Thursday, June 20, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
I should be preparing my lesson for Relief Society this Sunday, but in the spirit of true procrastination I decided to do another long overdue blog post. Let me just say that I have a new found respect for women who by no choice of their own are single moms. I cannot for the life of me figure out why any woman would make a conscious choice to be a single mom. Let me just say for the record this is hard work and kids need their dads and I need my husband. For pete's sake you can only have conversations with the under 13 crowd for so long before you completely lose your mind! Tomas has been a huge help and I am so proud of Scott for the great work that he's doing in the legislature but really let's just thank our lucky stars for the word of wisdom. When I get really stressed out, I just run to 7-11 for a Diet Coke and all is right with the world again.
Okay so Christmas was chaotic! My wonderful dad came down a few weeks before Christmas and we did major house work...and I don't mean cleaning. By the time it was all done I felt like maybe we should have just razed the thing to the ground and started from scratch. At the end of the day..I mean weeks, the house looked better than it ever has and I spent the weeks before and the weeks after consolidating, boxing up, going to DI and in the end my house was cleaner than it's ever been! We put our house on the market the 2nd week in March, I was sure it wasn't going to sell for what we were asking and I was going to hold out because seriously I'm going to pack up the rest of my house and move while Scott's in Carson City...REALLLY....uh NO! We had 8 offers in 5 days and made a little more than we were asking...AND it was a cash buyer who was willing to rent back to us month to month. It was an unbelievable answer to prayer. The Lord is truly mindful of us because although it made no logical sense for us to put our house on the market it was a huge blessing. So where, you ask are we going...don't know! I haven't even looked at houses yet. I know we'll be staying in Scott's senate district...that's it.
Kiddos are doing great Tomas is 13 can you believe it...he's going to start going to stake dances and youth conference and all that stuff in just a few months...yikes. The good news is that hopefully it will motivate him to good hygiene. I had to practically fumigate his room and leave the windows open and fan on whenever someone wanted to see the house. Thank heavens it was only on the market a week because really keeping your house that kind of clean can make you crazed. It was all good as long as the kids were at school. But I digress...Tomas has been a huge help. He had a blast in Carson City during spring break, he became somewhat of a fixture around the legislative building and he and the governor are old friends now. Tomas loved hanging out with the secretary of the senate and I think he was most admiring of him because he reads so fast, and Tomas, the speed reader, may have aspirations to that position! Scott loved hanging out with him and I think it was great bonding time. I on the other hand gained some valuable insights into shopping with my 3 little girls, and that is that I will NEVER as long as I live subject myself to shopping by myself with these 3 girls ever again at least until they're over 10. I love them dearly, but they are a bad combination in any type of shopping venue. I could go on and on, but we'll leave it at that!
Livie is getting so excited for her baptism. She reminds her grandparents every single time that she talks to them when her baptism will be. She is doing well in school and loves her teacher. She has lots of friends and has really learned to stand up for herself which is a direct result of being harassed by her younger sister! She is doing really well in piano and her teacher says she's a natural. In the beginning I had to beg her to practice and now I cannot get her off the piano. I have to kindly remind her that after we've heard the same song for the 427th time that it's sufficient practice for one day. She is a collector of everything...and between her and Sofia I think we may have a miniature hoarding problem. I have to sneak in their room while their at school and throw stuff away. If I throw ANY piece of paper away from school and they see it in the garbage it's traumatic. So I also have to take the trash out after cleaning their room. I pray that they can each have their own room at least Sofia...enough said.
Sofia, oh my Sofia! Kindergarten has been fantastic. I cannot say enough about her teacher who runs her class like a military academy...bless her soul. She is exactly what Sofia needed and let me say...she is a perfect angel and school. Which begs the question why is she so naughty at home. Believe me I've asked that question many times and you know what her response is...she laughs! She's doing really well in school and has lots of friends, she's very sweet at school and no one believes that she is anything but a total sweetheart outside of school and church. Well thank the heavens above that she doesn't behave at school like she does at home. There must be some really important mission for her on earth other than to test me to my absolute limits!
