Stay at home mom with kids in school!

This year is a new phase for me as a stay at home mom with all my kids in school.  It is so fun!!   I love my littles and miss those days of having them at home, but I'm having a great time in this stage of life too!

When the kids went back to school in August and Jojo started Kindergarten, for the first two weeks of school I was too sad to even go home!  I knew if I did I would just lay in bed and cry so instead I caught up on errands, tried out some new gyms to see what kind of exercise I wanted to add to my dog walking!

I'm also teaching a high school biology class for some freshman and sophmore home schoolers! It is so fun! They are great kids. I get a kick out of watching them interact, flirt, talk, etc. It is just great. I also love being back to teaching bio.  It is on of my loves.  I have had to change my teaching style a bit to match up with the learning styles of these very self motivated home school kids, and that has been fun too!    On Mondays I teach class from 10:45-12:15 so after I drop off the kids I spend and hour or so getting things ready and then head over to class. After class I usually go right to kickboxing and get a quick workout in before heading home. It's a great routine!

Every other Tues I work in Jojo's class in the morning.

Wed/Th/Fri I walk with Gabby and/or Holli Ewell or occasionally someone else!

Once a month I check out Clare and Lexey on a different day and take them out to lunch for a little one on one time. I started this last year and it really means a lot to them. They talk so much during this time, they are always in a great mood, and we have some really great conversations.

For Jojo I check her out of school one day a week around lunch time and just bring her home to rest, relax, chill and hang out. She has been struggling with separation anxiety when I leave her at school and she is also pretty burned out and grumpy after school. A little bit of extra home time seems to help her quite a bit.  I do have to say that I am seeing improvements in her ability to handle the full day now so I think she might be getting used to it.

We bought our first house!

Mid-Sept we went to see a house on Shadowline and we both really liked it.  In fact, I was so excited about the house I could hardly sleep that night after we saw it.  However, we were still toying with the idea of buying the Lime Grove since we could get it at such a good price.   I took Holli Ewell over to see the house, and Kari and they both thought it was nice.  I think I saw the house a total of 4 times.  I really liked it but hesitated to pass up the great deal on buying in green valley, had a desire to stay in the neighborhood with the Hussmans and McEwans and other great families that we know, and keep our great deck and view.  However, there were so many great reasons that we have been wanting to move - better freeway access, sidewalks and streetlights for the kids to walk around and play, proximity to the park, neighborhood with kids around, smaller and more manageable house and yard.  After discussion for a few days we decided to buy the Shadowline house. It is what we want in this stage of life!

The house had originally been listed at $789-849 but a few days before we decided to buy the range dropped to $769-819.   We decided to offer $775. 

After we made our offer, Dave wanted to see the house one more time in the daylight since he had only been there one time in the evening after dark.  We noticed that day that there was no A/C unit in the house.  I was glad to see that because then we knew that we would be spending 6-10K on an A/C and possibly ducting and a new heater if that was needed as well.  So, we decided we would not go up too much in price knowing we would spend that right off the bat.

They countered at $795.  We decided that we would go up to $780 and that is all.

The realtor's talked back and forth a bunch and their realtor said the lowest they could go is $790.  We decided to hold at $780 and see what they would say.  Their realtor offered to give them a portion of his commission (4K) and our realtor offered to pitch in 1,000, raising their take home value to 785. I'm sure they were hoping that we would just be willing to budge on the last 5 but we decided not to, figuring that 3 weeks on the market and knowing they already had another house that we were in the position of power and they would be crazy not to take it and keep it on the market even longer waiting for another offer.   

And we were right. After a couple of days of waiting they came back and accepted our offer of $780.

That was Oct 6th. It has been a whirlwind of paperwork, emails, phone calls and little decisions.  We've had tons of paperwork to do with the bank, paperwork with the realtor, paperwork with the escrow company!  I went to the home inspection which was fun to spend a few hours in the house.  Nothing major came up on the inspection and all the other reports - termite, title, etc were all nothing too surprising so things have been moving forward pretty smoothly. We are scheduled to close escrow Nov 7th.  I planned for a moving truck to come load all of our boxes and furniture on Nov 15th, giving me a week to take a few things over myself and a few days to look around and see how I want to set everything up! We are all pretty excited!  I hope we have made a good choice -- I think we have!

