Christmas Morning

I think that the pictures speak for themselves. The girls were very excited Christmas morning and Santa treated them well (although I wonder if he got them confused with some other girls). They were super excited to play with all their new toys. But of course the new things are opened slowly as we figure out where to put the new stuff and what old stuff to get rid of.

I hope that you all had a great Christmas! We sure did.

Until next time,

Jaime

Christmas Eve and Pajamas

We had a wonderful Christmas with family this year. It was nice to spend time together and celebrate. I love Christmas because of the time spent with family. Of course Christmas Eve is still a work day for Rick and I so we didn't get to spend the entire day together but we did spend the evening at my Mom's house. We had a fantastic dinner and opened presents.

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And we have our Christmas Eve tradition of opening a new pair of pajamas. The girls know what it is but I wrap them anyway. It is fun to go to bed in brand new jammies on Christmas Eve. I should have bought a new pair for myself.

The girls were so excited for Santa to come. Sam went to bed and basically fell right to sleep, which is amazing!! Megan, on the other hand, had a REALLY hard time falling asleep. She was up really late and she came out to the living room saying "someone please help me fall asleep." And then not too soon after that she was in bed calling out "PLEASE HELP ME FALL ASLEEP!!" It was sooo cute, and yet so sad. She was so worried that Santa wouldn't come because she wasn't sleeping. Luckily she did eventually fall asleep so that Santa could bring presents. Santa was pretty late though, like after midnight. I hope we didn't make him run late.

Until next time,

Jaime

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

We finally got to the mall to have a visit with Santa Claus. And Santa was sure to remind the girls to leave him some cookies. It was really cute, as he patted his HUGE belly. Seriously, a real HUGE belly!!!

Since Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are packed full of family time I wanted to get on the blog tonight to wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope that you have a wonderful time with your family and friends. I will be back with a full report after the wonder of Christmas is passed.

Enjoy the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the reason for the season.

Until next time,
Jaime

Family Pottery

I was able to pick up our completed pottery the other day. I am really happy with how they turned out. I was the most excited to see the plate that we made together. With the girls hand prints as the wreath and Rick and my fingerprints as the berries it will be a very special Christmas plate for years to come.

Here is Megan's gingerbread man ornament:

Here is Sam's snowman ornament:

Both of the girls made mugs for Gigi. We gave them to her at our family Christmas party last night along with some tea. They were so excited to have her open them and she really liked the mugs. What Gigi wouldn't like handmade gifts from their great-grandchildren?!

I really would like to make this a Christmas tradition. We all had so much fun and we have some great memories and keepsakes
.

Until next time,

Jaime

Christmas Lights

One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to go look at Christmas lights. I have been doing this every year since I was a little kid. Last year we didn't get to go because of the 5 feet of snow. But tonight we started our adventure by going to Manito Park to walk through the conservatory. It was all decked out with poinsettias and lights. It was so gorgeous. I took a couple pictures (of course).


After that we went downtown for pizza. And then we took off looking for decorated houses. We found a house with a huge light show. They had A LOT of lights that were set to music. The girls LOVED it!! And I loved it too. As we drove around we listened to Christmas music and sang along. My favorite was when the girls and I sang along with a Raffi song that I used to listen to when I was a kid. It is special to share moments like that with the girls.

The craziness of Christmas begins now. Starting with Christmas parties this weekend and a special Church program. We will be busy busy for the next week. Even my work is in on the Christmas fun. Today we had a potluck and next week is Christmas spirit week.

Ahh, the holidays!!

Until next time,
Jaime

Christmas Program

Megan had her Christmas program at school on Thursday. It was cute and Megan was so excited for her program. Although you never would have known it by how serious she was while on stage.

This is a picture of Megan with the tree that her class made.


The parents are always given a minute to take pictures before the program begins. I told Megan to make sure that she looked at me and smiled so that I could get a good picture. And she actually did look at me and smile. Amazing!!

The program only lasted about 25 minutes. The gym was packed to standing room only. Good thing we got there an hour early. Rick and I were able to get two seats in the front row.

"Christmas cookies, Christmas Pie. Christmas goodies, my oh my."

Until next time,
Jaime

Family Fun

So part of getting into the spirit of the season is spending some family time together. Tonight the four of us went to Polka Dot Pottery and made some stuff. This was our first time painting pottery as a family. It really was a lot of fun.

The girls made ornaments for our tree. This is the first year that I have done this. But I am thinking that I feel a new tradition forming. They are so cute. Usually I buy each girl an ornament signifying something special from the year. However, this year I have had a hard time finding them an ornament. So I think having a handmade ornament is the next best thing. Sam painted a snowman and Megan painted a gingerbread man. I can't wait to pick them up next week to see how they look after they are finished.

