gibeault family

Before ~ After

2010-06-15T23:29:00.001-07:00

Ok so this isn't really the "after" yet because I still have 15 lbs to go, but I just had to post a before and almost there so you can see that I have really been working hard at this. So what do you think? Can you see a difference?

May

2010-06-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

So it was kind of a busy and hectic month last month. There were many times I wanted to post, but just did not get around to it.

The biggest event was Collin turning 12 this year.

His birthday was on Friday the 21st so we went to Odyssey 1 to play laser tag with a bunch of his buddies.

It was great because I didn't have to stress out about cleaning my house and we got to leave our mess for someone else to clean up! The kids had a great time. They got to play 2 rounds of laser tag (uh hummm which emma came in first place both times, collin came in 2nd both times) and then I bought them a bunch of tokens to play the arcade games and stuff. We had pizza and soda and Collin's cookie cake. He doesn't really like real cake or ice cream so that is what he chose this year.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the birthday bash...

We were supposed to pick up Ryan since his parents were both out of town, but silly me, I did not write myself a note and I completely forgot on that day when we were running around crazy trying to get everything ready to go. Collin remembered that night when we were getting ready for bed and I felt such guilt that I had him call Ryan at 10:30pm to tell him how sorry we were and that we would pick him up the next day to hang out and do something fun. Today is June 1st and I still feel bad! Poor Stitch!

So the next day we picked Ryan up and I took them out to lunch and then to the movie Iron Man 2. I got them all set up with their tickets and food and then left them to watch the movie! I think they had a good time. They hung out the rest of the day at our house and then spent the night over at Ryan's house.

Then Sunday Collin got the priesthood. This was really special since he is the first boy in our family to get the priesthood at 12. Michael is a convert so he got the priesthood when he joined the church as an adult. I think Collin was embarrassed to have me in there as the only woman among all the men and boys AND embarrassed to have to hug me after the ordinance. The counselor in the bishopric whispered to him "hug your mom" when he was shaking his hand. He hugged me though! We took some pictures when we got home and the boys were really annoyed with me because they wanted to go do other stuff...I always realize after having Michael take pictures that someone who is almost 7 feet tall should really not be taking pictures of 5 foot tall subjects.
We also had the art show for Carson. I was the art docent for Collin's class so I had to get all their art up and labeled for the show which turned out nice. I don't like it near as well as the way they did the art show at Brouillet, but oh well. At Carson they have all the art in the hallways around the school and it so does not feel the same as having it all in the gym together.

Collin started track practice in May and has his first track meet coming up this week. He is competing in the ball throw and there is only room for the top 3 competitors since there are so many kids. He is in the number 1 spot. Should be fun to see how he does at the meet. He is doing track this year because somebody forgot to sign him up for baseball. Collin was pretty upset about that because it was his first year in the major league and would have been his 8th consecutive year playing baseball. I guess there is always next year right? Hopefully he will not be passed up after not playing for a year.

Anyhow, it was my Dad's birthday on May 27th and will be six years on June 13th that he has been gone. I really miss him a ton. I think about him most when my kids do something funny or say something that I would want to tell him. Other things that remind me of him are when we call the kids the nicknames he gave them. He really was such a great man. He was a wonderful father and an even greater Papaw if that is possible. Clare and I have been talking about him a lot lately. When I think of him I tell her about my memories because she is the only one who doesn't have her own memories of him. She always says she wishes she could see him and talk to him. She's very compassionate too because she will say to me "I don't want to make you feel bad since your Dad isn't here anymore, but I really wish he was" or something to that effect. She is very aware of other people's feelings and I hope she stays that way. I miss my dad all the time when exciting things happen that I would love to share with him.

I absolutely love the way he is laughing in this picture!

Collin's Phone

2010-05-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

So we told our kids when Ciera started begging for a cell phone years ago that they could have one when they turned 13. Ciera got her first phone (pay as you go) when she turned 13 and she lost it after not too long. We got her a pay as you go to see how much she would use it before buying a real one because we really weren't sure how much she would use it. After she got her first real phone she didn't ever lose it again.

Collin had been working on me for a while and had been asking if he could have a phone. He is turning 12 in May so I was thinking about it but hadn't made my decision yet. He is generally more responsible than Ciera so I was leaning towards yes. Plus there wasn't anything else he REALLY wanted for his birthday.

I started having issues with my blackberry in March so by the beginning of April I had had enough of t-mobile and decided one day to just go get a new phone. I decided on the iphone after much deliberation and talking to lots and lots of people about what the best phone was out there and it was pretty unanymous that it was the iphone. Since I was switching carriers, Michael and Ciera had to get a new phone also. Collin asked on the way out the door if he could go to the cell phone store with us so he came along.

Long story short he talked me into it. I caved.

He had his phone for about a month. THEN, we got a call after school one day from Collin in a panic that his phone had fallen out of his jacket pocket! Michael ran up to the school and helped him look all over for it and they couldn't find it anywhere. Collin was REALLY upset about it and asked if I would buy him another phone instead of paying for a birthday party this year. I said Um no...the first phone is on me, the second one is on you buddy.

He didn't like that so he began his mantra of "I hope someone turns in my phone at school today". We said a few very specific prayers that someone would be honest and turn it in. I was thinking in my mind that it would be a "kid" being honest, I was never thinking it would be a parent. I guess that's why heavenly father is in charge and not me.

About a week and a half to the day of it being lost a parent called the school and said their daughter had a cell phone they had not bought for her. The girl claimed to be sharing it with her friend. So the mom asked if anyone had reported this phone missing. As soon as the woman started describing it to the office lady she called Collin out of class to ask him what his phone number on his cell phone was because he had been checking in at the office about FIVE times a day and they knew well what his phone looked like. As soon as they confirmed the number on the cell phone was Collin's, the parents made an apt to come in the next day to talk to the assistant principal with their child and returned the phone.

The girl got suspended for "stealing" and Collin got his phone back.

Only he didn't. When Michael went in to pick up the phone, Collin was in the principal's office for talking back to his teacher. So he's grounded from the computer and his phone right now, but at least we got it back!

Yeehaw baby! I have a really good track record of getting stolen cell phones back (because I just can't let things go) so I am going to add this to the list even though I didn't have to do anything to get this one back!

Easter ~ April

2010-04-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

Well it sure feels like it has been a crazy busy month for me! We did a few things with Clare this year that we had never done. Kind of funny because she is 6 years old, but when we got to talking about it figured out that the big kids had grown out of this stuff and we moved here when Clare was 1 so we really didn't know what was going on here in our city (ok that sounds like an excuse, but I'm telling you the truth).

So this year for Easter Clare got to dye eggs for the first time (I think my mom might have helped her do this once when she was younger so let's say this is the first time she remembers) and we took her to an easter egg hunt right in our neighborhood at the big park...they had 10,000 eggs and it was done in a few minutes flat! CRAZY. It was super cold that morning too so we made Clare and her friend open the eggs in the truck!

We went over to Lori's for dinner and had a fabulous time as usual! I love the holidays...well except for any that fall in the month of December! =)

In other news, Ciera's boyfriend James and his family moved to Virginia last week. Ciera was very sad to see him go. His mom was one of my really good friends so we all went out to dinner at my VERY favorite restaurant for her going away dinner.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that my beautiful blond haired daughter died her hair dark brown? The jury is still out!

This is NOT a new year's resolution!

