March goes out like...

Just thought I would post updates on everyone
(for Grandma and Grandpa's sake,if only they had a computer).

Tony- Is excited about some new work that has come up, we don't see much of him because he is working so hard. As sad as we are about that, we are all relieved that this means things are picking up! Yippeee! The self employed thing is an up and down ride.
Cinda- Is busy with all the family and home issues, church jobs (seems like I do primary stuff every day), and pushing the little sheep (kids) along the road of life. Trying to make time for me while strategically raising a family of 4 offspring. Busy.
Christian- Is doing well in school, counting the days til it ends. He is a big fan of summer break. He is getting ready to do his eagle project reluctantly (he is burnt out on scouting). Still having problems with his knee's (Osgood Schlatters Disease). Taking piano and learning "Drops of Jupiter" by Train. In Marching Band but hates that too. Wants to take drivers ed. Is currently in trouble for breaking his cell phone.
Corynn- Still fighting the ulcer and still in pain, came home early from school yesterday with issues. Is doing well in school. Plays the flute. Taking piano also and learning "The music of the night" from the Phantom of the Opera. Is into Facebook and texting and drawing.
Chloe- getting through 2nd grade. It's been tough. We aren't sure if she will have to repeat it or not yet (I'd like her to). She is attempting to learn to ride her bike without training wheels (reluctantly) but is being forced to do this. She would stay a little girl forever if we let her but is growing very tall all of a sudden. No broken bones this year! Yet! An amazing artist.
Sadie- Is in dance class. Loves swimming and never seems to get cold. Loves dress up clothes, tea parties, make up, and dresses. Loves the cat or is it torturing the cat? Likes to ride her bike with the training wheels and do whatever she can to be a big girl and keep up with her sister Chloe. They are sharing a bedroom and that is working great.

It's been a long month...
*Had a huge garage sale (did well!)
*Went through spring break with allergies
*Corynn's ulcer and surgery recovery
*Began planning summertime, taxes, and spring cleaning
*Said hello to yardwork, the pool clean up, and the new seasons wardrobe challenges
* Money stress, lot's of prayers, and big thanksgivings

Seriously, so help us all...

As a girl I used to spend hours in my room writing stories, letters, journal entries, anything with a pen in my hand. It used to bother me how bad my handwriting was and I was determined to not have the crappiest penmanship in class someday. By high school I had compliments on it- seems now like such a silly goal now when I think about it. At the time I guess I felt like I wasn't good at too many things so I started with this piddly lil' achievement.

During this process I made great discoveries with pen in hand. I can remember that those words I would write were something that I had total control of in my out of control teenage life. My own thoughts seemed to make more sense, I could figure out complex problems, and I became a master list maker. I needed those moments of solitude, decompression, & the room to breath.

Sometimes I would read the things I wrote to my mother and she would cry. I don't know if they touched her or if she thought I had enormous teenage issues and was secretly worried. However, she always gave me encouragement and said, keep going, don't stop. You have planted a seed, help it grow. So I then became "puffed up" and a master of word play (aka BS artist- can't think of anther term that fits here, sorry) and could fake my way through reports and term papers of great length with flowery words and minimal effort. How proud she must have been of me and regretful of those encouragements.

I ended up on yearbook committee once in high school. I figured I would try it since I was thinking that love of writing meant journalism. So, of course I hated it. I didn't enjoy factual writing about how the volleyball team did this year or who was prom queen. Give me an adventure and a break from reality PLEASE! I was and still am sappy and over dramatic and found this easier and safer to express on paper and still stay out of any spotlights.

So years have gone by since those days. I have not written in ages and now suddenly I remember! I loved writing, where the heck are those old stories? I want to do more. However, reality screams "Do I suddenly have time now that I didn't have before to ponder things and write?" Absolutely not. I have no idea why this flashback or why that uncared for little seed is stirred up once again. I think it is my need for solitude resurfacing although I cannot imagine my life without all this blessed chaos. Either that or the dramatic teen years my kids are living is striking that same cord in me all over again. Whatever the case may be, my dear blogger friends, so help us all...

(Hopefully)

I love it when my kids exhibit confidence. This is on the white board in Corynn's room. I love that little goal setter! She challenges herself to do better all the time, without being bugged. She isn't perfect though... and she left room in this statement with parentheses (the "hopefully" part).
It says... Corynn WILL make straight A's (Hopefully)! I have no doubt she will yet again pull off an awesome report card.

Reading Between the Lines...

As I was cleaning today, gathering trash in the trashiest room in the house which of course belongs to my teenage son, I came across this little folded piece of paper. (Almost tossed it, but decided to check it first in case it was a note from a girl- which is always a big deal to a mom). Anyway, it was for us and it was the sweetest note, I shed a couple tears and beamed with the knowledge that I had the best son ever. I won't write all it said, it mentioned all we give up for him, thankfulness for his parents, and how he loves us.

