Cars II

I got my van back tonight! I have been driving the Saturn for the last week which has been an adventure! We bought the Saturn in April, 1995 just before Matt graduated from BYU, we had been married for about 4 months. I was so excited to have that car, I could actually drive again and it started right up when we turned the key! For a while it was the only car, then it was the nice car, then it was the old car and now it is the spare car. It has 172,000 miles on it, no air conditioning, no power locks, no power windows and a cassette stereo,that by the way, does not work and it is a stick! I feel like I am sitting on the ground driving that little car. It is funny to have to roll up windows. The lack of air conditioning is the worst part right now. I had sweat running down my face while driving. But, I have been so grateful to have it this week, and it still starts up when I turn the key. Madsen will be grateful to have that car next year when he turns 16.

My van has a newly rebuilt transmission that should last us for as long as we want it to. It has air conditioning! And driving it home I felt really big again. We bought the van just before Declan was born because we could not fit 3 car seats in the Saturn. Matt was in graduate school. I was so excited to have that car. I love my car. I am so happy to have it back and I look forward to driving it for 5 more years, for reals this time!

An Observation and a Question

 

 

Yesterday at the pool I was observing a lady and her interactions with her 2 girls. Everything was very soft, gentle and FEMININE. It occured to me that my interactions with my kids are completely opposite of this. Of course there are times when I am soft and gentle, I believe even my rough and tumble boys need that gentleness and femininity in their lives. Everything, from the way I talk to them, respond to their actions, to their scrapes etc... I do not respond very feminine.

The question- do women like me, who are surrounded and up to our necks in boy, lose a little of the softness? Would I be and act a little more gentle and feminine if I had more daughters than sons?

I do treat, talk to , respond differently to Waverly. I think of women who have lots of girls- my mother, my friend Alexis, Matt's cousin, Angela... I am totally different in how I interact with my kids than these women.

Honestly- I think it would be worse if I treated the boys like girls. Gender, after all, is more than skin deep.

I must say, one of the very best things about having one little girl in our house of testosterone has been to see the incredibly sweet and tender way those boys treat that little girl. It melts my heart. Maybe just maybe, they will grow up to be real men, which includes being GENTLEmen.

Our Daddy

 

 

 

 

 

I am thankful for the Daddy to all my kids. Matt is a great dad. He loves the kids. He works hard for us. He likes to play with the kids. He likes to work with the kids. He encourages them to be the very best they can be. He is an example of a what a man and dad should be. He loves his little girl. We love you, Daddy!

My Dad

 

 

 

 

 

My dad is the best dad. He loves his girls, all 5 of us, more than anything. He has always taken good care of us. He was always super involved in the things we did. He encouraged us in everything. I think he was only a little disappointed not having a boy to share his love of sports, until he discovered that his girls loved them too. My dad is fun. We had fun growing up in our family. He is a great grandpa. There is not much he won't do to entertain those grand kids- notice the Cash Grandpa picture! We have great conversations when they call to check in several times a month. My parents still care about what is happening in our lives. They are still involved and they still help us have a fun, good life. I love my Dad.

Shopping

After dropping the boys off at church for Scouts the other night, Cannon was begging me to take him shopping for gum. I told him the next time I was at a store I would buy him gum. He wanted to know when I would be shopping next and could he please go with me. I told him that if I don't NEED to go to a store I won't go, that I actually do not enjoy shopping. He was surprised by that since the kids think shopping is so much fun. He asked why I don't think it is fun so I told him that all I ever buy is food, nothing fun. His response,"why don't you buy yourself treats while you are shopping? You could get, like, 3 bags of peanut butter m&m's. That would be fun." I explained that all the things that would be a treat to me are too expensive to buy all the time and if I don't buy little things, I can save that money for the big things I want, like a new house. This must not have impressed him much because he told me I could buy my m&m's and him some treats while I am at it because a house would not be much fun.

Day 2

I am a little sore, can feel my arms and legs. My 3 mile run was a little slow and difficult this morning but I did it. Jillian was a little harder today than yesterday, but I did it. I just have to believe that if it does not kill me, it will make me stronger. The hardest part is the push ups. The best part is when Waverly joins in. She is so dang cute!

Quote of the Day

I am making spaghetti sauce and trying to run out the door to go help my friend move. I asked Sullivan if he could cook the sausage and dump it in the slow cooker.

He said," no, I don't cook, that is why guys get married."

Now we know!

30 day shred

I have a friend who has been documenting her daily battle with Jillian Michaels 30 day shred dvd. She said it was super hard and she could see/feel the difference after just one week. I bought the dvd and am giving it a try. Today was day 1.

The workout is 20 minutes combining strength, cardio and abs. It was pretty tough. My arms are so weak, that was the hardest part. I was sweaty and breathing hard and could feel the burn in my legs and arms.

There are 3 difficulty levels on the dvd, I did level one, will do level one for the first week, at least. The dvd claims that you can lose 20 pounds in the 30 days. That would be awesome!

I also ran 3 miles this morning while Madsen was running with his cross country team. So maybe between Madsen and Jillian I can lose some pounds and build some muscle!

I need to find a race to train for. Maybe I will go for my first half marathon!

101546 miles and counting?

My van hit the 100,000 mile mark over spring break. I have loved that car. I was so excited when we bought it. The deal we made when we went for the more expensive van was that I would drive it for 15 years or more. We are 10 years into it. Last weekend the check engine light came on and it started shifting weird. I am taking it to the car doctor tomorrow. I am hoping so desperately that it will not be too awful. I hope the transmission is not going out. I hope that if it does need transmission work it won't be too many thousands of dollars. We have been thinking about at what point is it not worth fixing. I am happy to put a few thousand into it and drive it for five more years. I have been looking at new vans on line just for fun, only it has not been so much fun! New Hondas run about $30,000 for the cheap one! Then I started looking into used vans. At least we could find a not too old van with low mileage for about $18,000. There are some vans that are only 4 years old with way more miles than my 10 year old van. I really think mine has many more miles to go and I am happy to keep driving it. I have been worried about it all week and now I am totally sick to my stomach worrying about the diagnosis tomorrow. I am so hoping it will be a minor thing and my car will keep going for another 100,000.

The Last Few Days

The boys are in the final week of school, Hurray! I am as ready as they are to be finished. I am tired of waking up in the morning, packing lunches, buses, homework, projects, time limits and schedules. We are all looking forward to summer and all the adventures ahead of us. This is also the last weekend of soccer!

Sully had his award ceremony yesterday. He was on the All A's All Year honor roll and received top honors in Social Studies and Drama.

Madsen said he is not sure if his school does academic awards. He has done an excellent job this year. So proud of him.

Declan and Cannon have awards this week. I am hoping the teachers will warn me if the kids are getting awards. I won't go up there if I don't know something.

We have doctor's appointments and drama class performance and final soccer practices this week. All the ending stuff makes for one busy week. ONE busy week!

Madsen has finals this week so they take one test each morning then have review time for the next day test and come home early. He thinks we should go to lunch and have fun before the brothers get home. I have to remind him that they are out early to spend time studying! Silly boy.

I am gearing up for the summer time. Thinking of things to do with the kids for fun and for work. We only have a few weeks with Madsen and Sully before they are off for their Colorado adventure. Madsen will be taking drivers ed. classes for 5 days the end of June. That is a little frightening!

We are counting down days til the end of school and the beginning of summer. Come August 1, we will be counting down days to the end of summer and the beginning of school!

Oh to be the kids and have a vacation during summer!