2010-02-17T22:08:00.000-08:00

So I haven't really blogged about my "lifestyle change" because it has started out slow going, but I am at a point where I feel like I need to keep track of what my goals are and what is happening so I am going to start documenting it here.

In September I changed my eating habits by just eating less and trying to make healthier choices when I did eat. Between September and beginning of November I had lost 15 lbs. I started working out at Callaway in the middle of November and have since not lost any wieght at all. This can be hard, frustrating and definitely not motivating. The good news is that I have gone down 2 pants sizes so my body is changing and I may be gaining muscle which will cause me to "gain" weight rather than losing it in the beginning.

I feel like so much of what we weigh is psychological. The overall theme that sticks in my mind is that I haven't lost any weight after working hard for 3 months even though I should be celebrating that I can fit into a smaller size pair of jeans! It is hard to change a behavior that you have had all of your life = what the scale says is all that matters. I need to stay focused and positive and concentrate on the good changes that are happening.

I decided to join the zumba challenge after much deliberation with Sarah (my very own personal trainer) because I think it will help motivate me to do better and try harder and also assist me in making the changes I want to make. I have 30 pounds to lose still, but more importantly is what I look like than what I end up weighing.

To qualify for the zumba challenge you have to do zumba 3 times a week. You get 3 sessions with a trainer and an assesment in the beginning to go over where you are now and what your goals are. At the end there will be three winners, but the prizes are yet to be announced. We did hear that one of the prizes before was a year membership to the gym and a spa treatment or two.

So this week I had my assesment and I feel like it was very helpful in the way that now my goals are even more clear. I am going to buy the bodybugg in a week or two and then I hope to be on my way to even better nutrition. I feel like I am being more healthy in my choices, however, the big stumbling block for me is my cherry pepsi. I got myself down to just drinking one a day. Then I went to one every other day. I was finally only drinking 2 a week and so close to being down to none...then I got sick. It was just a cold but a really bad one and all I wanted was to drink soda every day so I did. Bad, bad, bad.

So now I am back to where I started but I don't think I am going to mess around with wiening myself off of it again. I am starting today just quitting cold turkey. I have never done this before so we will see how this goes.

Up until this point I have basically been working out each evening. I would do zumba on monday night after doing my weight lifting routine and then the rest of the week I would lift and then do 30 minutes of cardio. Except for wednesday which was a rest day. NOW I am going to do zumba 3 days a week in the morning (including wednesday) and one evening and still lift 4 days a week. Supposedly by following this schedule I will be at my goal by the middle of June. That is the only part that I am not sure about. I have no problem taking this slow as long as I continue to improve...but being at my goal in just four short months? I am not so sure about that.

Ok, I have voiced my concerns, from here on out it is only positive thinking!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-31T12:19:00.000-08:00

I have to hurry up and post about Christmas because today is the last day of 2009. I have always loved pictures from a young age; it was a love the was bred into me by my dad at a very young age. However, a few years ago I went through a really hard time and lost my zeal for picture taking. I found that the thing that has carried over from that hard time is my lack of photos.

Every year we have at least 3 Christmases. We always have Christmas Eve at Michael's moms house, Christmas morning at our house with my family and Michael's Dad and his wife and then Christmas with Ciera's Grandma, Aunt and cousin. This year I forgot my camera on Christmas Eve and brought my camera to Ciera's Grandma's but the battery was dead. :(

Christmas Eve was laid back and relaxed this year. I misplaced a present in the morning and was frantically searching for it until it was time to leave and LUCKILY found it under the tree where a helpful little elf had placed it without my knowledge. Once I was able to shake off those frantic feelings things were good. The kids had a great time playing ping pong and we had a great dinner as usual. Lori's Lasagna is always a Christmas favorite. The kids all got wonderful gifts and we enjoyed being with our family that we don't see often enough.

I stole these pictures from Heidi's fb page:
The hostess with the mostess, Lori and Bob our token photographer.
Kylie and Clare were Santa's Helpers with their blinking antlers and handed out presents.
Me & Heidi ~ who looks like she is 15 in this picture...I don't know how she does it, she looks so good!

Then on Christmas morning we had our own family Christmas that was pretty sparce this year as times are tough...I think there were a lot of people who cut back this year because of financial hardships and we were no different. Our kids got a gift from Santa and a gift from us. I think they were happy with the gifts they received though because it was something they really wanted. Needless to say, the gift opening didn't take long this year and then we were off to get ready for brunch at our house that was moved up an hour earlier this year since Marcel and Sharon were going to be leaving from our house to drive to Arizona! Our tradition is that the men make brunch and we all enjoy it. This may seem weird but it came about because the first year we bought our house in Kent we decided to have everyone over to our house so we didn't have to try to go to everyone else on Christmas Day. I don't cook so naturally Michael was in the kitchen and he learned to make home made hashbrowns from his Dad so his dad was in the kitchen helping so we sent my brothers and dad in to help too! Works for me!

Michael got some CD's he wanted.
Ciera got a purse.
Collin decided he wants to play bass like his Dad so he got a new guitar.
Clare finally got her own DS. They were all thrilled as they got a gift they really, really wanted.
Michael, Jaime and Marcel getting the food ready.Collin in between his two uncles that he will some day be taller than =) My brothers Tim & Jaime.
Kids opening their presents from grandparents.
We got Marcel and Sharon a 4 piece toaster so when we stay at their house they can make more than 2 pieces at a time!
Clare with my youngest brother's dog, Max and their matching antlers. Poor dog.

Christmas night we go over to Michael's auntie Kathie's so he can play bass while his uncle Steve plays regular guitar. This year his cousin Allison had a new addition to the band as her boyfriend is a musician as well. They jammed for a good while and it was fun to listen to them. We play steal a gift as a tradition at Auntie Kathie's as well. Not as many people were there this year so the game was pretty tame. Michael's cousin Heidi and her family moved across the US so they didn't come home for the holidays this year. Auntie Kathie hid her sadness pretty well as Heidi is her only child. It was definitely not the same without her and her family there. We missed them.

THEN the day after Christmas was our last Christmas with Ciera's Grandma JJ and family. We went up north for this one. The kids were stoked when they opened the gift from Grandma JJ because she got them the top of the line X box 360. We had a nice visit and a great lunch because Jeannette is the best cook ever so she always makes the best meals. I had a nice time visiting with Ciera's Aunt Darlene and will Jeannette when she wasn't busy getting food ready. Ciera and her cousin Bonnie spent their time texting each other while in the same room so we couldn't hear what they were saying. Clare brought her DS so she played that and Collin was playing with one of Grandma JJ's dogs Shadow. By the end of the night Collin and Clare didn't want to leave without Shadow and talked about him all the way home.

We don't get to see Jeannette, Darlene and Bonnie that often because it's a two hour drive to Marysville from here so I am so thankful for the time we do get to spend with them. They are an important part of our family and we wouldn't have it any other way. I REALLY wish I had pictures of that night to post. (my camera battery was dead) Hopefully Darlene or Jeannette got some good pics with their new cameras...if they send me some I will come back and post them here!

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The next day was not another Christmas get together, but it was the same weekend so I am including it here with this post. I have four roommates from college that I was really close to and have remained great friends with over the years. We have done room mate reunions in the past but haven't gotten together for a while. Two of us are here in WA and the one living in Montana right now was going to be in town visiting her husbands family so we had dinner together on Sunday after Christmas. It was so wonderful to visit with these great friends of mine and their families. Whenever we get together it always feels like we are picking up where we left off and that it was just yesterday or like we have never been apart. All of our families have grown so much and it is fun to see the kids interact and play together and so much fun to visit.
Jill, Nicole & Julie second year at Ricks going to a dance. 1994
Nicole, Julie & Jill Christmas 2009 (boy have we changed; sadly I am the only one who is fatter)
Julie, Jill, Nicole in September of 1995 after graduation.