Then, it hit me. Holy cow, what brought this on? UH OH- Did he hear my major money freak out the other night? (His room is right above ours) and then the guilt. Tell me he didn't hear me the breakdown, the crying fit (it was just the stressed out about money boiling point where I snapped).

I think I would rather believe he just loves us and was overcome with gratitude. (Not a common thing we find 15 yr old boys doing much of). Whatever the case may be. That is a note I'm hanging on to forever (and let it be a lesson for me to cry into my pillow from now on)!

Boys Will Be Boys

Suddenly, I am feeling like I have neglected to mention any happenings with Christian, my oldest (thank you Gary for pointing this out- what kind of mother am I?). The boy is currently into teasing in a big way. This unfortunately includes Mom and Dad. The other night it was my turn.

Christian and some friends decided to build ultra crazy weaponry out of cardboard and foam pool noodles, PVC pipe, and duct tape . They worked on these for hours and I complimented them on how wonderful their craftsmanship was! How hard they worked! How glad I was that they had pulled themselves away from the Playstation! Then they disappeared.

The evening wore on and the door bell rang, no one was there. I figured it was them. It rang again, and yet again, no one was there. So this time I stayed right by the door and when it rang a 3rd time I opened it really fast and heard running around the side of the house. So I went to catch them. They had me surrounded in a split second and had me pinned down with their works of art. How proud I was as a Mom to have my son outwit me. Not sure if I embarrassed Christian when I said that it only scared me enough to pee my pants just a little bit. I'll bet he was quite proud of me at that moment too.

Yeah!!

Thank you to Missy from Simply Red for the Honest Scrap Award! It made my day. I guess I am now supposed to tell 10 Honest Things About Me. Here it goes...
1- Both my husband and I are the babies in our families. Makes for good comedy at times.
2- I am a creator. Love doing crafts. Love being creative in any way possible. Preferrably with food. I make everything way more detailed than it needs to be. To me there is nothing like a little detail for that special touch.
3- I am a hard worker. Mama didn't raise a slacker.
4- I enjoy being outside... running, hiking, biking, gardening.
5- I love my country. I am a patriotic little sap sometimes but feel so blessed to live in this country and definitely worry about its current direction.
6- I am a cry baby. I fight it everyday with sweet little things I see and hear (so that my kids leave me alone and don't check to see if I am crying at the darn commercials again).
7- Love to play volleyball, waterski, swim. That is about the extent of my sportiness.
8- Miss my family in MI every day- grew up there. Love it there and here in UT, both for different reasons.
9- I worry too much. I stress out like crazy at stupid things. I try fake it that I don't though so some people think I am actually easy going. Someone once told me that they admired that I didn't sweat the small stuff- ha! (Not such an honest thing, I admit to the facade, but we all do a little acting now and then so I'm confessing).
10- I have a love/hate relationship with being the "hang out" for my kids an all their wonderful, lovable friends. They seriously are great, but loud, messy, and hungry. (I also feel this way about being the place for every family gathering in this town- we even have a sign that says Nethercott Inn, though I won't hang it anywhere permanent. Refuse to advertise, an occasional break is awesome).

My favorite part! I get to nominate 5 of you for this Honest Scrap Award! Wish I could choose you all! I am honoring...
1- Becca- Morgeneggs (Reb & Jeb and our little men)
2- Heather- djheathermcdonald (McDonald Tiki Hut)
3- Ashlee- ashleeandjake
4- Kristina- forthenry
5- Pam- Childreninducedinsanity

Thanks Everyone. Who knew blogging was so much fun.

What's Up Doc?

Your not gonna believe it, but I just had ANOTHER trip to the doctors. What is up with this madness? The sad part is, it is once again for my darling Corynn. You know, the one who had emergency surgery only a month ago? She's just twelve years old, 7th grade has not a been a good year for the poor girl.

She has been complaining for over a month about stomach aches. I thought the surgery had taken care of that (cyst removal), but it continues. She has had some really severe pain lately and it made me a lot more concerned. Since we already had medical bills (which are just now pouring in from the ER operation)- what the heck is one more visit to good old doc?

The culprit? H Pylori- the mighty bacteria that wreaks havoc in the stomach lining. Yes, an ulcer. Best part? 4 pills in the morning and 4 pills at night. Yep- that would give pretty much anyone a darn good stomach ache. Also wonderful is the cost... $375.00 for the two week treatment. However, the big sigh of relief in this sad tale... our insurance paid for all but $40.00 of it.

Blossoms

I know, I'm on a roll. 3 posts in one day, what's up? I am having so many thoughts and "moments" lately. Maybe I AM old... although I'd like to think it's more like inspiration. Anyway, I am so pleased with the blossoming tree's that have popped open this past week. It is so beautiful here in the spring. We are all miserable with allergies from them but they are pretty little things.

