Thankful...

Oh Dear!  I can't believe it's been so long.  I always have the best intentions of keeping up with this blog.  So today, I'm at work & yes, it's Black Friday, 2012!  Isaac and Jacob are on their way to New York to help with relief efforts after Hurricane Sandy just devastated the area.  There is a group of 10 going up from our ward, and almost 1000 going from our stake.  They will be doing hard labor like ripping out ruined carpets, cutting out ruined dry wall, shoveling out water and mud from people's basements.  They took sleeping bags and MRE's and will hopefully crash at one of our church buildings.
Yesterday for Thanksgiving, Jacob went to the Turkey Bowl to play football with several men and YM from our ward.  He seemed to really enjoy himself.  Isaac, Erica, Mikayla, and I went to the church to meet up with some people who wanted to do a family fun run or a turkey trot.  The 5k wound up being 3.52 miles rather than the standard 3.1.  Although I shed a few tears from the pain and lack of breathing abilities, we completed it! 
After that we went home to gather the food we prepared and loaded up to go to our friends, the Bearman's, for a Thanksgiving Feast.  It was super yummy and everyone seemed to have a blast eating, visiting, and playing.
I'm super blessed right now with good health.  After fighting a rare bacteria for most of the year and three unexpected surgeries, I am so blessed to be healthy.  My spirits are high and my energy levels are almost back to normal.  I'm able to work out now, so I anticipate my energy levels to continue to climb.  I'm blessed with a wonderful family and a happy home.  I love having a husband that makes me laugh and makes me feel like a queen.  I love that we are happy together.  I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father and they guidance of the Spirit.
May all of you have a happy holiday season.

Can't wait to post about....

If I make a list of everything, then maybe I'll remember to update this blog....
Being sick
Kids school year activities
Maureen's visit
Aria's visit
Jacob's first kiss
Primary president
There's more but at 3:11 in the morning, this will have to do!! These things will be good posts to update this a little!!

Is Summer time for School work?

It's that time of year!  The teacher in me struggles each summer with whether or not to implement a "school work" section into our summer break.  Every single part of me and my training knows that my children need this.  Every single part of me knows that my oldest will read no matter what.  Every single part of me knows that my middle NEEDS me to implement a schedule for her.  And every single part of me knows that my youngest will be a little rebel about this.  So, I think I will try to be creative.... If I work on cooking with Erica, that will help implement both reading and math.  If we go to the library, everyone will be excited to get new books to read.  And if I make myself set a timer and sit down with them, we can get a lot accomplished in a little time about 3 days per week.  I could work out a deal with Jacob where he helps with one while I help with another, and that's actually keeping him busy as well.  Although he's always hated having to be a peer tutor....see....being the smart kid isn't always so fun!
Anyway, I think my one that needs more attention will not mind doing some stuff with me, since she will view it as time with me, rather than time working.  And I bet she and I could sneak off and do some sewing together as well!   So....I guess you could say that the teacher in me won on this struggle!  : )
Happy Monday to Everyone!

The Cast(s)

Water proof cast

I never posted on the blog that Erica broke her leg during her 4th grade picnic.  Her and another student were playing and they fell on top of each other, sat out of playing for about 10 minutes to rest, then got up and went on playing.  Then the next day was Field Day.  Her foot/ankle/bottom of leg area was tender, so she opted not to participate in any of the racing events during Field Day.  By the time she got home on that Thursday, her limp was quite substantial.  But me still being wary, told Isaac that I would take her in for an x-ray AFTER piano lessons.  So that night we went in, and the doctor was shocked to see the x-ray, the bottom of her tibia is fractured and her growth plate was broken as well.  Luckily on Friday, the orthopedic doc that we see had an opening.  She got to choose a really cute tie-die looking cast (pictures in a little while).  Of course after getting that cast was when everyone started asking us why we hadn't gotten a water proof cast.  Well, we didn't know there was such a thing.  So we went for her 2 week check up on Friday, where she got permission to start applying weight, and we got a water proof cast.  It's the greatest thing since sliced bread, especially because it's summer time!! 
There's an art to getting all the water out, but so far, so good.  Now she goes back in another 2 weeks and I'm sure he'll do another x-ray at that point to see how the healing process is going.  Everyone says kids heal so quickly.  I hope that's the case for her, even though she's being such a trooper!!

