Bleh

Trying to figure out health insurance is the pits. Roy will have decent insurance through the school and they have a dependent plan, but I don't know what type to choose. All I know is that my kids go to the doctor for well-child visits and not much else. They hardly ever need any medication and we have only been to the ER once (just because we were in Blythe and couldn't go anywhere else) But then what if something serious happens to them and I'm stuck paying some big ol' deductible the ONE time they actually need medical attention. And with me, man, I never go to the doctor, mainly because I hate making appointments. :) But I do know I want to have another kid soon and I don't want to have to pay a bunch of money every month for insurance and STILL have to pay my deductible AND my co-pay. I never realized how easy we had it on state provided insurance. Man oh man, the good ol' days of stealing other people's taxes! :)

Seriously though, any advice out there? High deductible, low monthly payment? Vice-versa? One thing I will mention is that with whatever plan we go with, the well-child visits and immunizations are completely covered, so that's nice (even though I guess now that Blaise is older he doesn't need them nearly as often, so it doesn't really matter) Anyway, what do ya'll think?

Family Reunion

Hey all you Blythe Jeppsons, I have a question for you! When are you coming to the family reunion, and when are you leaving? We are trying to plan a trip to see Roy's dad while we are there and want to figure out when the best time is.

I'll start: I decided to fly to Charlotte with the kiddos and Roy will be driving our van and meeting us there. I'll arrive Sunday the 13th in the evening and then Roy will probably get there anytime Tuesday-Thursday (not sure yet when he'll be leaving Davis) We'll most likely be leaving Tuesday the 22nd. And how about you Christie? And Lindsey? And Aaron? And mom and dad? Your answers are appreciated!

Gross

I woke up to a lovely sight this morning. Thousands of ants in two trails from my balcony to my kitchen. I'm talking trails that were 3 or 4 ants wide, not just a small trail. One trail was focusing on the fruit near the trash can and the other trail was focused on the washing machine. Now, I know, you are probably thinking "hey, you should clean your house". Yes, I should. But it isn't even that messy. Yesterday I never got around to sweeping the kitchen like I usually do several times a day. And I didn't get around to vacuuming the living room, but it's not like it was that dirty. And yesterday was the first day in a week that we didn't do the dishes or wipe down the counters before bed. And this is the FIRST time this has EVER happened while living here. We often get a handful of ants in the bathroom, looking for water, but never in the kitchen! Ugh, so gross. Now my house reeks of bug spray (which it's lucky we even had - I hate to use it and I don't even remember when I bought it) which I wouldn't usually use, but how else do you kill a ton of ants before your son gets eaten by them??

We didn't even go to bed till midnight last night and Blaise woke up at 6 this morning - those ants are really fast!

And, if you are wondering, we spent the day doing far more important things than cleaning. For instance, I grumped around the house till noon and finally got dressed when Blaise went down for a nap and then we went to the river and came home that exhausted and dirty and fairly miserable. And after the kids went to bed I spent 3 hours packing and planning stuff. See, far too busy to clean. :)

Out of respect for my mother-in-law...

...I will respond to a tag, just this once.

5 things I did 10 years ago
1. Graduated high school.
2. Started college at Cal State Fullerton (mathematics major).
3. Almost got arrested for misuse of a laser pointer and a Geo Metro.
4. Went to my first LAN party.
5. Bred rodents.


5 things on my list for tomorrow (Ashley is dictating this to me)
1. Clean out my office (at school).
2. Take out the trash.
3. Bathe the kids, as usual.
4. Dishes.
5. Pack (maybe).


5 favorite snacks/food
1. Oatmeal
Instant oatmeal blended to a fine powder, then mixed with cold milk, peanut butter, cinnamon, and Splenda. This is also Blaise's favorite.
2. Quesadillas
Canned refried beans pureed to a fine mush, then mixed with Taco Bell hot sauce and shredded cheese between two tortillas, baked. Or sour cream instead of the beans.
3. Buffalo Chicken Strips with Bleu Cheese Dressing
Chicken breast meat processed to a fine pulp, then... just kidding.
4. Mushroom Pizza
Or, more specifically, Papa John's pizza with chicken and mushrooms, if I could afford it.
5. Olive Garden
Just about anything from Olive Garden.


5 things I would do if I were a billionaire
1. Papa John's!
2. Free up enough time to write several books.
3. Get a proper bathroom with a bidet!
4. Have more kids.
5. I don't know, mostly donate it away, but very strategically.


5 bad habits
1. Reading blogs.
2. Getting behind on dishes.
3. Obsessing over things.
4. See #3.
5. See #3.


5 places I have lived
1. Flint, MI.
2. Anaheim, CA.
3. Argentina.
4. Fullerton, CA.
5. Irvine, CA.


People I tag
I abstain.

Happy Father's Day

Since I feel like I was a total slacker for Father's Day this year, I thought I should at least write a bit about some of the fathers in my life.



