Apparently, SOME people do not have enough responsibilities to keep themselves busy! That or we are all just a little bored with out everyday lives! I want to add a disclaimer that I had no previous knowledge of the nerd-ness I was to marry, and now it is too late to do anything about it since our marriage is going to last a VERY, LONG TIME!
(Love you, honey!)
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Happy Christma-versary-day!!
I am a bit slow on the uptake!!
Merry Christmas!
Happy Anniversary, Spencer. The flowers are beautiful and you were very sneaky! I just want you to know that I love you and I am glad that we got married 11 years ago. You are my best friend and I don't know what I would do without you! (Seriously, just ask anybody about my basket-cased, stress-induced days when you are away!)
Happy Birthday, Spencer! For 6 whole weeks you can not torture me with my age! We are the same age and I enjoy this 6 weeks every year! I said it before and I will say it again, It gets really sad when you have to do the math before you can tell people how old you are!!
XOXO
Merry Christmas!
Happy Anniversary, Spencer. The flowers are beautiful and you were very sneaky! I just want you to know that I love you and I am glad that we got married 11 years ago. You are my best friend and I don't know what I would do without you! (Seriously, just ask anybody about my basket-cased, stress-induced days when you are away!)
Happy Birthday, Spencer! For 6 whole weeks you can not torture me with my age! We are the same age and I enjoy this 6 weeks every year! I said it before and I will say it again, It gets really sad when you have to do the math before you can tell people how old you are!!
XOXO
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Best Christmas Ever
When I was a kid, Christmas was the greatest, most magical time of the year. We spent every fall and subsequent winter in eager anticipation of that joyous day when we would receive our prize for being "good" all year, or at least the latter half of it. I passed every Christmas Eve with a blinding case of insomnia. I was so excited that I just couldn't stand it. And like any boy, I snooped early to see what gifts were laid out by the elf. Most of the family thinks that I was just too impatient to wait. Truth is, when you are sitting up all night, unable to sleep - you get bored. What better way to pass the time than to take a peek. One year, my parents landed on a bag of rubber rats from the old Italian man who lived up the street. They strung the rats along the stair rails in hopes that I would see them and immediately pee myself in fear. Well, I almost did just that. As I made my way up the lower flight of the split level home we lived in, I came about to look across the floor into the living room which was just off the stairs. My gaze rested on a pair of red eyes attached to a black mound. A split second and my synapses told me it was a rat. The shock ran to the pit of my stomach and I gasped quietly. A split second later, my brain sent it to me that they were fake. Funny how long it takes your thoughts to materialize when you are traumatized. I still peeked that Christmas and It didn't cure me, but the incident has been logged into Olsen Family Christmas lore by my Father who repeats it to everyone he introduces me to when the topic of Christmas arises.
Those are my memories - my Christmases - the things I remember most from childhood. There are other things I remember, too. Mom and Dad always made us wait and go out to the Tree together each Christmas morning. Things usually got started around 4am. My Brothers and I would be awake by then, trying to make as much noise as possible in order to stir the rest of the house. I also remember that there were always plenty of nuts on the kitchen table, chocolates in our stockings, lots of oranges and Mom reading "Mr. Skip" to us on Christmas Eve. But there was always one thing that I remember most about Christmas. One thing that stood out above all else. Mom and Dad never let us forget just why we had Christmas - a tradition and responsibility that Roxy and I have labored to pass to our children.
Each Christmas Eve, I read the Christmas story from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We did it again the other night. It was tough. The two younger children have the attention span of a goldfish. But Ben sat there, glued to me as I read. When I asked questions, he had all the answers. I was so proud of him.
Christmas morning came and went. We opened presents, made a mess of the house, and went to eat Chinese food, just like we do every year. And at the end of the day, we all knelt down for family prayer, like we always do. And my boy Ben bowed his head and thanked the Lord for Christmas and thanked the Lord for the reason we celebrate it and then he thanked the Lord for Jesus Christ.
You spend your whole tenure as a parent lamenting your mistakes, doing your best to make sure that your kids do a little better than you. You teach them and hope it sinks in, and when it does, you feel warm and hopeful inside. This Christmas night, at the end of the day as I listened to my son offer a sincere prayer to his Father in Heaven, I realized that this was the best Christmas ever.