So after four days of being on the go every single day it was nice to get back home and just sit. Although at that time we got some very sad news. The Thomas family, our good friends in our ward, are moving to Virginia. Edna's husband got a job there so he will be leaving shortly and the family will follow once they sell their house. I think Ciera is the most sad since this means her boyfriend will be moving soon... :(

Hope you all enjoyed the Christmas Season that has just past and were able to spend some quality time with the ones you love. I always love being with family even if we are just hanging out...presents are always a bonus too!

Family Photo Shoot

2009-12-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

Went downtown Puyallup to get some different photos this year. We have been taking our yearly picture for Christmas cards and what not at the same place for about 3 years now and I just wanted to do something different this year. I wanted to get our pictures taken by someone else this year, but it didn't work out. So, these are the best of the 108 photos that I took. When I look at the kids in these photos compared to last years all I can say is "wow, what a difference a year makes"!

I look taller than Ciera in this photo because I am standing on part of the tree root! Hahahaha, she really is taller than me now! So sad, I will probably be the shortest one in my whole family once my kids are all done growing!

Oh, and Clare was in rare form that day. I got a full blown tantrum on film. This is going to be fun to pull out at her engagement party!

After our photo session Clare walked in the parade downtown with her class at school. She was very excited to do this and had fun helping to hold the banner.

This day was difficult and eventful and FREEZING cold. Nobody wanted to be out in the cold taking photos. I am glad I got atleast a few I can work with and am still not sure which one I will choose to send out for our Christmas card, but I will say this...

I am thankful to have a nice warm home to live in each day and clean clothes for my family to wear and food to feed them! Clare and I got separated from the rest of the family because we both walked in the parade and let me tell you, waiting for them in the freezing cold at dinner time not knowing how they would find us sure gave me a chance to be reminded of all the things I take for granted daily and am so grateful for!

Halloween

2009-11-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

We made ghosts for FHE one night to decorate our porch. Yes, that is as good as the decorations get at the gibeaults'. I don't usually decorate for any holidays besides Christmas. So once we got our pumpkins on the porch with our Halloween wreath on the door our house looked festive. Here are the kids ghosts.

We carved our pumpkins at the Larsons' for FHE the week of Halloween. Collin did his own and Michael helped Clare and Ciera did her own. Ciera wins this year for most original. Her pumpkin had a heart on one side, a computer smiley :) on another side and the last side said "love you JST" which are the initials of her boyfriend (they just celebrated their month~a~versary she said).

On Halloween Ciera went over to Mia's to watch scary movies and the rest of us went over the the Larsons'. The Dad's took the kids trick or treating and the mom's stayed back to watch Shelby converse with the kids who came trick or treating at her house. She commented on each set of kids that came to the door and told them all to be careful and watch for cars! That was more amusing than Sarah making us watch football while there were no dudes even in the house!

The first thing the kids did when they got home was dump out all their candy and start the trading!!! I thought this was funny. Collin watched football with the Bowles and learned a thing or two! Anna and Clare, as always were inseperable. Fun, fun!

Clare's Unfortunate Hospital Stay

2009-10-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

Last week on Monday Clare told me that her ear was hurting when she woke up. For any of you who have known Clare since birth, you know that means something bad is going on with her ear since she had chronic ear infections once a month for the first two years of her life and had ear drums burst and tubes and all kinds of fun stuff. So I took her to the doctor and sure enough she had a double ear infection and no other symptoms of anything what so ever. The doc gave us antibiotics and sent us on our way.

Bed time Tuesday night I noticed Clare was sneezing a lot and had a runny nose. By the middle of the night she came to my bed saying she didn't feel good at all. In the morning I got Collin off to school and kept Clare home. All day she laid in my bed whining every few seconds and did not want me to leave her side. She wouldn't get up to go to the bathroom or eat or anything. Even when Clare is sick she will still eat so I knew it was bad. I figured she had caught the flu bug from our doctor visit Monday, but that is all I suspected at that point.

Since she couldn't walk I waited for Michael to get home and he took her to the doctor. While they were checking Clare in she threw up. They tested her for influenza A and she tested positive. After the doc listened to her he told Michael she had pneumonia and would need to be taken to the hospital right away in an ambulance so she could have oxygen the whole way there. He called me to come up there to ride with her.

Ugh, she was a great patient and very calm. I was really surprised because we had always had to fight her to do breathing treatments with the nebulizer at the doc office. She certainly would never wear the mask willingly. Anyhow, the EMT who rode in the back with us was really nice and kept her distracted the whole way to the hospital. He told her that an apple a day will keep the doctor away and she has not forgotten that!

Once we got there they had to do her IV and she was very brave. Then they got her all set up and we just waited. After the doc came to talk to us he told us they were going to do a chest x ray so they could look at her lungs. Once he saw the x ray he told us she would be admitted. After getting up to go to the bathroom she puked again and I was glad at least that we were at the hospital where someone else would have to clean it up...is that bad?

Our friend Kerry came up to the hospital while we waited to be sent to the pediatric floor and he and Michael gave Clare a blessing. After what seemed like an eternity they finally got us upstairs where Clare was way more comfortable and it was much quieter. She was the only patient on that floor for a few days.

Clare was on oxygen the whole time she was there and had to do breathing treatments every two hours. For the first three days she really didn't do much aside from laying in bed and watching movies. She was really shaky and didn't even feel like coloring or playing. Once she started to feel a little better she was able to eat better and I think that helped get her strength up.

By the fourth day they were able to turn her oxygen off and she was feeling much better. She got to go for a walk in the halls wearing all her "droplet" gear and mask and play some games on the computer. She was released late on Saturday night around 6:30pm. We were all so relieved to be home and sleeping in our own beds that night.

Staying in the hospital was a stressful time because you really don't get any rest while you are there. Poor Collin was home alone for almost two days straight because they wouldn't allow kids under 12 to visit. One of us parents went home at night but I felt bad that he was alone most of that time. I was so thankful to friends who brought dinner for our family while we weren't there to make sure our older kids were eating. Phew! I am glad that is over.

Clare had to stay home from school the next Monday and Tuesday because she had to be out for 7 full days from the day she got sick. She went back to school today and was so glad to be back! I am just thankful that we were blessed not to get the flu as well. I do not know how we would have been able to manage taking care of home and Clare at the hospital of anyone else had come down with the flu!

This was our first night there. Clare with her "good key" and her chapstick.

We had to wear masks when we left the hospital so we wouldn't infect other people with the flu.

Clare was the boss of the remote while we were at the hospital, oh wait, she's the boss of the remote at home too!!!

Clare said the first night that we were there that her finger monitor reminded her of ET, she held up her finger and said "Look Mom, ET phone home".

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch today after trying for an entire week! We tried to go last Tuesday, which is our day for FHE, but we got there at 6:03pm and the place closed at 6pm. Talk about a bummer.

Anyhow, we made it there today after the kids got home from school. At the patch we picked out our pumpkins, did the sling shot, saw some chickens and turkeys and other small animals, took lots of pictures, had caramel covered popcorn, raced rubber duckies and phew I think that's it.