Last day of School

Today is the last day of school for the 3 munchkins.  That means our year of having a 7th grader, 4th grader, and 1st grader has come to a close.  All in all, it's been a pretty good year.  Jacob always keeps us on our toes and we routinely have to check his grades online.  For some reason, even though he probably only turned in half of the homework assignments he should've, he still managed to stay on the honor roll all year!  I guess it's a good thing he makes nearly a 100% on all his tests!
Erica has shown vast improvements this year.  School doesn't come as easy for her as it does for Jacob, so she has to work really hard for her grades.  But I remember when I was teaching, that students like Erica were always well liked by teachers!  Hard workers are the best!!  Her biggest struggle is spelling...which she gets from her dad!  She made the biggest improvements in math.
Mikayla is a lot like Jacob when it comes to school.  She does work hard and is hard on herself when she makes mistakes.  But she's very haphazard when it comes to homework.  And she will not be one of the girls with the cutesy handwriting.  Mikayla loves compliments on her clothing and loves to wear cutesy outfits. 

They are all 3 registered for Summer Camp at Fort Meade.  We will be able to drop them off at camp, then work our 8 hours, then pick them up and head home!  It's a pretty sweet deal, even if I lose my quiet commute to and from work!  It will also keep them busy and active this summer.  Jacob is the least excited about it, but the one that needs it the most.  He's getting much better about socializing and making friends so this will be a good experience for him, even though he usually talks the ears off of the counselors!

Boys will be boys....

We were very lucky to have someone from church give us some cupcakes (6 of them).  Really, we got lucky because I had keys to the church building to go "save" the cupcakes, so we were given 6 out of kindness for my efforts on the rescue of the cupcakes!  They were Cherry Limeade cupcakes and the girls seemed to love them.  Anyway, last night there were 3 left and Mikayla decided on the one she wanted (the prettiest one, of course).  She wrote her name on a paper plate with a sharpie and put the cupcake on it for the morning after breakfast. 
Jacob is up before the girls.  He thought it would be funny to switch the prettiest cupcake on the plate with one of the others from the island.  So he did the evil switch and then left for school.  A few minutes later, Erica came down, took a bite out of one of the cupcakes on the island and proceeded to fix her breakfast.  When Mikayla came downstairs, the first thing she noticed was that the cupcakes had been switched.  The one on the plate was no longer the prettiest one AND there were two rings on the plate proving her theory.  Then she went over to the island to find hers, and low and behold, the one Erica had taken a bite of was the prettiest one!!!  So the tears began to roll.  Bless my baby's heart!  Her brother meanly switched them, her sister innocently took a bite of one, and now she didn't get to eat the prettiest cupcake any longer.  She had to settle for one of the "ugly" ones!! LOL...  Keep in mind these were white cupcakes with pink frosting and a cherry on top of each.  They were all pretty! 
Luckily Daddy was home to help dry the tears and while each girl enjoyed their cupcake, Daddy enjoyed the third one!

Play Ball!!

It's all of their first years to play ball!! They are all loving it!

Time must fly!