My pops always works so hard for his family and still finds time to be a great dad and grandpa! My mom has been here for a few days for Roy's graduation (oh yeah, I should post about that) but my dad wasn't able to come and we sure miss him!
Some of my favorite memories of my dad:

It always made me feel so good to know that he was such a good member of the church. He was in the bishopric most of my childhood, and having him on the stand being an example to everyone else always made me feel good. And it was comforting to know that he could give me priestood blessings when I needed them, and he often gave us "back to school" blessings.

He worked in the summer in the melon sheds (he was a HS teacher and with 8 kids we needed extra income in the summer) and he'd come home smelling like melons. Whenever I smell a cantaloupe I think of my dad!

He's supportive of decisions that I've made as an adult, but he also gives advice when he can see that it is needed.

If he lays down for more than 2 minutes he'll fall asleep....usually with the tv on. But if you try to take the remote control from him he'll wake up and say "hey, I'm awake".





And, my other favorite dad, the father of my kiddos! When Rae was born Roy wasn't quite sure what to do, but he was very willing to learn! He was even the one who changed her first poopy diaper! And now he's a diaper changing, getting kids baths and bed, kid chasing, wrestling dad that is so much fun!



By the time Blaise came along Roy had a pretty good idea of what he was doing, and he was much more willing to get Blaise down for naps and to sleep at night so that I wouldn't have to be a human pacifier. He makes Blaise's favorite food (oatmeal) better than I can and is quick to get him in the tub after he's smeared it all over his hair. Man oh man, I love this father and how much effort he puts into making our life happy!

Roy's dad hasn't really been part of his life but we've recently started talking to him and visited him last fall. We'll see him again in a few weeks and it's nice to know that he's there for us when we need him and is making an effort into trying to make up for lost years.

Roy's mom married a great guy a few years ago, and he's a fun grandpa and the kids really like him. When we got married I didn't have a father-in-law, so it's been fun to have this role filled!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

La la la...

Zion, Zion, Beautiful Zion

Here it is...the moment you all have been waiting for! We are moving to:

Kirksville, Missouri!


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Roy will be starting in August as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Mathematics at Truman State University. It is a one year position but might be renewable for a few more years. It will be quite a change, but we are excited! More details to come, when we get everything figured out! :)

Okay, one more...Papababy!

This one is my favorite!

Omababy

Cute picture

I found this picture the other day when I was going through boxes. These are most of my cousins on my dad's side of the family. I thought my family would enjoy seeing it! Anyone know what year this is? I'm guessing 97 or so?

Headed home

We've been in Las Vegas the past week. I'm in the airport right now, enjoying the free wireless (aren't you glad most airports have that now?). Roy took the kiddos for a walk. We've been up since 3:30 this morning to catch our 6:30 flight. Not fun. The kiddos have been super sick all week, so our "vacation" wasn't very relaxing. My in-law's new house is nice and big, so the kids had fun just running around. They started filling up their pool on Saturday, so by Monday there was enough water to swim in, but it was actually too cold to swim! Can you believe that? I definitely did not come to Vegas expecting "spring" weather. I even had to have Roy bring jackets and pants when he came a couple days after us. It rained on Friday and was windy the rest of the week. We swam a bit on Monday and Tuesday, but it was so cold!

We probably aren't going to have internet for a while (long story), so that's why I'm blogging now. Roy had a crazy week last week with two interviews and one phone interview. And then he had phone interview yesterday too. Schools are in a hurry to hire people now, so everything happens a bit faster than earlier in the job hunt. He doesn't have many more weeks left for interviewing, so hopefully he gets something good soon. He did get one offer but had to turn it down because it wouldn't have been a good place for him. More details on that later. We are trying to be a little more discreet with everything now, so that we don't have to explain or justify our choices to anyone.

Anyway, the kids seem to be feeling a bit better each day, so hopefully they'll be back to normal by the weekend. We are looking forward to Roy being done with interviewing and school! Graduation is on the 12th and my mom and in-laws will be here, so that should be fun! We are putting in our 6-week notice today, so that gives me 6 weeks to start packing...I don't like to think about that though!

This has been a random post. Hard to focus in here. Hopefully I'll get a chance to blog while we are without internet.

(View from Baerbel's back balcony)

Grannybaby

By popular demand:

Manbabies

Oh man.

Not so bad

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty decent day. Blaise never took a nap but made it till 6:30 without any "tired tantrums". Roy came home at 3 and helped me get the kids ready to go to the pool, but on our way out to the car I decided it was just way to windy and not warm enough. But our neighbor had set up her slip and slide so we went and played with her. Rae wasn't willing to get wet until I started getting wet first. That's right, I did the slip and slide! It was so much fun! I hurt myself the first few times, but then I became a pro and then Rae really got into it too. Blaise even liked it. It was fun to act like a kid! After we all got tired of that Rae played with the neighbor (who is a lot older than her - which I love, because they don't fight and she gets Rae to go along with her pretend games) and Blaise and I hung out on the grass.

So, the middle of the day was miserable, but it ended on a good note!

Yuck

It's hot and WINDY today. I can handle the heat, because at least we can go swimming, but really strong winds make it hard to do much of anything.

