More Of The Last Week In Moscow

Well, Chloe is sick :( She's been coughing a lot ever since we did some major cleaning and packing this last weekend, stirring up some major dust! Which she and I are allergic to. It really didn't bother me as I took on the task of scrubbing out the water stains in the bathtub, which took HOURS, even with the miracle that is Bar Keeper's Friend. No, it isn't an alcoholic, that would be me! I would imagine it's a cleaner that a Bar Keeper came up with to get rid of tough stains in his bar. Well, it works great on bathtubs, too! I plan on keeping this stuff on hand all the time from now on as I imagine most places we live will have hard water. I've never bothered before. I just figured that when you live in Moscow, it's just something you have to put up with. That was before someone who cleans houses for a living looked at my house and told me this stuff would take it off. I'm not going to bother with the sink or toilet. The bathtub was the worst and took way too long. Just let me tell you, if you think you want a giant Jacuzzi bathtub, just imagine cleaning it!!! I'm thinking it's not worth it at this point, but then, since we never got the jets working, I never really got to enjoy it, so I might have thought it worth it if I'd gotten to bathe in it WITH the jets going! That never happened though. I'm looking forward to the hot tub in the hotel next Sunday night before we take off for Spokane. Yes, we're going to stay at the local Best Western after we pack up the house and leave on Monday morning after taking care of a few last minute things we forgot about doing (like getting our mail forwarded! Oops!). I'm sure there's probably many things that we forgot about doing in all the craziness. It's not like we've ever done this before. We've lived in Moscow all of our married life, so all of that stuff was still pretty easy to take care of after we moved being in the same time. This is all new and totally crazy!

Anyway, I did mention that I think Jeremiah is obsessed with Wrestling right? Well, I'm listening to him Wrestling Chloe right now and teaching her to Wrestle! Yes, I think obsession might be an understatement! Wrestling season is OVER bud! Get over it! Nope. Don't think it's going to happen. He's already asked if we can put a Wrestling mat in the basement at the new house. Yep, he's hooked :)

Updates And Last Week Here!

Okay, y'all! It's late, but I wanted to say hi and just update you on a couple of details. We went to my son's final wrestling tournament of the year. The most important one. The one everybody in their conference, league, or whatever they call it wrestles against each other in their individual weight classes to see who the best wrestler's in each weight class are. Well, without too much fanfair (although I'm sure he would love some) my son, Jeremiah, beat everyone in his weight class (or at least beat those who'd beat others) and got 1st place, a golden trophy (yes, a trophy) and just the awesome feeling of being the best 120 lb junior high wrestler in our area! Yay, Jeremiah! He's totally hooked and his former wrestler daddy is pleasantly surprised, actually thrilled would be more like it! This is the first year he's shown any interest in wrestling. Josh and I agreed when we first got married, that even though we were both college athletes and obviously had had dreams of cheering our own children on in the sports we love, we would not push our children in any particular direction where extracurricular activities are concerned. We did mention to him several times, casually, when he was little, that Moscow has a pee wee wrestling club. Josh would have had him on the mat at 5 years old if he'd seemed at all interested. He was much more interesting in sports where you kicked, hit, or carried a ball in some way. Football, soccer, and of course, baseball! Many of you know my sports were Cross-Country and Track, which are basically the same thing, since all I ever did was run long distance. Okay, I tried the shorter distances as a junior high student, but I sucked as a sprinter! And that is an understatement, trust me!!! I'm of the impression, personally, that anyone who has the heart for it, can be successful as a runner. Obviously, some with certain body types will be more successful than others, but successful none-the-less. In other words, you might not take home trophies, but you won't be dead last either. I was usually somewhere in the average range, middle of the pack, when it came to running, though, I got better and won a few awards as time went on. I often wonder how far I could've gone if I hadn't let the loser I was dating before Josh talk me into quitting, but looking back does no good where that sort of thing is concerned. I made the choices I've made and I have 3 adorable children and an adorable husband to show for it, so I'd say I've done okay. I may not be the skinny little runner I used to be, but at least I can raise my children well. I must admit moving to Spokane has got me thinking about Bloomsday, which I always wanted to run in. I'm totally out of shape at the moment, but maybe I'll walk in it this year and then if that doesn't get me wanting to run again, I don't know what will! I love competition. I love having others to pace myself against! I love the crowds and the cheering and just all of it! I miss that and I think getting myself in that environment might just get me interested in running again, at least to get myself healthier. I'm not doing a very good job of taking care of God's temple as I did back then, when I didn't even think of it as God's temple! You know, except for the alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes! Those obviously weren't good for me! I was pretty good about staying off of that stuff during track and cross-country season, though, cause I was very focused during those times. My son is planning to go out for track at his new school, just like he was planning to do here this year as well. This will be his fourth sport this year. His health teacher, after checking his vitals, dubbed him a "sports addict" and an "elite athlete." I guess he has the resting heart rate of an elite athlete! The "sports addict" thing is kind of obvious! How many kids do you know who play 4 sports a year, are obsessed with football and baseball stats and win championships there first year wrestling? Yeah, that's what I thought! Not many! My son's a stud! It'll be interesting to see what the girl's will do. So far, Chloe wants to be a cheerleader and possibly a runner. That's going to be the girl after my own heart, I'm telling you! Then, there's Angela! All she mostly wants to do is act and sing! She's my little performer. The others are somewhat interested in that themselves, but not as much as she is. She is obsessed. She didn't get a part in the Missoula Children's Theatre production (which would have made this last Saturday insane, but we'd have figured it out! We've done it before! Three kids running in three different directions. We knew this would eventually happen when we decided to let our kids pursue their own interests instead of pushing them to do what we like to do.) and even Jeremiah said at lunch on Sunday after Angela saying that even the girls that did the auditions said this was their first year in professional theatre that it was "obviously a rookie mistake, not giving my sister a part." Yep, even Jeremiah admitted after last year that Angela's an acting genius! The girl loves the stage and the stage loves her, I'm telling you! We're actually thinking about getting her to the tryouts in Spokane that are happening right after we get there, so she'll have another shot at the Missoula Children's Theatre, plus they have year-round acting groups up there, so we'll definitely get her doing a lot more performance type things. That's what she loves, so that's what we're going to help her do. She would also love to play hockey, but that gets a little too crazy for our time and budget. I've heard much about many opportunities to be in the theatre at little or no cost in Spokane. It'll be exciting to see what God has in store for us up there!