Time must fly by because I didn't realize I hadn't typed anything for about a month!  With all 3 kids in baseball/softball life has been a little crazy!  The first week of April we went to Arkansas and had a great visit with my mom for a few days.  She also threw a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese for Mikayla while we were there.  Mikayla turned 7 (speaking of time flying)!  Then we traveled a little north to see Isaac's sister, Aria and family.  We had a fabulous time seeing them for just a short time (long enough for dinner), and went to a rib place that had the largest ribs we've ever seen.  Their little boy is so full of energy.  My mother-in-law says he's just like Isaac was when he was little.  That same evening we drove to Isaac's mom's house.  We had a wonderful visit there as well.  Isaac's stepsister brought her little girls up to play with our girls for an afternoon, and one of my best friend's from college brought up her little girls to visit with us for an evening.  It was just great to visit with everyone.
The rest of April is somewhat of a blur of baseball/softball, Isaac's drill weekends, roadshow practices for Jacob, me still being Primary president.....wow life is crazy busy. 
I find myself missing Maureen a lot.  Our lives are pretty busy and we dont' get to talk as frequently as we used to.  I told Isaac that I need a friend, a girl friend in him...LOL!  It's easier to talk to her during a commute, however, with gas prices, Isaac and I have been carpooling together.  So I really enjoy visiting with him, which results in not talking with Maureen.  It's somewhat of a double-edged sword!
Anyway, yesterday was Erica's birthday.  We made it very special for her.  I can't remember the last time we broke the Sabbath day and purchased something on a Sunday....but we did yesterday.  With bowling, baseball, softball, roadshow practice, roadshow performance, roadshow cast party....Saturday was a little full.  So Sunday, we did our traditional donuts for breakfast.  Then we went to church, but left early.  We took the family to see Chimpanzee (a Disney documentary), then to Bugaboo Creek for dinner (Erica's choice).  we got home about 8:30 and the kids headed to bed!
We tried to postpone birthday celebrating to this week, however, we have 4 nights of baseball/softball practices and games and church on the 5th night. 
So.... off to be busy!  I know I will miss it when the kids grow up!

Stay tuned....

With softball and baseball starting up, I realized I have some new things to blog about.  Then I realized that I have not ever blogged about the kids bowling either.  My kids bowl on leagues every Saturday morning.  They are getting better and better.  This is something that I did as a child (from 5 yo - 18 yo).  I loved it.  A few years back we had contemplated starting the kids in bowling, but didn't.  Then last year we started the girls.  Jacob wasn't really interested at the time, but we took him with us every Saturday morning.  After about 2.5 months of him just sitting and watching, he decided it couldn't hurt anything for him to give it a shot.  He had an amazing coach, Coach Jonie.  I don't know if she knew how great she was for Jacob or not, but his confidence grew.  All of his fears of others making fun of him for not being the best, were laid to rest, as that behavior was not permitted, with or without Jonie around, the kids just didn't act like that.  With all 3 of them bowling now, and on their second year, it's fun to watch them try to beat their average, or try to beat their coach like they got to do a few weeks ago.  Two of the kids were invited to a tournament this year, but we declined as the tournament would happen on a Sunday.  So the next time everyone is at bowling, I will have to take a few pictures so we will have them here.

Niagara Falls

Sometimes I really have to step back and thank my Heavenly Father over and over again for leading me to such a marvelous man.  Isaac is truly remarkable.  He completely surprised me with a trip to Niagara Falls.  It was so amazingly beautiful.  Our room at the Embassy Suites was overlooking the falls as well.  We took a tour to go down beside and behind the falls and then toured around on the American side as well.

                                          This is the view from our room!

                                       The horse shoe falls were so amazing!

             This is my favorite view.  And can you believe this is not zoomed in at all?

Needless to say, we had a wonderful time.  Might I suggest Niagara for your next getaway weekend, or week day trip (Wed - Fri ) like we did!!

My Valentine's Date

Isaac and I had a phenomenal time at the Armed Forces ball!!

Freezer Cooking...

It's probably called something else, but I've seen lots and lots of info recently about having a big cooking day and freezing meals!  Have you ever tried this?  Likes, Dislikes?  It just seems that with mine and my family's busy lives, this would help ensure we didn't stop to have artery clogging fast food.  Help....

Basketball

Watching Mikayla at basketball practice is hilarious!! She could be the very best out there, but really wants to just play around!! At least she will rebound!

Snow Skiing!!!

We put it on the calander in early January that some friends of ours were going snow skiing on the 23 (a day of no school)!  So Isaac and I prepared on Saturday to go on Monday.  We rose early to get there early, they're only open from 9-5.  We got there about 9:30, signed all the waivers, got all of our equipment, and arrived for our group lesson.  Since there are 5 of us, there were only 2 people in our group that were not a Ralston! 
The lesson went well.  Jacob, Erica, and I all listened and worked hard to follow instructions.  Poor Isaac spent most of his lesson helping Mikayla who did not take to skiing very well!  I think she was the most excited about skiing before we got there.  At the end of the lesson, our instructor told Isaac and i that we should go far away from Mikayla.  To completely leave her alone on the bunny hill slopes.  He wasn't kidding either.