Collin was not too excited to be there since he is all old and everything now, but he had a little bit of fun I am afraid. Clare had a few diva moments when I was trying to get some pics of the kids and she asked Dad to hold her popcorn and he proceeded to eat it while she yelled "don't eat my popcorn"! All in all it was an afternoon well spent.

And my little bit of inspiration for the day ~ in a world full of yellow ducks...

Clareisms

2009-10-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

Funny thing the other day. Clare came home from playing with her friend and had a basket full of rocks. They were white sparkly rocks and she asked me if I wanted one. I said sure, and when she gave me my rock I asked her why she brought all of them home and she said, "because they look like sugar".

The other day Clare and I were talking about Jesus. She told me that she loves Jesus and I asked her why and she said "because he comes to me whenever I need him".

Catch Up!

2009-09-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am a slacker. We all know that, no surprise here. Once school started I got sucked into the schedule and have been drifting. I really haven't been able to get much of anything accomplished. It's weird as all the kids are gone during the day and I have more time than ever before, atleast more time than I have had in 6 years and I look around at the end of the day and think, what did I do all day?

Anyhow, because I don't know how to change the date on the postings for my blog you are going to get a VERY long post here.

First and foremost, the first day of school was almost a month ago. I did post pics right away on facebook, but my blog has been ignored. So on the first day of school the gibeault household was a little unorganized. ciera is a teenager and a big 8th grader this year so she knows everything and I have somehow gotten dumber even though I have a college degree and she doesn't. Humph, go figure. Anyhow, she insisted that she had a late start day that day and I finally talked her into calling her school to find out exactly what time it started.

By this time it was time to take the other kids to school and she was LATE. Haha, I guess I am not so dumb after all. We proceed outside where I have to get my first day of school photos and she is completely annoyed with me because she is late. "Can't believe you are making me do this when I am late for school" comes out of her mouth. So I say "smile"!!!!!

After taking the first photo I tell her, that wasn't a very good smile and was lucky enough to snap her reaction and get an even better smile than the first time! (this is classic ciera by the way)
So enough trauma for Ciera and on to the other kids. Collin and Clare were very good sports for their photos. Loving even. Later that day when Ciera saw the pic of her and Clare she says "why didn't you tell me my eyes were closed? I would have retaken it?" I was like yeah right, you would have acted like I asked you draw blood or something.

I have no idea what the deal is with the fingers here?
First day of school went great. Everyone likes their teachers and all is well now that we are on a schedule again. Now if only I could get some motivation and get things done around here we would be in good shape!
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The kids started soccer a few weeks ago. They have been practicing since August so it was fun to finally go to some games. This year all three kids are playing so it is a bit of a juggling act between me and Michael getting everyone where they need to go.

The first week I took Clare and Ciera to their games and got some great photos. Clare's team is really cute because they are so little and most of them really do not know what they are doing quite yet. Clare runs around like she is doing ballet which is quite entertaining and is NOT aggressive at all. Ciera played goalie in the second half because their goalie was injured. She did a great job and I think she was not intimidated by having the ball shot at her and girls trying to plow her down for it! Here are a few of my favorites from both of their games.

The sun really came out by the time we got to Ciera's game that day and the clouds were amazing.

Once I get some pics of Collin at a game I will have to post them. Last week I did see him play, but I forgot my camera. He has improved a lot this year and I was very impressed to see him pull off so many jukes, good passes and headers!
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Friday, September 25th, we went to the Puyallup fair. We figured out we haven't gone since Clare was about 1 year old which was the year we moved here. Michael gets stressed out in places like that so we pretty much just avoid them altogether and the kids know not to ask.

So we surprised them and pulled them out of school on Friday and took them to the fair. It was a little challenging because Clare wanted to ride all of the small rides and Collin and Ciera wanted to ride the crazy rides. So we split up for a while and let them go on their rides.

All Clare wanted was cotton candy so we let her get some cotton candy and then we walked around and looked at stuff and ate some yummy treats. This year we all had a scone (except for Clare because she only wanted cotton candy) and caramel apples(except for Ciera because she was holding out for an elephant ear = diabetic nightmare!).

After going on a spinning ride with Ciera, Collin got really sick and had to rest for a while. We all felt really bad for him becuase he felt like he needed to puke but he couldn't. We had some lunch and he rested for a while and then he got to feeling better again so we played a few games and called it a day!
Ciera and Clare got cowboy hats this time. Ahhh, watch out, pretty soon they will want cowboy boots and we will really look like we are from puyallup!

Collin won these inflatable hammers for playing the game where you hit the button with a mallot and try to get the meter to go up high...I am not explaining this well, but I am sure you know what I am talking about. Anyhow, he won a small and large one so him and Clare went at it and had a little war. I was not feeling super great at this point because Ciera cooerced me into going on a ride with her after Collin refused...so we were resting on the grass when this little hammer war broke out. Some of these pictures just crack me up: the one of Collin hitting Clare in the head with her own hammer (because it's inflatable it bends)!
Lots of money spent later we went home and crashed! Ahhh, it's been a busy month!

12 Years

2009-08-22T02:43:00.000-07:00

August 2, 1997 was the day Michael & I were married. It has been a long time. It feels like forever already. This is the year neither one of us had expectations for our anniversary. For a lot of years we celebrated and did special things for each other and in the last few years we have just been more low key, or one of us forgot (won't mention any names, but I will say that person managed to buy themself a motor cycle that year just a few days before the big day rolled around).

This year our anniversary was on a Sunday so we really couldn't go out to dinner or anything we would usually do to celebrate so we did nothing. That is what I expected we would do, but at the end of the day I was not very happy. Next year and from here on out, we are going to do something to celebrate us because who gets enough of that when you have 3 kids?

We are always doing something with our children or for our children, which I love, but we do not spend near enough time just doing something for us or just us alone. I feel like that has to be fostered to be good parents and partners.

We need more "us" time. Next year I hope we might even be able to get away for the weekend because I don't think we have gone away to celebrate our anniversary except for "ONE year".

I am deep in thought today and not expressing myself very well. It also doesn't help that it is 2:50am and I should really just go to bed. So for now, I will just say I love you Michael and I am so glad you chose me!

Summer Bored List for Kids

2009-08-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

I am posting this here mostly for myself so I don't have to go looking for it again because I came across this list on a blog. I think there are a lot of great ideas here that my kids would never think of on their own. There are a lot of chore ideas here as well and for my kids those would have to come off the list because they would NEVER do chores on their own, but I left them on the list for now!