We also made a plate as a family. My family has a traditional Christmas morning bubble bread that I make for Christmas morning breakfast for my family now. I grew up eating it every year, and now I make for my family. And you know how much I just love baking. (Can you sense the sarcasm?) So I thought it would be fun to have a special plate to serve the bread on. The girls used their hand prints to make a wreath and Rick and I used our fingerprints to make the berries. It is really sweet and I can't wait to pick it up next week. I am really excited to see the finished product.

The girls also made a couple Christmas presents. They had a great time. Samantha especially loves painting pottery. I am thinking that we are going to have to do this more often. Even Rick said he had fun. He suggested that just the two of us go there one evening and make something together. Sounds like a great date night to me!!!

I will show you pictures of the finished projects when we get them back next week so stay tuned.

Until next time,
Jaime

Oh Christmas Tree

I was having the hardest time finding the Christmas spirit this year. I am usually decorating the day after Thanksgiving. That didn't happen this year. But the tree is finally up and the house is decorated. The girls are really happy to finally have the tree up. And I really do love having the house all decked out for Christmas. It has really helped me find my Christmas spirit. I may not be fully there this year, but at least I am trying.

Both of the girls tried to put the angel on top of the tree but they weren't able to get it to stay. So then I tried to put it on the tree but it was not straight so Rick stepped in and finished it off. The angel is now happily looking down on us from her perch on the top of our tree.


I don't know if we are going to get any decorations up outside this year. It is absolutely FREEZING outside so neither one of us want to go spend hours outside decorating. It isn't the end of the world if we don't get the outside stuff done this year. I would rather be in my warm house than outside turning into a popsicle.

Until next time,
Jaime

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I want to wish all my wonderful blog readers a very Happy Thanksgiving. I know that I haven't been very good at blogging lately. And I feel bad about that. Lately I feel like I don't have much to say, and it's all basically the same boring stuff anyway.

But I wanted to take a moment to let you all know that I am very thankful for all the wonderful readers and comments that you all leave for me. It really lifts me up and gives me the encouragement I need to push through these difficult times.

Enjoy your turkey day and stuff yourselves!!!

Love,
Jaime

It's Here!!! It's Finally Here!!!!

OME!!!!!! Oh My Edward it's finally here!!!! At this time tomorrow evening I will be in the middle of watching New Moon. I am so excited, I feel like a crazy teenager. I am a Twilight Mom for sure!! And now Samantha is really into too. She however is Team Jacob. I bet you all know what team I am on.

I am so excited!!

Until next time,

Jaime

Veteran's Day: My Grandpa

My mom wrote a speech that she read at her school's Veteran's Day assembly. It tells the story of my Grandpa Cecil's experience of being a prisoner of war during WWII. I want to post it here because this part of my family's history is so important to me. Just remember it was written for elementary kids so it is a simple version, but I don't want to change it. (I am changing it a little bit so that it reads as if I am telling it about my Grandpa. Sorry Mom, I hope that's okay)

My Grandpa, Cecil Cunningham, joined the Army Air Corps in October of 1940. In those days the Air Force and Army were one branch of the military call the Army Air Corps. He was 22 years old and earned $21 a month. After basic training, he went to Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was a driver for his base commander, Col. Hackett. It was here that Grandpa made a decision that would change his life. Col. Hackett asked Grandpa if he would like to stay in New Mexico and continue to be his driver when his outfit shipped out. But Grandpa, a man of strong character, choose to be loyal to his unit and ship out to an unknown destination.

He was sent on an Army transport ship to the Philippine islands in the Pacific Ocean. He arrived in the Philippines in November of 1941 and on December 7 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and the war with Japan began. Eventually, the Japanese captured the Philippines and my Grandpa became a prisoner of war.

He was sent to a prisoner of war camp in the Philippines where he worked in a machine shop and in the rice fields planting rice for 10-12 hours a day. The prisoners were fed two times a day...mainly small amounts of rice. Sometimes they were given fish head soup with weeds. The men used a small can to collect insects, snakes, weeds...anything they could find to add protein to their diet.

After 2 1/2 years he was sent on a ship to Japan. (obviously this was one of the infamous "Hell Ships") The ship was so crowded with prisoners that only one man out of three could lie down. He was on the ship for 3 months. Many of the men became sick on the ship because there was little food and no medicine.

He was sent to Yokkaichi prison camp in Japan. There he was forced to work in a copper mine loading big, heavy ore carts and pushing them to the smelter. There was no heat in the buildings (and Japan has a climate much like Spokane with cold, snowy winters) and very little food. He slept on a straw mat that was infested with fleas and lice.