Mikayla during the trip --- So like i stated earlier, Mikayla struggled a bit in the beginning.  She wasn't sure she liked this at all.  I actually saw her at one point sitting and playing in the snow.  So during our lunch break, she watched a movie with a friend.  She decided that she wanted to go back out and ski.  No one went with her.  By the time I met back up with her, the place was closing in about 15 minutes and she was smiling from ear to ear and having a blast.  She was sad it was almost time to go.  She was skiing really well.  She would pop off her skiis and walk back up the mountain (using her skis as canes, of course) then ski down! 

Erica during the trip --- Erica never ceases to amaze me.  She is such a dear and never gives up on anything.  Erica started the day falling A LOT.  I think she spent more time trying to roll over and get back up, than she did on her skis.  However, we left her alone as well.  By mid day she was ready to go to the larger bunny hills, then she even made it to the green slopes (the easiest, but still had to ride the chair lift to get there)!  Amazing, right?!

Jacob during the trip --- Jacob is very quick to give up on anything and everything that might be a little difficult for him.  I guess he is afraid to fail, so would rather sit out than not try at all.  So he went through the lesson, tried a couple more bunny hills, then did the escalator lift with Isaac and fell.  he quickly decided he was done.  He went inside and Isaac was pretty sure he cried a little.  Lucky for us, one of his Young Men leaders from church came by and asked about Jacob.  Brother Harmon went to find him.  Before we knew it, it was lunch time and Jacob was having a blast.  Jacob conquered all the green slopes and even went down 2 of the blues.  LIKE WOW!!!!  Isaac and I were so incredibly proud of him.  I'm so glad he decided to go back out with his friends and Bro Harmon.

Isaac during the trip --- you probably remember that Isaac didn't get to participate much in the lesson.  He must've heard a few things, because before i knew it, Isaac was a pro!!  He was encouraging the rest of us.  Isaac seemed to have a blast.  I'm not sure if skiing was what he was most excited about, or just getting to be with us, but he was super happy all day!

Me during the trip --- you can imagine that I was excited for everyone to get to go.  The time together would be priceless, but there was a pretty big part of me that was scared.  After my year of injuries (being in the hospital in May, hurting my ankle shortly after that, breaking my knee cap shortly after that), and knowing that I blew my knee snow skiing when I was a senior in high school, i was scared!  The instructor during our lesson thought I was doing great.  Isaac was also very encouraging.  I just knew in my heart that there are no "take backs" if you get hurt!  LOL!  So i had a lot of fun playing around on the bunny slopes.  I then worked up enough gumption to go up on the escalator lift and go down that bunny slope!  I did that with Erica and Isaac!  Lots of fun.

I hope we have enough money to go back on the Feb 20 for President's Day...the next Monday that we are off work and there's no school!!!  Thank you Wisp Resort for having cheap Mondays!!!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

So, during our crazy day this past Saturday (I posted about it in the Asking for Help post), you may recall that I handed off Mikayla to a fellow teammate's mom for transportation between basketball pictures and basketball game.  Well, when I returned to her game to watch, I sat beside this particular mom.  She caught me up on the game happenings, then started talking about the car ride.  She said that Mikayla got in her vehicle and said "Wow! Why is your car so messy?" As I started to apologize, she stopped me and said, "no, it really is messy in there".  Anyway, she explained to Mikayla that it would seem that they have one of everything in their minivan.  Very cleverly, Mikayla resonded with, "Then why are there three basketballs?"!!
Needless to say, I was very glad to see her laughing as she recalled the situation.  Mikayla doesn't really miss a beat!!  I guess that's why we adore her so!

Happy Tuesday!!