*ride bikes
*roller blade
*basketball
*play board games
*make a tent out of blankets
*squirt with hoses
*run through the sprinkler
*jump rope
*read books
*blow bubbles
*make homemade play dough
*play with play dough
*press flowers
*do crafts with pressed flowers
*write a letter to a relative, friend or pen pal
*clean bedroom
*vacuum living room
*clean bathroom
*make a craft
*draw
*color
*paint
*pull weeds
*watch a movie
*write stories
*use binoculars
*use magnifying glass
*use microscope
*bird watching
*write a play
*act out a play
*invent circus acts
*perform a circus
*play card games
*make art on the front walkway with sidewalk chalk
*play catch
*play baseball
*collect rocks
*collect leaves
*collect feathers
*play Frisbee
*make Frisbee’s out of old plastic lids, decorate with markers
*dust the house
*brush the pet
*write letters
*read a magazine
*play dress-up
*play Cowboys
*pick vegetables
*play outside with the pet
*build a fort in your rooms
*build a fort in the backyard
*do a jigsaw puzzle
*play on the Geosafari
*play on the computer
*listen to a story or book on tape
*do extra schoolwork to get ahead
*do brain teasers (ie: crosswords, word searches, hidden pictures, mazes, etc.)
*cook
*prepare lunch
*surprise a neighbor with a good deed
*play store
*prepare a “restaurant” lunch with menus
*hold a tea party
*have a Teddy bear picnic
*play with toy cars
*play dolls
*play house
*chase butterflies
*collect caterpillars and bugs
*plant a garden or a pot
*collect seeds
*hunt for four-leaf clovers
*learn magic tricks
*put on a magic show
*plant a container garden
*sprout seeds or beans
*make sock puppets
*put on a puppet show
*make Christmas presents
*make homemade wrapping paper
*make homemade gift cards
*make picture frames from twigs glued onto sturdy cardboard
*crochet or knit
*make doll clothes
*sew buttons in designs on old shirts
*run relay races
*make bookmarks
*take a quiet rest time
*take a shower or bath
*bathe a pet
*feed the birds or squirrels
*watch the clouds
*organize a dresser drawer
*clean under the bed
*empty dishwasher
*vacuum under the couch cushions and keep any change found
*write these ideas on pieces of paper and pick out one or two to do
*whittle
*whittle bars of soap
*practice musical instruments
*perform a family concert
*teach yourself to play musical instrument (recorder, harmonica, guitar)
*fold laundry
*sweep kitchen or bathroom floors
*sweep front walkway
*sweep or spray back patio
*sweep or spray driveway
*wash car
*vacuum car
*vacuum or dust window blinds
*clean bathroom mirrors
*clean sliding glass doors
*clean inside of car windows
*wash bicycles
*clean garage
*play in the sandbox
*build a sandcastle
*work with clay
*copy your favorite book illustration
*design your own game
*build with blocks or Legos
*create a design box (copper wire, string, odds-and-ends of things destined for the garbage, pom-poms, thread, yarn, etc.)
*plan a neighborhood or family Olympics
*have a marble tournament
*paint a picture with lemon juice on white paper and hang it in a sunny window and see what happens in a few days
*finger paint with pudding
*make dessert
*make dinner
*give your pet a party
*paint the sidewalk with water
*start a journal of summer fun
*start a nature diary
*have a read-a-thon with a friend or sibling
*have a neighborhood bike wash
*play flashlight tag
*play Kick the Can
*check out a science book and try some experiments
*make up a story
*arrange photo albums
*find bugs and start a collection
*do some stargazing
*decorate bikes or wagons and have a neighborhood parade
*catch butterflies and then let them go
*play hide-and-seek
*create a symphony with bottles and pans and rubber bands
*listen to the birds sing
*try to imitate bird calls
*read a story to a younger child
*find shapes in the clouds
*string dry noodles or O-shaped cereals into a necklace
*glue noodles into a design on paper
*play hopscotch
*play jacks
*make up a song
*make a teepee out of blankets
*write in your journal
*find an ant colony and spill some food and watch what happens
*play charades
*make up a story by drawing pictures
*draw a cartoon strip
*make a map of your bedroom, house or neighborhood
*call a friend
*cut pictures from old magazines and write a story
*make a collage using pictures cut from old magazines
*do a secret service for a neighbor
*plan a treasure hunt
*make a treasure map
*make up a “Bored List” of things to do
*plan a special activity for your family
*search your house for items made in other countries and then learn about those countries from the encyclopedia or online
*plan an imaginary trip to the moon
*plan an imaginary trip around the world, where would you want to go
*write a science-fiction story
*find a new pen pal
*make up a play using old clothes as costumes
*make up a game for practicing math facts
*have a Spelling Bee
*make up a game for practicing spelling
*surprise an elderly neighbor or relative by weeding his/her garden
*fingerpaint with shaving cream
*collect sticks and mud and build a bird’s nest
*write newspaper articles for a pretend newspaper
*put together a family newsletter
*write reviews of movies or plays or TV shows or concerts you see during the summer
*bake a cake
*bake a batch of cookies
*decorate a shoe box to hold your summer treasures
*make a hideout or clubhouse
*make paper airplanes
*have paper airplane races
*learn origami
*make an obstacle course in your backyard
*make friendship bracelets for your friends
*make a wind chime out of things headed for the garbage
*paint your face
*braid hair
*play tag
*make a sundial
*make food sculptures (from pretzels, gumdrops, string licorice, raisins, cream cheese, peanuts, peanut butter, etc.) and then eat it
*make a terrarium
*start a club
*take a nap outside on your lawn
*produce a talent show
*memorize a poem
*recite a memorized poem for your family

Ciera found out about a website from one of her friends that is for aspiring writers. Ciera likes to write stories so she has had fun getting on this site. It is called booksie.com. A great way for kids to still be doing something sort of educational and creative while out of shcool!

Clare's 6th birthday celebrations!

2009-08-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to DQ on Clare's birthday to have icecream. Ciera had just got back from camp and had been gone for an entire week so they were all getting along rather well. It made for a fun night together as a family! Here are some of my favorite shots of the night.

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Getting Crafty!

2009-07-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

Clare and I worked on her birthday invitations all week this week. I wanted to send them out on Monday, but it took a little longer than I thought to complete them. I took a picture of each one because they are all different.

Clare loves fashion. Anything to do with clothes, shoes, purses, accessories, she is all over it! So for Christmas she got a book where she can make her own fashions. She loves it. It came with stencils and all sorts of great patterned papers to trace the kind of outfit you want, cut it out and then glue it all together. She keeps a book of her fashions, but there are all sorts of things you can do with them. For instance: make cards, decorate gift bags, turn them into magnets and pretty much whatever else you can think of!

So she decided she wanted her invitations to have fashions on the front this year. She loves dress up so I thought we would go with a dress up fashion show party this year. Ciera is always watching america's next top model so Clare has perfected the runway!

We will see how it turns out, but for now, here are the "fashions" we came up with for the invitatioins...

Also, while we were working on the cards I finally got a photo of Clare's henna tattoo. Mind you, it has been on for almost an entire week now with many trips through the sprinkler!

Friday Fun

2009-07-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

So on Friday I took Collin to get his hair cut at the salon where I get my hair done. Unfortunately the lady who normally does my hair moved last week so we just had to take whoever could get us in...remind me never to do that again! I went in to get my hair colored too cuz I had some pretty mean grow out goin on and when your natural color is lighter than what you have now it looks pretty wicked!

Anyhow, we showed the girl a picture of Zac Effron similar to this one.

Now, Collin has not had his hair cut since he started growing it out so it was looking pretty shaggy, but he was really looking forward to having a nice shaped up long "do". This is what he looked like when we went in:

Aparrently she was channeling Zac in his short "do" days because this is how Collin walked out (he almost broke down in tears literally):

He told me I was a dork for making him do mugshot like photos, but I wanted to get the full effect recorded for future reference when we go in to a BETTER stylist so we can tell her this is TOO SHORT!

Anyhow, I got my color touch up and it turned out ok. I always do love the way my hair looks with a professional blowout though...Michael was messing around and got the back of my head (oops) and this is what my hair looked like all straight and from his angle (basically the ceiling!). It is getting long.