Those are my memories - my Christmases - the things I remember most from childhood. There are other things I remember, too. Mom and Dad always made us wait and go out to the Tree together each Christmas morning. Things usually got started around 4am. My Brothers and I would be awake by then, trying to make as much noise as possible in order to stir the rest of the house. I also remember that there were always plenty of nuts on the kitchen table, chocolates in our stockings, lots of oranges and Mom reading "Mr. Skip" to us on Christmas Eve. But there was always one thing that I remember most about Christmas. One thing that stood out above all else. Mom and Dad never let us forget just why we had Christmas - a tradition and responsibility that Roxy and I have labored to pass to our children.
Each Christmas Eve, I read the Christmas story from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We did it again the other night. It was tough. The two younger children have the attention span of a goldfish. But Ben sat there, glued to me as I read. When I asked questions, he had all the answers. I was so proud of him.
Christmas morning came and went. We opened presents, made a mess of the house, and went to eat Chinese food, just like we do every year. And at the end of the day, we all knelt down for family prayer, like we always do. And my boy Ben bowed his head and thanked the Lord for Christmas and thanked the Lord for the reason we celebrate it and then he thanked the Lord for Jesus Christ.
You spend your whole tenure as a parent lamenting your mistakes, doing your best to make sure that your kids do a little better than you. You teach them and hope it sinks in, and when it does, you feel warm and hopeful inside. This Christmas night, at the end of the day as I listened to my son offer a sincere prayer to his Father in Heaven, I realized that this was the best Christmas ever.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Holiday Ho-down!!
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
The kids and I are having too much fun with this so here's another...we are cracking up!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Children and the Concept of Money...An Essay...Just Kidding
The other day we were all in the van on the way to get Spencer from work. I was running really behind, that in itself always makes me tense. The kids were not cooperating and getting them into their seats was like pushing a rope uphill - in the snow - both ways! It was not improving my mood. I had a small rant about cooperation, Santa not really liking their current behavior, the crap-tastic weather, running late, not being ready for Christmas, Spencer being gone again this week, and not having any money until Friday. You know, the usual.
Matt pipes up with, "Just go to the bank, mom!"
Ben explains that it doesn't work that way, you have to put money into the bank to get it out. "You will learn these things when you get into 3rd grade. We learned all about banks."
"WOW, you learned about piggy banks!" Matt was very impressed and I just had to laugh!
**********************************************************
Cait's take on nachos
The other night Spencer and I had nachos for dinner, the children had Mac and Cheese. Caitlyn decided that she also wanted a chip and some cheese. I offered her some of the nachos, "Oh, no, mom! I don't want that kind." She proceeds to rub a Cheeto puff onto a tortilla chip in order to "add the cheese".
Matt pipes up with, "Just go to the bank, mom!"
Ben explains that it doesn't work that way, you have to put money into the bank to get it out. "You will learn these things when you get into 3rd grade. We learned all about banks."
"WOW, you learned about piggy banks!" Matt was very impressed and I just had to laugh!
**********************************************************
Cait's take on nachos
The other night Spencer and I had nachos for dinner, the children had Mac and Cheese. Caitlyn decided that she also wanted a chip and some cheese. I offered her some of the nachos, "Oh, no, mom! I don't want that kind." She proceeds to rub a Cheeto puff onto a tortilla chip in order to "add the cheese".
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Pictures
Here is a sampling of this afternoon's attempt at getting my 3 little "monkees" to cooperate for a Christmas card picture!!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Why Doctors Frustrate Me and The Joy Of Giving
I have been in a funk, I am sure that will not come as a surprise to anyone I have talk with this week. I would pull myself up by my bootstraps, but I am not wearing my boots at the moment.
I wanted our family blog to be real, and real life is not always sunshine and funny stories.
Plus this is sort of therapeutic to write it down and send it out into the cyber-universe.