Asking for Help

So, for those of you that know me, you know I don't really ask for help very often.  However, with Isaac out of town this weekend, I had to ask for help.  So many people actually helped.  I guess it goes to show that if you actually ask, people are willing!  But yesterday, my 3 children were supposed to be in 3 different places all at the same time.  Erica and Mikayla both had basketball pictures at 2 different schools, then basketball games at 2 different schools from even pictures!!  Jacob had a Scouting Event where they helped run a food drive for an elderly community. Erica also had a birthday party to attend...it was a really good friend or we may have skipped that one. There really was no way I could've made all that happen without help.  So after I took the 3 of them for their bowling leagues, I took Erica to her place and asked her coach for help.  Then I stopped at Mikayla's place and asked a fellow teammate's parent for help.  Then on our way for Jacob to find his Scout shirt, we called and arranged for a ride to his event, and the ride even offered arrangements for Jacob to get home!  So I left home after dropping Jacob and went to Mikayla's basketball game, then after that one, headed over for Erica's game, but I had missed it, and her sweet coach waited for me to arrive.  Got home in time to gather my stuff for "It's Great to be 8" that I was in charge of at church.  I'm so glad I thought enough in advance to remember to plan out the program and make all the copies and the gift bags in advance....cuz there certainly wouldn't have been enough time during the day to make that all happen!
All in all, I'm so grateful that I was surrounded by people who were willing to help me.  What a blessing it was to see the kindness of others shine through!

Loss in the Family

I've been a part of Isaac's family for about 15 years now.  In that time, I've been loved and have loved all of them as if we've been in the same family for all my 36 years.  Well, Isaac's sister lost her second full-term baby this week.  We have all been very sad, but I simply cannot imagine how she is doing.  Her and her husband have dealt with the loss of 2 children and his father passing away, all within 4 years. 
Isaac has flown there to be with them for the funeral which will be tomorrow.  I hope and pray that A & E grow closer together as a couple and as a family with their son through this very difficult time.  And even when the family members have all gone back home, they know how much they are loved and prayed for daily.

Dear Sweet Oldest Child of Mine

My son is such a little terd sometimes!  Because he's a history buff, he's really been questioning 'where we came from' and different things about what we believe, etc...  So, we've expressed to him that he needs to pray earnestly and read his scriptures, because he can't just go off of what Isaac and I believe, he needs to trust in his own beliefs.  I guess he had some sort of revelation and hadn't shared that with us because last Sunday during testimony meeting he shared. 
I should preface this with the fact that I'm the Primary President now and with the beginning of the year, we divided the primary into Junior/Senior primaries again (like I can't believe anyone would ever have 3-11 year olds all together anyway....and i don't even care about numbers).  We also meet from 1:00-4:00 this year, so the previous primary isn't out until 2:00 and we are supposed to come in by 2:20.  So i snuck out of Sacrament at 2:03 to go make sure the room was ready... and it seemed that testimony meeting was slowing down!  Well, low and behold, my son got up!  He stood up at the mic and began with "I figured since my dad is working, and my mom just stepped out, that now is the perfect chance for me to get up here"!  LOL!!  Anyway, he went on to say that he'd been questioning a lot of things and finally got his answer and felt good about it and wanted to share. 
Needless to say, I found it funny how he began his testimony and am super proud of him..............but still i wish i would've heard it with my own mommy ears!!
Have a Happy Day!!

New Year, New Post

So I know I haven't written for almost a year!! However, in that year, I've been very busy.... We moved to a new town in Maryland... Gaithersburg! Also this past year I went through 5 weeks of physical therapy for my ankle, which ended up being my arch. Then, shortly after that, I broke my knee cap. So I spent all summer in a long knee stabilizing brace.
Let's see...we planned to go to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, but 2 weeks before, Isaac broke his ankle.
Jacob is in 7th grade now, Erica in 4th, and Mikayla in 1st!! They are growing up so fast. In 2 years we will start our like 7 year stint of having kids in Seminary! LOL!
Now that I realize I can post from work, and can't Facebook from work, I will have to get on her more often. I read some of my old stories that probably would've been forgotten had I not kept it in a blog!! So, I guess I won't have a lot of memories from 2011, but 2012 will the year of blogging for me!! So many funny, happy, sad, crazy things happen, I need to work harder to blog so I can remember.