And I even turned on my air the past two days. Ugh...here comes summer!

As I type Rae is setting up the "sacrament" on the bed behind me. Roy prepares the sacrament every week and she's seen the "behind the scene" a few times.
Here are a few pictures - some from the other day when she did this and one from today. She usually covers the bread with a towel after she breaks it into pieces.

Why I love this time of year...

...lots of yummy fruit! In our house at the moment we have a watermelon, 4lbs of strawberries (thank you Costco!) oranges, bananas, cherries (yay, they are finally in season and only 99 cents a pound!) and yesterday we polished off a cantaloupe. It's easy to eat healthy when you've got lots of fruit for snacks instead of other junk.

Now I'm looking forward to the plums, nectarines and peaches! We live in a great part of the country for yummy produce!

Happy Birthday Aaron!

My lil' bro turns 23 today! He just graduated from BYU and is going to go to Law School now - pretty impressive resume for a 23 year old don't ya think? Happy Birthday!!

Duh

I can't believe I couldn't remember the other recommendation I wanted to make - it was the reason I wanted to write the post in the first place! I highly recommend the book:

1,2,3 Magic



Even if you don't want to follow the discipline plan that it lays out, it's a good book that gives a lot of good insights into a child's mind. For our current situation it is working really well. I think with all parenting you can't get too stuck on any one type of idea or method and you have to be willing to change it up when things are working.

But, for now, it is making life with Rae a whole lot easier. This is a good method for people like me who get way to emotional while trying to discipline and who tend to try to reason with their child which results in arguing and then yelling. Using this method you give no reasons and no explanations (unless absolutely needed). I don't know really how to explain it, but if you are feeling out of control with your child and you fight everyday, definitely read this book!

And, there's a second section about how to get your kids to do what they are supposed to do (getting ready for the day, doing homework, getting ready for bed, chores, etc) The other method is for getting your child to STOP doing what bad behavior they are doing, and the rest of the book talks about how to get you child to START doing good behaviors. I haven't read the second section yet. I'm really looking forward to reading it, because I get so impatient with Rae!

Anyway, the book is pretty short and is easy reading, so even if you don't think you need it, check it out and browse it a bit. (Oh, and it's for ages 2+)

Oh, and THANK YOU Rachel for telling me about this book!!

Happy parenting!

A few recommendations

Here are a few things I've been appreciating lately:

Huggies Overnight Diapers



Blaise used to nurse the entire night and would wake up sopping wet almost every morning. Now he drinks his water as he falls asleep and drinks it several times a night and used to wake up sopping wet. At Christmas my MIL gave me some Huggies overnights and we started using them recently (they are size 4, so he just got into that size) He has not had a leak since we started using them. He wakes up every morning with a diaper that weighs a ton but he never leaks! We only use them at nights, so they have lasted us a long time and when we run out we will spend the extra money to get some more - they are so worth it!

My mop. It's got a washable/replaceable head and it works really well. I don't mop very often (because I'm lazy, because the kids always spill something ridiculous right after I mop, and because my floor is crappy apartment floor that looks like the inside of a locker room and it looks dirty no matter what) and this mop can cut through all the grime and filth without a lot of effort. I really recommend it.

Immersion blenders. We use it for all sorts of stuff - pudding, soup, getting the chucks out of salsa for Roy, getting the chunks out of yogurt for Roy, getting the chunks out of healthy chunky spaghetti sauce (for Roy and the kids). It's quick to set up and quick to clean up. I got ours at Walmart for 10 bucks. Later on I found on on clearance with a few extra features, so I got that one for 15 bucks, and although the extra features were nice, it didn't seem to work as well, and now it's already broken. But our original one is still going strong! Love it!

Ugh, there was something else and now I can't remember!! I'll update later when I remember. Anyway, just some random stuff I was thinking about.

Life is good

Things are going pretty smoothly around here (knock on wood). No one is sick, the house is staying reasonably clean, Roy and I are continuing to lose weight, I'm starting to exercise more often, and even started riding my bike! I conquered my fear and hit the road with my friend's bike trailer last week and rode to the church for "music makers"! I am quite proud of myself. And then the next day I rode to a meeting at the church, and today I rode to my Weight Watchers meeting, which is twice as far as the church. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be and I look forward to doing it again next week. Unfortunately, my friend with the bike trailer is moving this week, so that won't be an option anymore (unless I get one for myself) I probably should have jumped on the whole bike trailer thing when I first moved here, but I don't think I would have been able to do it.

Ummm, I got side-tracked and lost my train of thought. Here are some recent pictures:

Rae loves to read to Blaise. After a couple of times of reading a book she knows it well enough to re-tell it to Blaise. What a sweet sister.

We will often go into the kid's room to find them in odd positions. These two pictures were taken at the same time - weird kids!

Roy and I were in the bedroom and Blaise came in screaming and looking like this! Roy checked for cuts while I dashed into the kitchen to see what he cut himself on, only to discover he had gotten into some ketchup on the table (thank goodness) You sure fooled us Blaise, good one!