Anyhow, after the trip to the salon I took the kids to the South Hill Fuego where they were doing henna tattoos for free. It was so cool. I used to work at Fuego so I love getting a chance to go in and say hi to my old boss who is really great. She is the one who told me about it so we went in and got ours! I tried to take pictures but you can't really see Ciera's very well since the camera kept focusing on the background instead of on her tattoo. She got a paisley on her forearm. I got a really neat design on my foot. Clare got a flower and a butterfly but I didn't get a picture of hers. I will have to take a picture of them tomorrow when they look nice and set. These pictures were taken while we still had some of the henna on before it cracked all the way off.

We bought one of the kits they sell there to do the henna yourself because Ciera was going to be at camp all week and we thought that would be a fun downtime activity for her and her cabin mates.

So on Sunday, Michael and I drove Ciera out to Camp Leo, diabetes camp. She was really nervous because she doesn't know a single person there, but I think she is going to have a lot of fun and the camp seemed really nice. I took some pictures there before we left.

Ciera was really nervous and I felt bad for her, plus she was the last one in the cabin to get checked in so everyone was waiting on her to be off to their first activity. It was a little awkward, but one of the jr. leaders noticed her henna tattoo and commented on it and then all the girls got so excited when Ciera told them she brought a kit to do them there too! On that note we took off and left her to it. I am really excited to see how she has changed and what she has learned when we go out to pick her up on Saturday!

What Next?

2009-07-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

So the other day Michael's dad came by for a visit because his wife is out of town. He brought us some goodies from his garden. Lettuce, carrots and little red potatoes. I thought I would do Michael a favor and make dinner (I DO NOT EVER DO THIS). He has been complaining for a while now that he is just done with cooking. So I enlisted the kids who were all more than eager to help peel and wash the potatoes and carrots and I washed the lettuce. I asked Michael if he could just bbq some chicken to go with and I got a salad ready, cooked the carrots and made the yummy roasted potato dish that we learned about from Jen Evans.

I thought I had done this great thing only...Michael did not feel like bbqing the chicken, I put all the peels down the drain and clogged up our disposal and put the entire packet of "roasted potato seasoning" on the potatoes which I guess you are supposed to half. Michael ended up ripping the disposal apart in between running back and forth from the bbq, I got everything on the table around the time he was almost finished so we sit down to actually eat as a family and bite into those yummy looking potatoes that taste like they were drowned in salt.

Must I reiterate here why I never try to cook?

I was trying to get dinner out of the way in a timely fashion Tuesday night because Collin had his first soccer practice of the season and I wanted him to be fed before I took him. So after our dinner disaster I drove Collin to practice which was over at a junior high by the Walmart on the other end of Meridian.

We were literally two turns away from getting off of meridian and I am stuck at a red light...if you have ever driven down meridian you will know there is a stop light at almost every block...the entire way on meridian I would file my nails while we were waiting at the lights.

After I light turns green I start to drive and see that a police officer has turned on his lights to pull me over. As I turn into the parking lot nearest to us I pull on my seatbelt (oops) that I am notorious for NEVER wearing. The cop comes up to my window and says "do you know why I pulled you over"? I said no and he says "well, what were you doing back there, looks like you were texting on your cell phone". I held up my purple finger nail file and told him my phone was not even on and that it was in fact charging. He says "fair enough, well you didn't have your seat belt on when I pulled you over so give me your info and I will be right back".

He returned with a ticket for $124 and we were on our way. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? He thought I was texting so he pulls me over and I get a ticket for no seat belt??? I didn't even have a cell phone near me and what happened to the good old days when they used to give you a warning???

I was completely distraught the rest of the night because my dinner was crap and then I get a ticket for not even texting!

The next day I wake up to being blasted to the entire company by my boss who was irate about a mistake I made.

I was sent instructions to cancel some financial transactions and in black and white it told me exactly what to do. I did exactly what the instructions said step by step. The only problem was that the person giving the instructions forgot to include the very pertinent information that this was only to be done for TEST transactions, not live transactions.

I did not find any of this out until I had cancelled around 8 live transactions and my boss blasted me to the entire company via email. Here are a few of the direct (copy and pasted) things he said:

URGENT PRIORITY Re: yo we got issues!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nicole voided all transactions

this is a DISASTER unbelievably bad

I cant tell you how unhappy i am right now

you guys never see me type in CAPS
well I am PISSED

i am going to go outside and smash something that is not my computer

24k loss right now

URGENT dont touch AUTH

Let's skip Nicole auth training

Needless to say I felt horrible. I replied with the instructions I had received and apologized for making the mistake but didn't understand how I could be completely at fault when I had just followed directions. My boss was having none of that, he replied with "this was almost a disaster but it seems as though we have fixed it now".

So that is 3 pretty bad things to happen right in row you would think I was maxed out on bad luck right? WRONG!

Ciera had not been feeling well since Sunday or Saturday. She told me she had a stomach ache and I just did not think to have her check her keytones until Tuesday when she said "I feel like I need to throw up and that is how I have felt for the last three days"! So she tested for keytones and had the largest amount possible. Not good, that is the condition she was in when she was hospitalized and diagnosed for diabetes.

I waited until the next day to call the diabetic nurses and they really gave it to me. They were freaking out that Ciera was one step away from the hospital and put us on very strict routine with me taking over all Care until the 28th when Ciera goes in for her follow up apt. with her endocrine doc. We had to test for keytones and her blood sugar every two hours and double up on her insulin as well as have her drink 8-10 oz of water every hour to flush the keytones.

I had no idea how to treat this because we have not been in this situation since her diagnosis and we were in this hospital then and she was flushed by the IV and watched over by all the nurses and docs there at mary bridge. The nurse went so far as to tell me before they closed on Wednesday that she would call the hospital and fill them in on Ciera in case we ended up there that night!!!

The whole frustrating thing about this is it is 100% preventable by taking the proper care of Ciera. Ciera has had a really hard time with the diabetes and had been very rebellious about her care recently and things haven't been going super well. I guess it can always get worse!

Holy Crow, I need a vacation and to win the lottery so I can pay my stupid ticket!

Lake Wilderness

2009-07-17T02:37:00.000-07:00

We've only gone to the beach twice so far this summer.
Whenever we do go I always drive all the way out to Lake Wilderness in Maple Valley because it has sand and shade right near the water on one side. It's also not a huge beach so I can keep track of my kids no matter where the are. Every time we are almost there (at the end of our 45 - 50 minute drive) I always tell the kids how awesome it would be to live in the houses we pass right before the turn off!!!

I guess I didn't get any pictures of Collin on that trip...not sure where he was the whole time! He was there!!! Oh, and so were the leeches that day!

A Day at Lake Wilderness

2009-07-16T23:24:00.001-07:00

Found the best photo editing site and I am trying my hand at the photo collage. What I have found is that I need to upgrade for the paid membership because you can do so many more things than with the free account. It is still fun to be able to edit the photos tho!

4th of July

2009-07-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

Had a fun time sticking around home this year. We went over to the Larson's for food and fun. The Bowles Family was also there and then a few other friends and neighbors came over when it was time to do fireworks.

We had a bunch of great food and the kids played in the pool most of the day until it started getting dark. The fireworks were fun, but a few of the little kids did get burned this year. Poor little Courtney Bowles burned her lip when her sparkler burned all the way out and Clare ran into the punk Michael was holding and burned her arm.

Other than that fun was had by all!