One day he had his picture taken. (I wish I had a digital copy that I could post on here) The picture was sent back to the United States so that people would think that the prisoners were well cared for. In that picture my Grandpa is wearing a nice clean prisoner uniform. But he only wore that uniform for his picture. As soon as his picture was taken, he had to give that uniform to the next man for his picture, and to the next, and the next. His real clothes were ragged and worn out.

In September 1945 the war was over. Grandpa had been a prisoner of war for 3 1/2 years and had lost over 100 pounds during this time. He came back to the United States on a hospital ship. When he regained his strength (he was paralyzed from the lack of nutrition) he returned home to his family. He eventually married my Grandma and began a family.

My Grandpa was very proud to be an American and it showed brightest when he would salute the American Flag. He sacrificed 3 1/2 years of his life so that America would remain free. He did this for his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Of course this is a simplified version of what he went through, remember it was originally written for elementary kids. And apparently the kids were so interested that you could have heard a pin drop while my Mom was reading this. Cool!!

I am so proud of my Grandpa. He was not one to talk about his experiences. It just wasn't something he talked about very much. He wasn't boastful and I think that was one reason he didn't feel the need to talk about his time as a POW. I have enjoyed learning more about his time as a POW as I have gotten older. I think it is because I can really appreciate how much he must have endured during those 3 1/2 years.

Thank you to all the Veteran's in my family, and Rick's family. We are very grateful for all you sacrificed for our freedom!!

The Lows of Life

Today when I was on Facebook I noticed that Rick's status said "dealing with the lows of life." It made me sad. But it also reminded me that we are both feeling pretty low right now. So many things seem to be going wrong for us right now. It just feels like we can't catch our breath. Almost like we're drowning. The ship is sinking with us on board.

One of the biggest lows Rick is dealing with is his work schedule. He really hates the shift changes he is dealing with at work. It is especially frustrating for me to watch him struggle due to all the crazy different hours he has been working. This past weekend was really rough on him. He had to work at noon one day and then turn around with less than a day in between and work at midnight. That caused him to spend all day on Halloween suffering with a terrible headache. He hardly got any sleep, I am talking like maybe 2 hours. It would be hard for a healthy person to work like that, but for someone that is not healthy it is unbearable. My PSC peeps understand the fatigue that comes with having PSC. So to already deal with that type of fatigue and then add in ridiculous shift changes is very hard on the body.

And then today he was told that the store manager likes having him at the store in the evenings and wants to keep him on this crazy @$$ schedule. (sorry for the language, I am just really pissed) That is NOT fair. The manager said he wants the new person to work Rick's shift and keep Rick with the screwed up shifts. Rick has worked there for 16 years and now is being treated terribly. For someone who said that they want what's best for Rick they sure are screwing him over. So the lesson here would be that working hard only gets you screwed with!

I just want to runaway, but I know that won't help. But I just need a break. I have been trying to hand all this over to God but I am not good at that. It has just been such a hard year. I feel broken somehow. Like I am not the same person anymore. I just don't care as much about some things anymore. I really don't care if my house is organized. I really don't care if everything is picked up and put away. I just really don't feel like the same person. And it makes it worse when those little things are pointed out to me. Like I don't know that things in my house aren't the same. Like things in my life aren't the same. They're not. And now I have to learn how to embrace the new me. I shouldn't feel guilty for not wanting to go back to the old me. And for those people that don't accept this as me now, well then they just don't have any idea what this last year has done to me.

I really do want to feel happy again. But this time of year is really hard to deal with when I don't have the finances to enjoy it. I look at my girls and feel sad that I can't do the things with them that they want to do. I do hope that they know how very much I love them. And how sorry I am that they don't get to do all things they want to do.

Oh goodness, I am really pathetic. Sorry.

Jaime

Crowbar Incident

WARNING: Gross picture below!

Rick had himself a little accident tonight. He was moving some cabinets in the basement from his drum room to the laundry room. The cabinet needed to be cut out of place. Rick was using a crowbar and set it on top of the cabinet. He bent down and wiggled the cabinet. Remember what was on top of the cabinet? Yep, the crowbar. It fell off the top of the cabinet and landed on the top of his head.

He came upstairs and called for me to come help him. And he made sure to tell me in advance not to freak out. I had heard the saw running downstairs and then I heard something fall, which happened to be the crowbar. So I figured I was going to be seeing something I didn't want to see.

