It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Tonight Quincy slept in my bed since Quinn and Trey are still out of town. Of course we couldn't retire until she finished telling me all about the "no crying" rule at school.
Quincy: " No crying at school".
Me: " Who said"
Q: " Oh the principal makes the rules, writes them down on a piece of paper and gives a copy to each teacher to go over in class".
Me: " So your teacher read that rule to you and it came from the principal"?
Q: " Yes and do you know why? If you are at the computers and you start crying your tears might fall onto the computer and cause you to get shocked. AND if you are at your desk and your tears fall on your work then it will be ruined. It's OK to cry at recess if you fall and scrape your knee BUT it's not OK to cry during PE because your tears might fall onto the gym floor and someone could slip and fall AND it's not OK to cry during music because you can't sing and cry at the same time- you'll mess up the song"!
Q: " if you are crying because of a nightmare than you can just go tell the teacher and she will give you a hug and tell you to be stronger than the monsters because that's what Mary (name changed) did.

Seriously! who is this child and where did she get her imagination! I love it! Sounds like a future therapy patient......I better teach her now that crying is HEALTHY! I am glad to know she has such a caring teacher though.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

Today I turned 37. I don't even know how I feel about that number. But for posterity sake I want to record how the big day was spent........
Urgent care at 9 a.m.- red streaks running from my foot to my groin and intense pain in my leg signaled something might be wrong. apparently a blister that refused to heal was infected and that infection traveled into my blood stream. it was really really painful. i had to get a shot of liquid antibiotics in my hip. that was really really painful. I returned home and proceeded to lay on my couch for the next 9 hours watching episodes of the OFFICE on netflix- that was only kinda painful. What a crappy way to celebrate a person's birthday. so i decided that next week I will celebrate my birthday a few hours everyday to make up for missing any type of celebration on my actual birthday.

"mean guys"

This morning Quincy woke up in tears- she was sobbing. As I rushed to comfort her I said a quick prayer of thanks (I have felt very grateful for my opportunity to be a stay at home mom lately-this whole scene would have played out much differentenly if i was busy getting for work). Anyway after a big hug Quincy began to reveal the details of her bad dream-mean guys picked her up (I started to prepare myself for the worst- who were these mean guys and what did they do to her after picking her up that could have possibly produced this nightmare- I have watched one to many episodes of Law and Order SVU)......anyway the mean guys took her to Grandma and Grandpa Dance's house and......are you ready.......they wouldn't let her have any cookies! I breathed a sigh a relief and said another quick prayer of thanks that my seven year has been kept safe from "mean people" -
note to grandma and grandpa- please have cookies available upon are arrival. :)

We can do hard things........