Josh headed to Spokane tonight where he's going to camp out in our house that we're renting and get on a plane tomorrow morning to fly to Tucson, Arizona with some other scouters. There's going to be a conference and a lot of golf playing going on! He deserves it! It's good that he's getting some time to relax before the big move, even if it happens to be while I'm having to finish cleaning and packing without him! I'll get my chance this summer while the kids are all at camp with Josh! I know I'll be spending at least a week or two at home by myself, so it'll all work out. We'll each get our time of rest and relaxation, which is going to be much needed after this crazy year! I'm looking forward to it, but right now I need to get some sleep! I've got to get the Champion and his sisters up tomorrow morning for school by myself :)

Halloween Is Ridiculous And So Are My Kids

Okay, people, there is something seriously wrong about children having 5 day weekends! That's backwards. They're supposed to have school for 5 days, and then I get them for only 2 days straight! I mean, if it was Thanksgiving or Christmas it would be fine. Those are vacations, not weekends! But it's not even close. Heck, Halloween is weeks away still (I think). My kids are already asking when we're going to get their costumes. I was secretly hoping they'd forgotten their even was a dressing up, candy gorging holiday coming up, but I guess sending them to public school, and the mall or the grocery store, for that matter, kind of illiminates that possibility. What really gets me is they were selling Halloween decorations and what-not in August! Seriously? Who buys Halloween decorations in August? I buy school supplies in August! I can't afford Halloween, too. Angela wants to be a gangster, which I reluctantly agreed to. It's slightly pushing the whole "no evil costumes" stance I've gone with, but then again, so is Darth Vader, which my husband insists he's going to do when he can afford that "totally awesome" 2,000 dollar costume he saw in some catalog or online or something. No, that was not a typo. They really sell a 2,000 dollar costume for totally insane Star Wars worshipping people. Personally, I have a strict no idol worshipping mindset in my home, but what can you do?!!! Personally, I'm going to work on the guilt factor, if ever we do have an extra 2,000 dollars laying around just waiting to be spent. "Seriously, there are starving people in the world, and you're going to spend 2,000 dollars so you can wear a costume once a year?" Personally, I think it's a good point. I think I'd rather adopt a World Vision child or 2 or 3. That would be a much better use of my money.

Besides the pushing my limits on the "no evil costumes" rule, what happened to my darling little princess? I know, I know. I should have figured out when she begged to play ice hockey that "darling little princess" was out of the question! Or even before that, when she came home bragging that she'd beaten all the boys in her class and even some in the class above her at arm wrestling. In fact, she beat her own brother at arm wrestling. I'm sure he appreciates me broadcasting that to the world! Of course, I don't think she can do that now, cause now he's a big, bad football player. Oh, and he just added for me, "and I kick butt." He gained 25 percent of the yards two nights ago! That might have something to do with the 500 mile an hour moving legs he has!!!! I'm telling you that kid can MOVE!!!! He's a Running Back in case you were wondering! Okay, and then when Angela's brother joined the football team, she announced that she was not going out for boring Volleyball in junior high, thank you very much. She wants to play football cause "you get to hit people and not get in trouble for it." Not that getting in trouble for hitting people has ever stopped her!

Anyway, hopefully the sword wielding Jeremiah and Chloe had better not return to my bedroom to beat on each other on my bed, nearly hitting my laptop! And they still have two more days before school resumes!

More Easter Fun!

You know, I never tire of blogging! I love it! The girls continued their Easter fun today! While Jeremiah and I were at the opening ceremonies for baseball, they were at an Easter egg hunt at East City Park. Angela got one of the big prizes cause she found one of the special eggs, so she got a whole 'nother Easter basket! It had a decorative four square ball in it. She would have rather had a basketball, but someone got that one before her, so she'll have to wait on her basketball. She's planning to play next year. She really misses ice hockey, but we just can't afford it. It's too expensive. The equipment is expensive and then they have to travel and stay overnight if they want to play much! She couldn't do any travelling last year, so she missed most of the games. All of the tournaments, except for our tournament here in Moscow. I really don't think it was worth it, but I think she feels differently. I felt bad about not being able to take her to the tournaments and far away games, so we decided not to do it this year. I really wish we could, but we also have two other kids to pay for their stuff, too, so we really can't.

The kids also, all three of them, got Easter baskets from our sweet neighbor, known as "grandma." She's pretty sweet. And to go along with all that candy, she always gives them a new toothbrush and toothpaste! I love the idea! I'm not so sure the kids are impressed!