I have been dealing with some pretty weird symptoms for the past month or so, I have a kid-you-not-never-going-away-headache, my arms, hands, legs and feet have been randomly falling asleep, and my finger and toe joints have swollen and are sometimes really painful. Sounds fun, right? So, I go and see a doctor. This is huge for me because I get really sick of sitting in waiting rooms, co-pays, expensive "your insurance doesn't cover this" medication and "Dr. guesses", you get the picture. With 3 kids that have asthma, an accident prone daughter, and a hubby I deal with all that enough. I finally after 2 years get my own primary care physician in Tennessee. I tell you they never saw me coming! I described all of my body's newly acquired talents and they proceed with the "guessing". I have had a needle stuck in my arm more times than I would have liked, I have been scanned and re-scanned.
Back before my life as Mrs. Olsen, I had surgery for a brain tumor. It came out of the clear, blue sky. One night I was sleeping and the next thing I know I am awake in the middle of the night, not knowing who I am, or where I was. My tongue is swollen and bleeding, and I am scared. What can only be described as a tender mercy, I did know a phone number. It turned out to be my mom's. She came to my apartment and stayed with me through the night and took me to the doctor's the next morning. Apparently I had had a whopper of a seizure! Go figure. I proceed to go to a Neurologist, she had me do an MRI. Which then turned into a Neurosurgical appointment to schedule surgery for a large mass in my left-frontal lobe. They were able to get most of the tumor out. Crazy how things can escalate, huh?
Anyway, I survived, obviously. I met and married Spencer, have had beautiful children, and the only side-effect was that I sometimes stumble over my words or can not finish my sentences because I am trying to find the right word to use. I do not think it is very noticable, but now you will because I told you.
I tell you that, to tell you this...I went to another Neurosurgeon today, with all the new CAT scans and MRI's my pcp wanted a specialist to look at my reports. I bet you are hanging on the edge of your seat...Or, perhaps, I flatter myself...Anyway, at this time it doesn't seem like it has grown enough to risk surgery again. My left side is pushing into my right side and there is still part of the tumor and a lot of calcification. It really is cool to look at, in a morbid sort of way. I have my scans if you want to see.
So, they still do not know what is going on with me. I will let you know when I know. I am feeling less "funky" today. I want to thank Jennie for taking my kids today and giving me a break. And I want to thank Bonne for being a really great VT and for being so loving and understanding the other night. (Although, I still feel guilty!)
Okay, for enduring this really long post I will grant you the one bright spot that I managed to observe through my week of crankiness...
The other night at dinner (if you call mac and cheese, dinner). The kids started to discuss amongst themselves what should be left for Santa. They wanted to leave him a gift. They thought that no one ever thinks to give a gift for Santa. They started to throw out some ideas. (sorry, can't remember what they were.) Then they asked me what kinds of cookies were Santa's favorites. Ben asked if he drank skim milk or regular milk. Then they decided that Mrs. Clause also needed a gift. They also want to "research what reindeer really eat" - their words, not mine. So, I guess my little vikings have listened a little bit when I tell them it is better to give than to receive.
I wanted our family blog to be real, and real life is not always sunshine and funny stories.
Plus this is sort of therapeutic to write it down and send it out into the cyber-universe.
I have been dealing with some pretty weird symptoms for the past month or so, I have a kid-you-not-never-going-away-headache, my arms, hands, legs and feet have been randomly falling asleep, and my finger and toe joints have swollen and are sometimes really painful. Sounds fun, right? So, I go and see a doctor. This is huge for me because I get really sick of sitting in waiting rooms, co-pays, expensive "your insurance doesn't cover this" medication and "Dr. guesses", you get the picture. With 3 kids that have asthma, an accident prone daughter, and a hubby I deal with all that enough. I finally after 2 years get my own primary care physician in Tennessee. I tell you they never saw me coming! I described all of my body's newly acquired talents and they proceed with the "guessing". I have had a needle stuck in my arm more times than I would have liked, I have been scanned and re-scanned.
Back before my life as Mrs. Olsen, I had surgery for a brain tumor. It came out of the clear, blue sky. One night I was sleeping and the next thing I know I am awake in the middle of the night, not knowing who I am, or where I was. My tongue is swollen and bleeding, and I am scared. What can only be described as a tender mercy, I did know a phone number. It turned out to be my mom's. She came to my apartment and stayed with me through the night and took me to the doctor's the next morning. Apparently I had had a whopper of a seizure! Go figure. I proceed to go to a Neurologist, she had me do an MRI. Which then turned into a Neurosurgical appointment to schedule surgery for a large mass in my left-frontal lobe. They were able to get most of the tumor out. Crazy how things can escalate, huh?