The kids will stay at painted rock, at least for this year while Clare finishes 5th grade.  Next year it would be much easier to switch over to Tierra Bonita so that we are going to school with the neighborhood kids, and it's right next door to the middle school where Clare will be! So, we'll see how the girls feel about that. I have almost a year to talk them into it!

Yesterday was our first day at the Del Norte ward! Pete and Jessica sat in our row with us. That was super fun. My kids loved playing with Jackson who is just over a year and darling as can be!  It seems like it'll be a good ward for us.  Clare has a class of all girls and she liked it! Lexey of course loves everything. Jo has a great teacher  (Jenny Baker) and 4 out of the 5 kids in her class are sweet little girls.  Yesterday I sat with Jo both hours of church and I am hoping that doesn't last too long. Jo is having lots of separation anxiety ever since starting Kindergarten and the ward change a few months ago when we were split out of green valley ward.

two months no blogging! Yikes!

Well, it'll have to be catch up time over the next couple of weeks!  Life is great and busy and I haven't been writing much!

Things to catch up on - Labor day weekend staycation with the family
Trip to Oklahoma for Ohio State football
Kids back in school, fall schedule.
New schedule for Denise with all kids at school - kickboxing, paddle boarding, teaching bio, lunches
purse and wallet stolen at the beach



I'll try to get caught up soon, but for now I'll just start where we are!  Today was the primary program in the Lake Poway ward.  Backup a bit....for years we have been in the Green Valley ward! Great ward and getting better all the time with new young families moving in.  When we first got here 8 years ago there were only 40 kids total in the primary and this year there are 85 active kids!! Amazing growth. Plus, there is still the fun of seeing old old friends like the Brunsons, Jo & Lyman clark, and a few others who I have known for 30 years. Many of the old friends have moved away but sill many great familiar faces! Anyway, in august there was a stake boundary change and we were moved into the Lake Poway ward with a handful of other families. It was sad to change wards for my kids and for me!  But we also knew we were house shopping and thought maybe we wouldn't be there a long time anyway!!

Back to the primary program. clare decided not to be in it. She has had a tough time with the ward change saying that she just doesn't like it there.  Jo and Lexey were both darling.  I had to sit on the stand with Jo or she wouldn't have gone but with me there she was happy to do her part and sang all the songs. Dana Hamsen wrote  the program and did a fabulous job.  It was one of the best primary programs I have ever seen! 

We have loved ward choir in the Lake Poway ward. The jorgensens open up their home and host a children's choir (for kids ages 6-12) for 30 minutes and then adult choir (ages 12 and up) for 30 minutes.  It is amazing. So fun, so great to hear the kids sing! Something very special.

This week we go to our first day at the Del Norte ward since we are soon moving into the ward.

Clare broadway camp

Clare signed up for a Best of Broadway summer camp.  We invited about 8 friends to sign up with us but in the end nobody was able to do it with her. She was really bummed to have to go alone but since it was already paid for it was too late to back on the first day! I was proud of Clare for going and trying something new with no friends. She ended up having a GREAT time at camp! If we are in town we will probably do it again next year and maybe Lexey would enjoy it as well. They did acting games, which Clare said was her favorite part of camp, they also did singing with choreography. Each day a few minutes before the end of camp we came to watch the kids perform all the songs they were working on. It was amazing how much they learned each day! By the end of the week they had about 10 songs learned, plus some cute lines to introduce each song, plus some "commercials" to show us while we waited for all the parents to come in before the show started.

1st week of school!

School started this week!  The girls have all been excited to start school. Our neighbors go to a different school than us and they started two weeks before us. The girls said, "no fair they get to start school already"! Jo has been counting down the days to the start of kindergarten for weeks. we had a paper chain in the girls room.