Clare's last day of Kindergarden

2009-07-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

Clare's class put on a little production on their last day of kindergarden. The kids were really cute. They sang a few songs and then had a little party. We had a really fun time watching her reach this milestone! Next year she will go to first grade and be in school for a full day and eat lunch there everyday like all the other big kids. She is stoked. Clare was really cute wanting a picture with her teacher and with her little friends that she hangs with all the time. So cute.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

So I really need to do an update about the events that have been taking place at the gibeaults', but for now I am going to post some pictures of our trip up to god's country over Father's Day weekend.

Since my Dad is no longer living we always go spend the weekend with Michael's Dad Marcel. He lives on a large piece of property out in the country near the Canadian border and the kids LOVE going there.

We even put them to work while we are there!

Ciera digging up potatoes with Grandpa.

They have a rather large garden and the kids all went out and picked berries but I didn't get a photo of that.

Every time we go there Michael has to mow the lawn. This time he mowed it two days in a row because he ran out of daylight the night before.

Ciera drove the fourwheeler and Grandma and Clare loaded up all the grass clippings.

I think one of Clare's favorite things about going to Grandpa's is getting to see and play with Ziggy. We have a cat at our house, but it is Ciera's cat. She has always been very skittish around Clare. So when Ziggy lets Clare love all over him she is in 7th heaven! The other picture is Collin, Clare and Uncle Chris.

We took a fabulous group shot, but I have not uploaded it to my computer yet so I will post that next time along with a post about Clare's kindergarden graduation!

Mother's Day

2009-05-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

So my husband has always been pretty good at surprising me with thoughtful gifts, but this year he really got me.

He told me we were going on a date the Friday before Mother's Day and I thought this was really nice. He told me it was a surprise and I figured we would be going out to dinner. Which would be great since we never get to spend time together.

It was a little hectic getting out of the house because of Clare's tea party that we had right before it was time to leave.

We drove over to the new little shopping strip by the new Target over here on South Hill and I figured that meant we were going to the Ram. He walked me into this place called Hand & Stone (handandstone.com) and said "my wife has an appointment and it's a surprise so she doesn't know what she is having done" and then he kissed me good bye and said see you in a few hours!!!

WHAT???

I had a hot stone massage, the cold stone facial and the extra foot exfoliating massage with hot towels! OH MY GOODNESS.

It was so fabulous and so close to our house. I loved the massage. It was great. I've never had a hot stone massage before and it was wonderful. It surprised me how smooth the rocks were and they were the perfect temperature and the lady that did my massage was great. It was really a treat.

After 80 minutes of that I was really a puddle of jello, but by then I was starving so when Michael came to pick me up we did go to Applebee's for dinner which was great too. It was a really great night out for me and the kids wanted to know all about it when I got home because when Michael came back after five minutes of being gone, they were like "uh, what are you doing home and where is mom?" He didn't tell them anything about what was going on because he didn't want them to spoil the surprise.

Good job Michael!

Rockabama

2009-05-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

When all the election hype was going on the kids had their own "election" at their school. They got to vote for the president just like adults =)

This provoked many discussions at our dinner table. Clare proudly came home and told us she voted for Rockabama. She asked me and Collin and her Dad who we voted for and we all told her John McCain. So she has asked from time to time why we voted for John instead of Rockabama. I think she has had the most discussion over this with Michael.

So the other day at the dinner table she announced that she drew a picture of Rockabama and that she liked him except for one reason. We asked her why and she said "well, I like him except that he wants to take peoples' guns away"!

Battle of the Bands

2009-05-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

So Ciera participated in Battle of the Bands lastnight, which was basically a concert for all the rock bands that kids in her school were part of. It was really impressive to see so many young talented rockers. I was very surprised as well because when I was in Middle School the big musical talents were in Choir, and I didn't know anyone with their own electric guitar and amp. I guess times have definitely changed. Clare and I went to support her because Collin and Michael had the Pine wood Derby Race at the same time.

It was fun.

Ciera's new hobby

2009-04-04T16:23:00.000-07:00

So Ciera decided a short time after Michael started playing the bass guitar that she wanted to play the guitar as well. She has been taking lessons on an acoustic guitar and then she recently got her own electric guitar. She is in love.

Thought I would post a little video here of her playing the intro to the Paramore song that is on the twilight soundtrack, Decode, as well as the melody of the Delila song.

Kidney Stones

2009-03-10T23:31:00.000-07:00

I went to the urologist today. He pretty much told me everything I found on the internet.

Next on the list is a general surgeon to take out my gal bladder that is full of stones.

And no, the two are not related at all.

It's My Room!

2009-03-05T22:16:00.000-08:00

So I finally got my room all cleaned up today, with the help of my hubby. Clare always wants to be in my room. She brings her toys in there and her crafts and all the books she wants me to read to her. She likes to watch cartoons in my bed and brings her movies in to watch. Lately she has been way too spoiled and even eats her meals in my room with her little tray table!

Let me back up a little here. My room is my sanctuary. I LOVE to be in my room. I am not sure why, but there is no better place in the house to me. A lot of times I will work there or read magazines or whatever, I just love my room. So I guess since I am in there and Clare always wants to be with me, she is always in there.

Well, my room was starting to look like a junk heap so I finally put my foot down and made her take all her stuff back to her room and roped Michael into helping me clean up. All was well and I was feeling relaxed and calm enough to sit down and read the new magazine I got today and then I noticed it...

a pinkish purple spot on my duvet cover! At first I thought maybe Clare had a bloody nose and she dripped on my bed, but when I got off the bed to inspect it I saw spots ALL OVER THE SIDE OF THE DUVET AS WELL! As I am looking at this trying to figure out what on earth it could be I notice it is also on my carpet, and the wall, and my bedside table and everywhere else that I look!

I immediately started questioning Clare...asking her if she had any idea what on earth it could be! It started looking like it was one of her gel pens. I asked her if one of her pens blew up because that is what it looked like to me. She runs to her room and comes back with a pinkish purple gel pen and says "well, it might have been this one"!

My duvet cover is soaking in the wash machine now so we will see if it comes out! Grrrr.

In other news, Ciera is in drama class this semester and got a part in the upcoming play.

The Toast Song

2009-02-18T19:13:00.000-08:00

So little did I know that Ciera is an aspiring singer. She wrote a song over at her friend Mia's house one day when they were making toast in a toaster oven. Anyone can write lyrics you say? True. the thing that was amazing to me was that she came up with the music in her head to actually sing this song. And she is pretty good for having no musical training what so ever!

I just had to share.

Gotta LOVE those kidney stones!

2009-02-11T00:08:00.000-08:00

So I got another kidney stone yesterday. That pretty much sucked the life out of me all day yesterday and night and even rolled over to today because I had a pain killer hangover. Ugh.

I got to thinking maybe I should look up ways to prevent them since this is the second one in such a short period of time (Dec 24th) being the last.

Under PREVENTION it says:

Avoidance of cola beverages.

Restriction of oxalate-rich foods, such as chocolate.

Hello, my two favorite things in life. Pretty much figures. Anyhow, I have never been able to catch one of the stones yet to have it tested, but they say the most common kind of stone is one from calcium build up. I was just betting this was not the kind of stone I was getting since I never drink milk and don't really consume that much dairy. Then come to find out, this is what is said about that:

Common sense has long held that consumption of too much calcium could promote the development of calcium kidney stones. However, current evidence suggests that the consumption of low-calcium diets is actually associated with a higher overall risk for the development of kidney stones.

I hate being in pain!