The thought... these blossoms make me think how many other things are blooming as well. The possibilities, the opportunities, the kids! For sure the kids. I am watching them grow like weeds lately. Christian is in a size 2 men's shoe at 15. Corynn wears my clothes and only in 7th grade. Chloe and Sadie are growing way too fast as well, but I can still pick them up and pretend they are my snugly little babies for a bit longer. (I just won't let them know that's what I'm thinking of course).

The curse of a mother is that when we look at our kids we see the whole spectrum of who they are, from the day you brought them home to where they are at this minute and you wonder how the heck they got to this point so fast. (That's why we always cry at milestones I guess, another slap in the face about how fast time flies). Then you worry that you didn't teach them enough... Love them enough... Hold them enough... Enjoy those little blossoms before they blow away and chase after their dreams.

Pot Heads (Flower Pots, of course)

One of the best things about daughters is that they love to do little crafty things with mom. Being that it is spring break I had to keep these kids occupied and out of trouble! Since the weather has been so great, we thought today should be flower day. It's tradition for us to paint pots. We shopped for the flowers in the morning and I had 3 old terra cotta pots on the side of the house that we used (I know, so thrifty). Something about gardening calms the beasts. I sure miss doing it like I did in Michigan. I had an herb garden, roses, and loved to find good perennials that came up bigger each year. These flowers planted today will all die in the desert heat before long but it made for a nice fight-free morning together!

St Patricks Day

Happy St Patricks Day! We aren't Irish at all but thought we'd have fun with clover cookies. They looked fabulous but tasted like manure thanks to an accidental doubling of baking soda. Although it broke my heart, we threw them away.

She Bangs

After not having BANGS since 1990, I took the plunge. Angie cut it and was very sweet doing it in stages so I could adjust and not freak out. My family says it's a good change, I am still getting used to it but kind of really like it. I needed to hide my wrinkly, sun damaged forehead and deny my age a little longer. I'm not even old (unless you consider 38 old)...dang this desert sun!

The Parable of the Cactus

Just wanted to share a little experience from Saturday with everyone because it is a really good lesson for us to remember, and it was learned the hard way.

Saturday was spring cleaning day at the Nethercott household. We had everything torn up, wet, outside, and we worked all day. It was cool but sunny so the little kids were outside most of the day in the sunshine somewhere in the yard as all this was happening. My mother in law who lives about 3 houses down from us saw our mess and came down to see if Sadie wanted to come play at her house so we wouldn't have to worry about her getting into trouble and finish up sooner. She had good intentions, however, she is fairly elderly (almost 90) but since Sadie is at a pretty easy stage we sent her down to their house just til we got things put back together. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes later my father in law called to say that Sadie had a little problem and was crying so she needed to come home to mom. Uh oh... my biggest fear is that she has gotten into medications and thought they were mints or something. It turns out the problem was "just" a cactus.

When my mother in law walked her down to her house she put Sadie in their yard and said to her "Sadie, you stay here and I am going to go next door for just a second to water my neighbors plant". Then she went over and watered the plant, turned around and there was Sadie, in the neighbors yard with her and covered with cactus spikes, crying of course. The neighbor had cactus plants in pots, pretty pots, and Sadie decided not to listen to grandma and stay where she was supposed to. I'm sure she didn't see any danger in ignoring grandma and heading over there to check out those interesting plants. The cactus looked soft and fuzzy but when she touched it thousands of little hair-like spikes stuck into her hand. She wiped her hands on her belly to get them off and they stuck into her belly as well. Poor girl.

After hours of tweezing, trying to get them out of her skin with tape, and soaking her in the bathtub, we got her calmed down. Then the lesson in all of this occurred to me. When we aren't obedient because WE may not see the harm in doing what we want, we learn the hard way. I think that sometimes we all think we know better than someone older and wiser who loves us, but often times we learn that there is harm where we thought there was none. And let me add that those spikes were painful, I got some in my hands just from pulling them out of her. Even after they are out, you still feel them. I think that is also how repentance works, the damage we did gets undone, but we still feel the pain for a long time after. This way maybe next time we are told or commanded not to do something, we will remember the pain from the time we disobeyed.

A Little Inspiration

I like to doodle (above picture) to calm myself down. I have been so worried lately. Just stressing out really bad about bills, money, and all the other burdens that are on my shoulders right now (too many to mention and don't we all have a list that is way too long). On top of it all, I won't even get into the sad state of the world. It's been really wearing me down and I have been kind of a nervous wreck, and frankly, I have been very scared. As I was doing laundry today I had a bible verse come to me out of the blue (John 14:27) and it touched me and helped calm me down. Let me assure you that things like this don't happen to me every day, and I'm certainly not a scriptural scholar (though I'd like to be), but since it did hit me out of the blue with a great deal of power, I believe it came as an answer to prayer.

It was just what I needed and maybe it is something that one of you needs to hear so I thought I would post it. It was just a sweet reminder where true peace comes from (not from the world but from the creator of this beautiful world). I am so grateful for this little inspiration that came into my heart today and has brought me back some sense of comfort...

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Sunday Hike

A sunday hike to the river on a beautiful spring day.