Sweetie Isa she is a sweetheart with a smile that will melt your heart, however if you cross her--watch out! Yes, another strong willed little girl. I can't imagine what these kids are going to have to face. We know that they've been held for the last days, that must be why they need to be so strong willed. Now if we can just keep them going on the right path! Anyway, Isa is a charmer. She doesn't like much of anything when it comes to food she's my hardest child to feed. She loves cheetos and oreos, she used to love apples but now she chews them up and spits them out which she does with several foods. The two staples for her are spaghetti which she LOVES and eggs. She also loves to take everything out of the cupboards and watch videos with Tomas on his kindle.
Well folks I'm running out of steam. I'm going to search for a few pictures of the kiddos to give you a glimpse of these cuties. Until I have another excuse to write....
Okay so Christmas was chaotic! My wonderful dad came down a few weeks before Christmas and we did major house work...and I don't mean cleaning. By the time it was all done I felt like maybe we should have just razed the thing to the ground and started from scratch. At the end of the day..I mean weeks, the house looked better than it ever has and I spent the weeks before and the weeks after consolidating, boxing up, going to DI and in the end my house was cleaner than it's ever been! We put our house on the market the 2nd week in March, I was sure it wasn't going to sell for what we were asking and I was going to hold out because seriously I'm going to pack up the rest of my house and move while Scott's in Carson City...REALLLY....uh NO! We had 8 offers in 5 days and made a little more than we were asking...AND it was a cash buyer who was willing to rent back to us month to month. It was an unbelievable answer to prayer. The Lord is truly mindful of us because although it made no logical sense for us to put our house on the market it was a huge blessing. So where, you ask are we going...don't know! I haven't even looked at houses yet. I know we'll be staying in Scott's senate district...that's it.
Kiddos are doing great Tomas is 13 can you believe it...he's going to start going to stake dances and youth conference and all that stuff in just a few months...yikes. The good news is that hopefully it will motivate him to good hygiene. I had to practically fumigate his room and leave the windows open and fan on whenever someone wanted to see the house. Thank heavens it was only on the market a week because really keeping your house that kind of clean can make you crazed. It was all good as long as the kids were at school. But I digress...Tomas has been a huge help. He had a blast in Carson City during spring break, he became somewhat of a fixture around the legislative building and he and the governor are old friends now. Tomas loved hanging out with the secretary of the senate and I think he was most admiring of him because he reads so fast, and Tomas, the speed reader, may have aspirations to that position! Scott loved hanging out with him and I think it was great bonding time. I on the other hand gained some valuable insights into shopping with my 3 little girls, and that is that I will NEVER as long as I live subject myself to shopping by myself with these 3 girls ever again at least until they're over 10. I love them dearly, but they are a bad combination in any type of shopping venue. I could go on and on, but we'll leave it at that!
Livie is getting so excited for her baptism. She reminds her grandparents every single time that she talks to them when her baptism will be. She is doing well in school and loves her teacher. She has lots of friends and has really learned to stand up for herself which is a direct result of being harassed by her younger sister! She is doing really well in piano and her teacher says she's a natural. In the beginning I had to beg her to practice and now I cannot get her off the piano. I have to kindly remind her that after we've heard the same song for the 427th time that it's sufficient practice for one day. She is a collector of everything...and between her and Sofia I think we may have a miniature hoarding problem. I have to sneak in their room while their at school and throw stuff away. If I throw ANY piece of paper away from school and they see it in the garbage it's traumatic. So I also have to take the trash out after cleaning their room. I pray that they can each have their own room at least Sofia...enough said.
Sofia, oh my Sofia! Kindergarten has been fantastic. I cannot say enough about her teacher who runs her class like a military academy...bless her soul. She is exactly what Sofia needed and let me say...she is a perfect angel and school. Which begs the question why is she so naughty at home. Believe me I've asked that question many times and you know what her response is...she laughs! She's doing really well in school and has lots of friends, she's very sweet at school and no one believes that she is anything but a total sweetheart outside of school and church. Well thank the heavens above that she doesn't behave at school like she does at home. There must be some really important mission for her on earth other than to test me to my absolute limits!
Sweetie Isa she is a sweetheart with a smile that will melt your heart, however if you cross her--watch out! Yes, another strong willed little girl. I can't imagine what these kids are going to have to face. We know that they've been held for the last days, that must be why they need to be so strong willed. Now if we can just keep them going on the right path! Anyway, Isa is a charmer. She doesn't like much of anything when it comes to food she's my hardest child to feed. She loves cheetos and oreos, she used to love apples but now she chews them up and spits them out which she does with several foods. The two staples for her are spaghetti which she LOVES and eggs. She also loves to take everything out of the cupboards and watch videos with Tomas on his kindle.