I'm back.....this time long term. I got side tracked with all the other social networking junk out there and completely abandoned my very own blog. BUT I have a new purpose for blogging and renewed determination for documenting 2011 for the Peterson family. For the first time ever I am introducing a family theme (stole idea from a friend who borrowed it from another blogger). Our theme for 2011 is......drum roll please........WE CAN DO HARD THINGS BUT WITH THE LORD WE CAN DO ALL THINGS! Isn't that a beautiful statement. I have a testimony of this already. However, I forget and find myself putting my trust in man versus the Lord. AND then I get so annoyed with myself.  When I was first married I took a job as a receptionist for a not so nice guy. He was very demanding and intimidating. I was young and inexperienced. I hated working for him but given our situation it is what needed to be done. My job security depended on my ability of mastering a challenging data entry program (I didn't have the luxury of being trained by the previous employee). I prayed to understand the system and to be less intimidated by the boss. It was truly a miracle how quickly I learned the process and how my confidence increased. Interacting with that man and learning the system was hard but the Lord blessed me with the ability to triumph. I only lasted a month or two- the guy was a real ego maniac and it just wasn't worth the energy to put up with him.  Fast forward 8 years, 1 college degree and 1 child later I had another really hard choice to make. I worked at a job that I hated at first but then loved. It was an intense and demanding career. BUT the right people liked me and I was good at what I did so I excelled. I was also the main breadwinner. Quinn was finishing mortician school and we lived in Portland, Oregon. Our only child, Reece, had just turned 2 and I got the distinct impression that I needed to make some sacrifices and become a stay at home mom. This decision came after much study and prayer. It was so HARD.  I had no idea how we would live, eat or do anything. On paper, the loss of my income wreaked havoc on our financial situation. Nonetheless there was no denying that I needed to be a stay at home mom. Fast forward 10 years, 2 more kids and a move to Meridian, Idaho.  I reflect on that time and can see the Lord's hand in my life so clearly. I guess hindsight is always 20/20. I have faced extreme challenges in the last 10 years and am confident that I will continue face hard things my whole mortal experience. I want to strengthen my testimony in, and teach my children, the truth that with the Lord we can do all things. So we are kicking 2011 with a family party.....i don't know the details yet but I will share them asap. The first hard thing I am preparing myself for is the reality that my children will probably not be totally on board with this. This is new and will be out of their comfort zone (dare I mention our baby who is 4 still refuses to dress himself! and I have tolerated this in lieu of a temper tantrum). Not yelling at them to cooperate, resisting the urge to lecture them on appreciating my efforts and being patient with them will be HARD- more than I can express- BUT i am preparing now......Day ONE = January 1, 2011.

it gets easier

Tonight when i told Jamie and Todd, that Bob passed away on Monday, I didn't even cry. Tuesday, when I told Ruthie and Artie, the other neighbors, I couldn't stop the tears. We were driving home from Blackfoot when Corinne called to tell us the news. We will miss Bob very much. Corinne is staying in the house as long as her health allows. i am so glad. it would be hard to lose them both at the same time.

inquring minds want to know......

Yesterday, Trey's inquiring mind wanted to know....
what's a flat tire?
why do tires go flat?
what kind of bug is that?
can i squash that bug?
do elephant have ears?
why did the road workers paint those lines yellow?
what is reece doing at school?
when will quincy be home?
how do you spell rattlesnake?
are rattlesnakes nice?
is "poop" a naughty word?
when do i get to go to lacy's house?
what comes after monday?


Yesterday Bob's inquiring mind wanted to know......
how do i die?

and Corinne's inquiring mind wanted to know.......
what am i going to do after Bob passes away?

i guess, no matter what stage of life we are in, we never stop asking questions.

Counting my blessings

Seeking mature individual to care for our 3 children ages 8, 6, and 2 while we are at work...
3-4 evenings a week - usually Monday, Tuesday, Sunday...and some Wednesday's 

Must be able to pick-up children from daycare before 6 pm and care for them at our home in Star
Prepare dinner, assist with homework when needed, bath and bedtime routine ect.

Please call or text (number removed)

*Currently working 2 jobs so if I do not answer please leave detailed message (Age, location, desired wage, have own transportation ect.) 



i am weird, i know. sometimes for fun i browse the classified section of craigslist. maybe it's my way of staying connected to the world outside my four walls. sometimes i think the perfect part time job waits for me and if i don't cruise the job listings i'll never know. i came across this ad and it just broke my heart.  really a nanny picking up children from daycare? my heart breaks for those little children. my heart also hurts for the adults. i have to assume they don't want to be working two jobs. i also have to assume that they are working their tails off to put food on the table, clothes on their back and a roof over their heads, not to pay for a house they can't afford or cars they can't afford or any part of a lifestyle they can't afford. i have to assume that it breaks their hearts to have their babies picked up from daycare, fed dinner and bathed, by a nanny. but you know what they say about assuming........
at this moment i feel very blessed. we don't have much, money included. but it's 6:23 p.m. and my 3 year old is laying on the floor singing songs to ME. my 6 year old will soon return from a play date and tell ME all about her fun. and my 11 year old is showing off his football skills to his dad. soon our little family will gather around the kitchen and eat a dinner prepared by ME, even if it's cold cereal.