"My Barbie Needed a Trim Mom"

2009-02-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

So the other day Clare had a friend over and they had been playing fabulous together. They had been in her room for quite a while so I went to go check on them only to discover Clare sitting on the floor with scissors in her hand and a barbie in the other with a lap FULL of hair.

I asked her what she was doing and she told me her barbie needed a trim, 5 of them to be exact.

Once she realized she had done something wrong she took off to dump the barbie hair without letting me take a photo. She was embarrassed so all I got was a picture of all the barbies with a new hair cut just like Clare's.

Ciera's Party

2009-02-07T18:49:00.002-08:00

I finally uploaded the pictures from Ciera's birthday party two weeks ago.
She had fun with her friends. They pretty much hung out and watched
youtube videos and talked and played some games in the dark. Nothing
fancy or crazy. She really wanted this cake from fred meyer so I had to
post a few photos of it and the gang!

Clare ramblings

2009-02-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I was doing the dishes and complaining to Clare (the only one home in the morning) about how it might take me a while before I could play a game with her because I had to clean the kitchen. She says "can I use the new wipes to clean the table for you mom?" I said sure and handed her the disinfectant wipes I had just bought at costco (is this a bad sign when your five year old is as excited about cleaning products as you are?).

So this is how it went.

Clare: I am all done with table mom, is it alright if I clean the chairs?

Mom: go for it (thinking the chairs had not been wiped down for atleast a few months)

Clare: I am all done with the chairs mom, can I clean the floor?

Mom: you can wipe up the spills (don't really want my hard wood floors cleaned with disinfectant wipes, but who can say no to that)

Clare: you know this is what Cinderella does, she has to clean the floors and do everything for every body and nobody even tells her thank you...

I am like Cinderella mom, you should really be thanking me...

I'm all done with the floors mom, can I clean the toilet in the bathroom?

Mom: absolutely, just wash your hands real good when you are done

Clare: can I clean the sink too mom, and the floor in here because it's not hard wood?

Sometimes children are such a blessing, aren't they?

Ciera's Birth Day

2009-01-27T12:43:00.000-08:00

Some pictures from dinner...

On Ciera's actual birth day we took her to Red Robin for dinner and had a cake at home for her.

We decided this year that it is just too hard to try to plan a birthday party during Christmas break so we were going to have a family celebration and then Ciera would have her friend party a few weeks later.

I think she felt special having a dinner dedicated to her and of course she felt special getting to eat way too much sugar for her all in one day! She got an ipod from us that she is absolutely in love with!

Jolley Christmas

2009-01-23T23:08:00.001-08:00

We went over to Kristopher's house for Christmas with Bryan's family this year. The kids had fun seeing their cousins and we all had a great lunch. The only bummer that day was the ticket I got on the way there for having expired tabs! Dang it!

This was the first time Ciera had seen her two cousins, Alexis and Samantha, Kristopher's two girls. It was good to spend time with family that we don't get to see often enough! It was good to see Bonnie (my neice that was missing) and I have to post a new picture of her from that day. She has gotten a lot older and definitely looks older than her 13 years. She has turned into a beautiful young woman.

It was really funny when everyone was opening their gifts Alexis opened a little doll and was playing with it by Collin. Like she wanted him to play with the doll with her. The look on his face was hillarious! Jeannette got Dar and I the same shirt "Queen of Unfinished Projects" that we saw at the Scrapbook Convention in Bellevue this year. We were both drooling on them so she went back after we were gone and bought them for us! Love that!

This wrapped up our Christmas season for the year...we have Christmas with each of our families on different days. This one was a few days before Ciera's birthday so she also got birthday gifts that day! LUCKY!

Michael's new hobby

2009-01-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

Michael started taking guitar lessons to learn how to play the bass. He is really enjoying it and couldn't wait to play with his Uncle Steve on Christmas Day. I took a video too, but I can't get the dang thing to upload!

UPDATE: I am feeling fine now. I assume that the kidney stone has passed now because I haven't had anymore pain. Yes, the pain is really, really bad, but I don't know that it can be compared to child birth. Child birth is just different and can be much worse.

Christmas Eve on Crack

2008-12-29T18:38:00.000-08:00

Ok so not really on crack, but high as a kite with the heavy duty pain killers from the ER and then two percaset. Wednesday morning I woke up in horrible pain. I wasn't feeling super great the night before. My side was hurting really bad so I took something to help me sleep. When I woke up at 4am I thought I was going to die. Michael had to work that day and had just clocked on at work, but hadn't left the warehouse yet. He came home and took me to the ER at good sam where they did not believe I was really in severe pain until I threw up. After that they gave me an IV and a shot of the good stuff. I was really out of it the rest of the day.

After the CT scan they said (surprise) you do in fact have a kidney stone and your galbladder is full of stones. They gave me meds to aide in the process of passing the stone. Christmas Eve is the day we go to Michael's mom to have our Christmas with her and his family. I stayed home in bed ALL DAY long and my family went to Lori's for Christmas!

I have been fine since that day. I haven't taken any more pain meds nor have I felt any more severe pain, but the only way to really know if the stone has passed is to have another scan. I will be following up with my doc so we shall see what she says.

Fun, fun at the best time of year!

Soccer in the Snow!

2008-12-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

That's a new one for me! I played soccer all my growing up years and I played in the rain A LOT! In the snow? NEVER!

Ciera had her last game of the season on Saturday and I was so cold I didn't think I was going to make it to the end of the game. I had on boots, my wool coat, a turtle neck, scarf and brought a blanket! It was cold. Ciera wore two pairs of leggings, two pairs of socks, a t shirt, her fleece sweatshirt and two hats! Her end of the year party is this Wednesday night and then soccer season is officially over for us!

The kids were so excited about the snow yesterday. They all played outside for a good long while! Me? I kinda hope it will just be done and over with for now. Next week the kids get out of school for the winter break for two weeks, I am really crossing my fingers there won't be any snow days added to that!

Token Top 10

2008-12-07T21:11:00.000-08:00

1 gospel of Jesus Christ
2 family
3 friends
4 health
5 blessings
6 opportunity to be employed
7 opportunity to be at home with my children
8 talents
9 when my children display obedience
10 service

They found her!

2008-12-05T12:52:00.000-08:00

This is all I know for now, but it is enough to know she is still alive and ok.

MY NIECE IS MISSING -HAVE YOU SEEN HER?

2008-12-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

My niece who lives in Bremerton right now is missing. She got off her school bus yesterday and never made it home. Her back pack was later found in the bushes on her route home.

If you have seen her please call the local authorities.

Thankful for TOP 10

2008-12-03T00:12:00.000-08:00

1 the internet
2 cute shoes & purses
3 lotion from bath & body works
4 food (ok dessert really)
5 cars
6 notebooks
7 pottery barn
8 pictures
9 scarves
10 the hills

{this is strictly fun monetary things
- tomorrow I will post the token Top 10}

Photo Shoot

2008-12-02T13:40:00.001-08:00

These are the best pictures of each child
from our family photo shoot this year.
It was really important to me to get photos
done this year since we didn't do them last
year at all. Everyone should know this is the
reason nobody got a Christmas card from us...
I don't feel like it is worth it to send a card
without a picture!

Follow Our Family

2008-12-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

I have joined the bloggers! I have been inspired to start a blog about my family so join us in this new adventure by reading about the days in the life of the gibeaults!

For those of you who are contemplating joining the ranks, but feel like you don't have time...just think of it this way... we are following the prophet by keeping a family history!

***see Larson children, sometimes the gibeaults do follow the commandments!