Well folks I'm running out of steam. I'm going to search for a few pictures of the kiddos to give you a glimpse of these cuties. Until I have another excuse to write....
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Well, I hate to admit it, but I've become one of "those" bloggers! You know who I'm talking about, those moms who start a blog with all the best intentions and a ton of enthusiasm. They blog about all the exciting events in their lives and they post a million pictures of their wonderful children weekly, daily, maybe even hourly. And then life gets in the way of the excitement of blogging and before you know it, days, weeks, and months go by and it's nothin' but crickets on that beloved blog.
So, I'm here to drown out those crickets, at least for the moment--not going to say how long before the next post, but my intentions are good. And speaking of crickets, my gosh I feel like the Mormon pioneers all of a sudden there are swarms of crickets everywhere---YUCK!! Fall is officially here and hopefully that means a break from the bugs soon--we're all the way down to the 90's and I'm about ready to break out my parka. We went up to Mt. Charleston the other day and nearly froze to death it must have been maybe 75--I'm not kidding I was freezing. See how the desert play tricks on you!
Well, enough of my rambling, let's talk about life in the Hammond Family. I'm not kidding when I say that it is C-R-A-Z-Y! I know I've been saying that for years, but this time I really mean it. The kids have been in school 3 weeks now and I'll admit that I just remembered that I forgot to take pictures on the first day of school--I know, what kind of mother forgets to take pictures on the first day of school especially with a new kindergartener. Umm that would be me, I'm so frazzled by the time we get everybody in the car, the last thing on my mind is taking pictures, but we're still going to do it before all of their uniform shirts are stained and faded. I'm really going to try and do that tomorrow. I'm telling you, you'll never know that the pictures were taken on the 22nd day and not the first except for the fact that I just confessed. I really almost cried when I dropped Sofia off at her first day of kindergarten--really I almost did--it was one of the happiest days of my life. Bless here little heart--I love her dearly but she and I desperately needed full-day kindergarten! Furthermore, to my utter amazement some miracle happens once she enters that gate of the school and that wild and crazy 5 year old transforms into a little angel. I don't know how or why but so far my fears on her getting kicked out of kindergarten have been allayed. She's doing amazingly well and we've always known that she is dangerously smart. Sof is still doing gymnastics which she loves and I love because it wears her out. She is very persistent, she wanted to know how to tie her shoe so she asked the P.E. aide to help her. The aide sat her down and gave her a shoe and she kept trying until she got it. She did the same thing yesterday with a hula hoop--she had no idea how to do it but she would not give up until she got it.
Liv is in 2nd grade and of course, her teacher adores her. She is just so sweet and helpful, although she doesn't take crap from Sof any more, she definitely stands up for herself. She is always quick with compliments and loves to help out with anything I need. She decided to do Piano this year instead of dance class and she's doing really well, in fact her teacher just told me that she has really good natural ability. She has lots of friends at school, but let me tell you, this girl drama thing is something! When Tomas was in elementary school our conversations went something like this:
Me: "Tomas who did you play with today?'
Tomas: "I don't know"
Me: "Who are your friends?'
Tomas: "I can't remember"
Me: "What did you do in school today?"
Tomas: "I don't know"
Me: "Okay, well I guess everything's great"
Tomas: "uh huh"
Conversation with Olivia
Me "Olvia who did you play with today?'
Olivia: "Well, I played with X, Y , Z but A was being mean and she said she didn't like my hair and then Y was crying because a boy stepped on her foot and then I told the teacher that those mean boys were chasing us, and then X said Z wasn't her friend anymore and then...and then...and then...and then...........!
Me: "Really" (my head is spinning and I'm thinking I can't believe she's already in 7th grade...WAIT....she's only in 2nd grade!)
Me: "Um so you had a good day?"
Olivia; "NO---IT WAS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!"
Boys and Girls....oh so different!