Anyway, I survived, obviously. I met and married Spencer, have had beautiful children, and the only side-effect was that I sometimes stumble over my words or can not finish my sentences because I am trying to find the right word to use. I do not think it is very noticable, but now you will because I told you.
I tell you that, to tell you this...I went to another Neurosurgeon today, with all the new CAT scans and MRI's my pcp wanted a specialist to look at my reports. I bet you are hanging on the edge of your seat...Or, perhaps, I flatter myself...Anyway, at this time it doesn't seem like it has grown enough to risk surgery again. My left side is pushing into my right side and there is still part of the tumor and a lot of calcification. It really is cool to look at, in a morbid sort of way. I have my scans if you want to see.
So, they still do not know what is going on with me. I will let you know when I know. I am feeling less "funky" today. I want to thank Jennie for taking my kids today and giving me a break. And I want to thank Bonne for being a really great VT and for being so loving and understanding the other night. (Although, I still feel guilty!)
Okay, for enduring this really long post I will grant you the one bright spot that I managed to observe through my week of crankiness...
The other night at dinner (if you call mac and cheese, dinner). The kids started to discuss amongst themselves what should be left for Santa. They wanted to leave him a gift. They thought that no one ever thinks to give a gift for Santa. They started to throw out some ideas. (sorry, can't remember what they were.) Then they asked me what kinds of cookies were Santa's favorites. Ben asked if he drank skim milk or regular milk. Then they decided that Mrs. Clause also needed a gift. They also want to "research what reindeer really eat" - their words, not mine. So, I guess my little vikings have listened a little bit when I tell them it is better to give than to receive.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Possible Scrooge In The Making...
I am not really sure what I am going to blog about. So I am pretty sure it will not be overly entertaining. Sorry, I can't be 'on' 100% of the time. The pressure, Oh! The pressure!
Spencer is going to be really busy with installs this month, which means out of town. Although I am trying to feel grateful that we have job stability, it really stinks! December is notoriously busy. We have not even decided what to get the kids this year. I usually like to bake and hand out plates of goodies. We normally take a family photo and get our Christmas cards out. Then there is the usual amount of holiday parties and get-togethers.
We also, in our young-self absorbed-completely oblivious to all others early love, decided to get married on December 27th! WHY!! I have not had an actual anniversary celebration in 11 years (Oh, except that one time my mom bought us tickets to the Kansas City Ballet performance of Nutcracker...Thanks Mom!) I know that there are quite a few other couples in our ward (that's church) who also have December anniversaries, so I am not saying anything about anyone else only us, the usually stretched too thin, broke, and exhausted Spencer and Roxann. AND...Spencer's b-day is the 28th, poor man is doomed! OK, that was just a little side rant.
Right now my house is in some alternate limbo universe between Autumn and Christmas decorations. I doubt with all my being that I am going to be getting much done in that department. I am just not feeling it.
Spencer is going to be really busy with installs this month, which means out of town. Although I am trying to feel grateful that we have job stability, it really stinks! December is notoriously busy. We have not even decided what to get the kids this year. I usually like to bake and hand out plates of goodies. We normally take a family photo and get our Christmas cards out. Then there is the usual amount of holiday parties and get-togethers.
We also, in our young-self absorbed-completely oblivious to all others early love, decided to get married on December 27th! WHY!! I have not had an actual anniversary celebration in 11 years (Oh, except that one time my mom bought us tickets to the Kansas City Ballet performance of Nutcracker...Thanks Mom!) I know that there are quite a few other couples in our ward (that's church) who also have December anniversaries, so I am not saying anything about anyone else only us, the usually stretched too thin, broke, and exhausted Spencer and Roxann. AND...Spencer's b-day is the 28th, poor man is doomed! OK, that was just a little side rant.
Right now my house is in some alternate limbo universe between Autumn and Christmas decorations. I doubt with all my being that I am going to be getting much done in that department. I am just not feeling it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)