This year everyone got one new item for school and a pair of much needed shoes!  Lex and Jo both picked a shirt and leggings (but it was too hot for leggings) and Clare picked a little study board that goes on her lap.

The first day of school was a hot San diego day and a very exciting one! Dave was able to go into work late so that he could come with us and enjoy the first day festivities!  It was a special day.

It's kind of sad for me to see them all go back to school and to see my baby go to kindergarten! lots of mixed emotions. I have loved all my littles. It was a great life having kids at home - going on walks with friends, meeting friends at the park, going to the zoo, sea world, LEGOLAND and the beach. It has been a sweet ride. Jo has been a great little companion the last couple of years. She is so easy going and sweet and I had her all to myself. The other girls were just as sweet too!    I will miss the other "mom friends" that I had the chance to meet up with for joy school, babysitting swapping and just playing. It is a great way to get together.  It is bittersweet to say good bye to this phase of life. I can't say that I've loved every single minute of it.  There are always good and bad times. But overall there is nothing better I could have done with the last 13 years of life than be at home with babies and toddlers. They are heaven sent. Some days I think I wish I could stay in this phase forever, but then I get a little taste of freedom and think that this next phase will be fun too!

It is also a fun phase of life we are entering as the kids get a little older and more independent that we  have some new freedom!  This year I will be teaching a high school biology class to some home school students. There are about 10-12 kids in the class. It will be really fun. Dave and I have time to meet during the day for lunch, which is also fun. (we started doing this with Jo last year quite a bit).  It is so fun to watch the kids develop personality, talents and hobbies and get old enough to do fun things with us.  They are delightful people.

summer 2016

schools out! Lots of playing with the Hussmans.

June week 3 - my cousins - the jorgensens were in town. We saw them a few times. Last week of dance classes and dance dress rehearsal. Lex and Clare were in the neighborhood play at the Hussman's house.

June week 4 - Dance recital! Grandma Joyce stayed with us. The kids were so helpful and attentive to her.  We loved having her here.  Jo and Lexey attended VBS (vacation bible school )at a local church.

July week 1 - reno trip

July week 2 - Calvin at school. Lex and Clare at art camp (half day), Jojo at dance camp with the Boles twins (half day).  Carter's come to town and we get together with them a couple of times.  Dentist appointments, ortho appointments for Clare and Lex who are both missing permanent teeth -- what?!!!  Father and son campout.

July week 3 - Clare swim and tennis camp at RB swim and tennis club with Hallie Law. Lexey woodworking camp with her friend Emma. 

July week 4 - lots of beach days

August week 1 - Calvin at scout camp mission bay (no electronics for the entire week), Clare at theatre camp in Poway

August week 2 - for the first time in the summer everyone is home together.  I set up lots of play dates for the girls at other peoples houses and one last trip to the beach. Clare had to get a tooth pulled Friday.

August week 3 - Monday is the last day of summer vacation. We meet Jojo's kindergarten teacher and the kids class lists are posted. Tuesday is the first day of school!

We've had a fun summer this year. We took all of July off piano which was really nice, though it made it super hard to get back into it.  The kids enjoyed playing with the Husseman neighbors, we tried to get together with friends as often as possible, we had a great trip to Reno, we did lots of swimming and quite a few beach days, the kids have great tans!

calvin is at scout camp this week!

This week is scout camp on fiesta island in San diego. Calvin and the other scouts left at 6am Monday morning and have been there all week! We are so happy for Calvin that he is having a good time! And so proud of him for staying all week.

Kyle McBride has been kind enough to watch over calvin and take responsibility for his medicines. We are so grateful.   He has been very generous with his time to be with these boys all week and very attentive to each of them. 

Kyle texted a couple of times to tell us Calvin is having a great time. Monday night the boys went on a night kayak ride to watch the sea world firework show over mission bay.   Wed they went on a bike ride, went sailing on a catamaran and jumped in the bay to swim.  So great for Calvin to have these fun experiences with kids his age!

Here are some pictures of something the boys built in their camp.