I walked in to the bathroom to see blood pouring down Rick's face. I held it together, grabbed a towel, and starting wiping up blood. When I could finally see where the blood was coming from I made the decision to take him to the Emergency Room. Of course Rick didn't want to go, but he went because he said he knew if he didn't he wouldn't hear the end of it.

Thankfully we didn't have to wait for very long in the ER. Rick got 4 stitches in the top of his head.


And then we came home and he showed off the crowbar that did the damage.


Didn't think I would be spending Sunday evening in the Emergency Room. And I didn't freak out about all the blood either. Wow!!

Until next time,
Jaime

Happy Halloween

The girls have been super excited to get to wear their Halloween costumes. They finally got to put them on yesterday for their class parties. They both picked out what they wanted to be without any influence from me. Sam chose The Flash. Apparently it is a superhero from Justice League. I don't know, I'm not very knowledgeable in superhero. Megan chose Daphne, from Scooby Doo. I know, big shock. She is a huge fan of Scooby Doo. At least I knew who that one is.


Nana and Papa with all their little goblins.

I hope you had a fun Halloween. It was a busy day to end a busy month. And it is just going to get busier with the upcoming holidays. I am already exhausted, oh please Lord give me strength.

Until next time,

Jaime

Frustration and Exhaustion

The two words that really sum up how I have been feeling is frustration and exhaustion. I am tired. Really, really tired. It could be from all the running around with kids and their activities. It could be from working. It could be from traveling with Rick to the band competitions. But it could also be from my depression. Yes, I take medicine for depression. I admit it because I am not embarrassed by it. It has been a rough couple years and so I got depressed. I am feeling a bit like I am having some more depression. Which would help to answer the tired question.

Frustration is also a big part of the exhaustion. I am frustrated with so many parts of my life right now. Frustrated with Rick's work schedule. After 16 years of working for the same company his hours are being screwed with and he goes from working 12:30pm -9:00pm to working 12:30am-9:00am. That not only screws up him, it screws up our whole family. And I worry about what that severe change to his system will do to his health.

As I am sure you have been aware I am frustrated with my kids. We have been battling with them to pick up their rooms, show respect to each other, and to stop destroying the house. By destroying I mean that they write on the walls, furniture, and basically disrespect our things. It has reached a boiling point that is about to boil over into complete disarray. They have not been showing us respect, and have been showing a complete lack of responsibility. Yes my expectations are for 6 and 9 year olds. I do realize they are just kids, but this is out of hand. And it makes me sick to see this happening in our family. I feel like I have tried so many different tactics that have all failed. I don't want to be a failure to my kids. I want them to grow up with awesome memories, not memories of always being yelled at. I don't want to yell at them, I try to avoid it as much as possible. But I just don't know what to do anymore.

That is the biggest problem that I face everyday. The girls are always fighting with each other. I am feeling like a terrible mother, like I must have done something wrong. This is not how I want our family dynamic. I am so frustrated and saddened by how things are going right now.

The second biggest frustration is the financial situation we are in right now. It has been a rough couple years and it is really hard to try to feel like I'm not drowning. All these things are not good for our marriage either. We are lucky to have formed such a close bond over the past few years. But sometimes life gets in the way and right now I am not feeling that bond as strongly which breaks my heart.

These are the reasons that I haven't been blogging much lately. I don't feel like I have anything positive to say. I have had a really hard time thinking of things to write. Nobody wants to keep reading depressing blog posts. And I really want to be funny or witty, so that is why I have been avoiding the blog. My goal is to get this all turned around now that our crazy schedule of activities is slowing down. We have a long winter ahead of us, which means a lot of time stuck together in the house. And it is going to suck if I can't get things turned around.

I am going to give it my all. I want a strong, loving family. I don't want to be frustrated and exhausted anymore!

Until next time,
Jaime

My Favorite City

Do you all remember that I love Seattle? Well, I do! I love all the water, the skyline, how it smells. I don't enjoy the traffic. But I really look forward to being able to get over to Seattle. However it isn't very often. Since the last marching band competition of the season just happens to be in Everett (just a few miles north of Seattle for those of you not familiar with the area) it is the perfect opportunity to spend a little time there before heading up to meet the band. The weather this year was typical Seattle weather. It was windy and misty. But it still smelled fantastic!! And made for some beautiful rainbows.



We took a drive around Seattle and went up to the Queen Anne neighborhood. There is a cute park that looks out over the Seattle center, which includes the Space Needle, and the downtown skyline. Can you say gorgeous?
It was a nice drive with all the beautiful fall colors. Of course we made our way to Spud's for lunch. Fish and Chips + Clam Chowder = Yummy!!!!! Seriously, it is soooo good!!!

Oh how I wish I could spend more time in my favorite city.

Until next time,
Jaime