a mommy's girl right now.  I don't know if that is attachment or just preference.  Ainsley was the same way at her age.  Ellie does just fine when I am not home and Jeff is watching her but usually if given the preference she would rather have me.  But as soon as I said "Daddy's Home", she ran for the door so that was cool.  Jeff also brought home an extensive array of chocolate that we will be partaking of in the next few weeks.  Very yummy:)  The girls go their own box of one of their favorite chocolates.  Ironically it wasn't daddy that got them addicted to it but my friend, Jill. She sent us some from Germany one time and now every time Jeff goes to Europe, he brings more home. But their very own box..how exciting!:) 

The rest of the weekend we will be hanging out and relaxing and of course watching the Red Sox play:)  Jeff is taking Monday off as the girls had this past Friday and this coming Monday off for teacher inservice days.  I am sure we will find something fun to do!

I love face painting

I know this may seem funny to some of you but I LOVE Kentucky Kid's Day at Burlington Elementary.  I have helped out with the event since Mackenzie started school there and have had so much fun every year!  Today was KY Kid's Day at school and the girls were very excited.  Even Ellie got to participate in the day and go on some of the rides and get her face painted.  I did face painting and I had a lot of fun doing it.   I get to interact with the kids and see lots of different faces and just in general have fun.  If I could have taken pictures of all my masterpieces I would, but I am pretty sure posting pictures of people's kids that I don't even know wouldn't be a good option:)  I did face paint my own kids but the paint has started to wear off..alas!  Our week has just flown by and Jeff is coming home a day early so he will be home tomorrow so I only had to make it 10 days without him so not too bad!  We are all very excited for him to come back from his trip to Europe where he lived the high life or did business so he says:)  The girls have done great except for 1-2 really rough days.  And now they have tomorrow and the following Monday off from school.  We will be finding some fun to do Monday as a family since Jeff is going to take the day off from work.  I have a few old pictures to post that I forgot to post so here they are...

Pictures take of the girls and lots of friends from church on a friend's hammock..who knew it could hold so many kids!

Where oh where has the firetruck gone?

I was supposed to go on Ainsley's first Kindergarten field trip today to the Burlington fire dept. But her teacher called me at about 10:30 to let me know that their field trip was cancelled because they had to go out on an emergency call.  I was quite sad as I was very excited to go:(  Oh well hopefully I will still be able to go on the next one.  

This week has literally flown by.  I can't even remember what all we have done but we have been busy:)  I do know that I played in a parents vs kids' soccer game last night and that was a lot of fun.  The parents won 2-0.  I unfortunately didn't get any pics since I was playing and I am not good enough to play and take pictures.  And can you believe that 6-7 year olds trash talk?? Crazy:)!

Wednesday night was the girls' first Awana and they seemed to have fun and like it.  Ainsley was excited to move from cubbies to sparks as she is now a big girl.  She is excited that kindergarten seems to get you everywhere in life:)

Tomorrow is Mackenzie's last soccer game with a barbecue afterwards.  I am missing my 10 year reunion from college to go to her game which is a bit sad but she really wanted to be there so I thought that was more important.  Hopefully they play well and beat the red team (who beat them by quite a bit the first time they played).

Picture update

I am finally posting some pics of past activities since I downloaded from the camera.  One would think that this would be a difficult activity based on how often I do it.  It isn't...I am just lazy!

King's Island pics:

Ainsley and Ellie on the swings

Mackenzie on the bumper cars

The girls with scooby doo..seriously the best picture...sad I know!

The girls on the mystery machine

Daddy with Mackenzie and Ainsley coming down the log ride..mommy's too scared:)

Ellie watching them come down the log ride..with her scared mommy:)

Daddy and Ainsley on a ride that made daddy very sick

Ainsley and Ellie with...I have no idea!

Ainsley on the merry-go-round

Ellie on the merry-go-round

Mackenzie

Mackenzie having fun on the cars