Tomas, oh Tomas prepubescent, hormones starting to rage, almost 13 year old sweet Tomas. Hmmm well he doesn't like girls yet, you know how I know? Because I have to constantly remind him to put on deodorant, take a shower, wash his hair, change his clothes and brush his teeth. 13 year old boys are stinky, but Scott assures me that it's not just the boys. I've seriously thought about buying a whole bag of trial sized deodorants and givng them to all of those saintly middle school teachers to pass out to those darling stinky middle kids. My very shy little boy has found his social self and a few of his teachers have told me that he can get a little chatty in class. I look around and say "you're not talking about my kid..are you???? He doesn't speak to anyone." Who is this 13 year old boy and what have you done with my baby? He's still playing piano and doing really well. Scott has sufficiently brainwashed him to eat drink and sleep Yankee baseball. He has great friends and loves scouting and FINALLY he got his braces off. I have threatened him with his life if he does anything to mess up that smile that cost more than my car!
Little Isa aka monkey girl is a climbing machine. She absolutely knows what she is not supposed to climb on and when we turn our backs and she climbs she laughs and laughs and laughs! And this girl loves to laugh. Really, she smiles all the time and when she thinks something is really funny particularly something she has done she scrunches up her face in a huge smile until her eyes disappear. She can also hold her own, if you mess with her, she will bite and scratch and scream. She is really such a good baby and always makes us laugh.
I just love 'em all. They cause me so much stress and I wouldn't trade them for the world because they are the greatest joy in my life.
What's happening with Scott....Scott....Scott who?? Just kidding. Seriously he is so busy being a full-time teacher part-time legislator, state senate candidate, part-time university lecturer, student council adviser, basketball coach, young men's secretary, husband and father. He's got a few things on his plate and he's working hard at all of them. He debated his opponent who is trying to sell herself as a conservative because that's what dems do and I know some of you want to watch the debate they had last week so here it is (debate) you may laugh at the conservative part after you watch the debate. Anyway, he also did a video that I thought turned out really great that you can see here.
Scott Hammond For State Senate from Jacob Hansen on Vimeo.
He really is so passionate about his job as a legislator because just like his job as a teacher, he just cares so much about people. I went with him to a dinner last night where we got to hear Glenn Beck speak and it was awesome. What I most appreciated about his speech was that he focused almost solely on the importance of character and morals (refreshing) and I was truly moved to tears to hear someone in a secular setting express that "without God there is no Freedom!" I just wanted to stand up and shout AMEN BROTHER!
Me...well what can I say that I haven't already said! Surviving the chaos, trying to get the house in shape so that we MIGHT be able to sell it not getting my hopes up, but let me just say this I am working my tail off and I'm still waiting to see the light at the end of the tunnel...jobs left to do fix the backyard sprinklers, sod the backyard, paint all the doors and trim, paint the door hardware, new baseboards in the bedrooms, new carpet in the bedrooms and then CLEAN AGAIN! The list of things I've done in the last couple months is even longer, but we'll get there.
Life is crazy, hectic, frustrating, stressful and awesome!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
I know, I know...I have so much catching up to do, but not nearly enough time right now! For now, if you want to watch Scott's debate click here
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
WOW, what a year 2011 was for us! If you would have told me mid 2010 what 2011 was going to be like, I would have never believed it. It was an exciting and eventful year. Scott LOVED, LOVED, LOVED serving in the legislature, and he truly has the perfect personality for that job. He's on the campaign trail again, running for the state senate this time. Lots of hard work ahead in 2012. The kids started a new school this year which has been awesome, a bit of a commute, but well worth it! T. has taken up guitar and continues to play piano, he likes both but will never admit that he likes playing the piano. He only admits to liking baseball--that's it! O. is a laugh a minute as always. She has some drama to tell us about everyday on the ride home from school--girls are so funny! She and S. got art easels for Christmas because they both absolutely love drawing and coloring. Art is O.'s favorite "special" at school and T.'s least favorite. T. loves P.E. and O. hates it, not enough water breaks! O. loves playing with the baby and I. adores her. S. oh my little trial--I love her but I hope she doesn't destroy the house along with my sanity. I have never been so excited for kindergarten! She really misses having O. to play with, but they get along much better when they only get a few hours a day to play together. S. loves gymnastics and I love watching her run around the gym and burn off a ton of energy! I. sweet little I. what a good little baby she is! She smiles all the time and laughs at the kids. She is rolling around the house and will be crawling very soon.
So, there you have it. Didn't even need a Christmas card!
The kids had so much fun with their cousins. We all had a great time together!!
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