Guess we were wrong.

Another summer has come and gone and the Rowe Family still resides in NM. Our plans to move to Idaho didn't work out and for the moment we are staying here. Both fortunately and unfortunately I left my job at UNM. I enjoyed my job but I wanted to have the summer to move and prepare the kids for a new home and new school. Then summer came and went and the hope of moving did as well. A new school year has started and once again I'm a stay at home mom. I've learned a few things of over these last few years; 1. I love to work 2. I cannot be great at both a 40 hour a week job and being a mom 24/7, something always suffers. 3. The school morning rush to get kids and myself to school and work caused more stress than it was worth, never again. 4. Being at home with the kids after school is good for them and myself. 5. The house runs smoother and cleaner when I am not working 40 hours a week. 6. Being a full time stay at home mom is not what I want to do with my life. 7. I need to work part time, only if all the kids are in school. For two years I tried to have a career without it having a negative impact on our lives. Maybe if I only had one or two kids I might have been successful, but I couldn't manage with four. Once the cold and flu season hit I was done, both years. I dreading having to call into work, explaining that I was out, again, with another sick child. That feeling was nothing compared to the feeling of knowingly sending a child to school when he/she felt sick, but not having any options. I always felt like I was letting someone down. Eventually I had to thrown in the towel. I'm sure there are people who can do it all, but I am not one of them. I am ok with this. 2014 was a hard year for our family. We had some bad and incredibly sad events that happened in our lives, and in the light of it all I reevaluated what I was doing. I realized that I was working for myself, and that was ok, but I had to decided if it was going to be worth it years down the road. I knew it wasn't. Simultaneously I knew my job was suffering, and that I would never be able to give it the attention it deserved, not while I still had young kids at home. I tried to get back on track but I realize I was never on the track. I was somewhere on the side of it trying to hop on. It's not easy to admit defeat and I've been embarrassed for the past month thinking I quit when it "got hard." Then this week happened. First Ava got a stomach bug, then Nova got a cold, school started, I caught the cold and have been battling it for the past three days. First time since I left Sociology that we have been this sick and I noticed a huge difference, the work dread was gone. I still have the "Crap the kids are sick dread", but not the stress of calling in. If I had still been with Sociology this would have been a horrible week to miss work, and I would have. The moment I realized this I began to think differently about my decision. Picking the kids up from school on the first day, seeing their teachers and making contact with other parents allowed me to see that this may have been a rash decision, but I am now feeling it was meant to be. All things happen for a reason. Also as a side note I know I left the Sociology Dept in good hands, as my friend Shoshanna replaced me. I am confident she will be able to give the wonderful Sociology graduate students the advisement they deserve. (I really did like working these these individuals, they are all amazing and they blow my mind with the amount of time and effort they put into their academic careers.) Now I have to figure out what to do. First thing is to get Riot in a preschool. He is on a few waiting lists and hopefully he will be in a preschool within the next few weeks. Then I can put all my efforts into figuring out what I can do. I'm open to some suggestions. Meanwhile I look forward to what will be, I hope, a smoother school year for the kids. School may have just started but I've seen a difference in them, both getting ready in the morning and in coming home at the end of the day. This may not be how I expected this school year to start but I can't complain about how it is. I'm lucky to be home with the kids and I know many people would feel the same way. I'm keeping this in mind this year. We may still move, nothing is for certain. So I'm still around, and maybe once I do get Riot into a program will have a few hours to work, or meet people for coffee. Keeping my fingers crossed. Don't be surpirsedday you happen to see me working at Starbucks or Barnes and Noble, (part time dream jobs...hoping they have flexible hours and great discount). Next year Riot will be in kindergarten and then maybe I can move back into the real world, but on our family terms this time, I hope. This picture is from their first day of school. Ava is now a 8th grader, Kennedy a 4th grader and Nova is in 1st grade. Riot refused to be a part of the picture but I'll post one once he starts (fingers crossed) preschool. Until then I'll just keep looking forward.

Wow it's been a long time since I updated my blog. A lot has changed since then. Too many changes to discuss now, but most are good. Work has been slow and I'm taking the time to learn some basic programming. Shane started to teach Ava and I assume he'll teach the others if they want to. I decided I didn't want to be left out so I've started to do some basic tutorials. It's a fun but stressful thing to do. It defiantly has given me a lot more respect for what Shane and his fellow programmers do, my dad included. One day I hope to truly understand what this means; var lost = [4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42]; var count = lost.length; var isLost = function (n) {; for (i = 0 ) {; if ( n === lost[i]) { return ; } } return ; }; if ( isLost(12) ) { console.log('12 is a lost number'); } if ( isLost(16) ) { console.log('16 is a lost number'); } meanwhile I just hope to keep ahead of Ava! She likes to show off how much she know more that me. That's irks me! Hopefully I'll update my blog a little more frequently too! I hope to do that. PS It's been a while since I've posted a pic of the family so I attached that too!

Being Thankful

Where did the time go this year? I swear it was only yesterday that I was unpacking the tree and wrapping presents. Riot was a little baby, not even crawling, with his sisters adoring him. We've have been living in the new place already 6 months. Really? Wow! Riot has developed his personality and is quite the little man. Nova has taken to being his best friend and many time his worst nightmare. Ava and Kennedy are in their second year at Inez, and we've had a good year with some really positive outcomes. Of course nothing is perfect in elementary school but it if was then they wouldn't get getting prepared for life, right? The beginning of the year was really a tough one for us, we had the two youngest in the hospital, for what was a week but felt like years, and so far we've managed to prevent another stay. I can only hope and do my best to prevent it. Moving has been a good experience for us, the kids can play outside with many other kids, something they have not really had a chance to do, and this is a great thing for them. (Not for the adults so much:) I think I'm the only one who loves moving, and this year as really been about us planning our next move, but more to come later on that topic. While things keep changing, growing, and evolving some remain constant; our kids are amazing, bright, loving, and feisty. They are our motivation and our future. They drive us crazy and keep us happy. Not one to get sappy but I really do feel like we hit the lottery with our kiddos. I'm sure every mom or dad feels that way about their kids and kuddos to them. Another constant is Shane and I. We're half way to celebrating 14 years of wedded bliss. (I laugh as I write bliss) Every year bring new memories and joy, new irritants and frustrations. I love knowing the we remain committed to each other due to love and friendship not due to our wedding certificate. I still consider Shane my best friend (Shalini still my bestie too:) and hope I always will. Thanksgiving is around the corner and while I spend the next few weeks getting stuff planned, decorating with the kids, making our new batch of crazy, fun filled, overly iced christmas cookies I remember memories of my childhood and the wonderful times I had with my family. While I always melancholy for my beloved ones who have passed I'm very thankful for being close to my family and for being able to share these precious times with them. With the future always changing one never knows what the next year brings, so I choose to be thankful for the time now, being in the present now. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and I hope you all a wonderful time with your family too!

I blame Shane and Texas!

I have come to realize that this bug did not arrive at our doorstep by accident but by a curse. It's actually a curse on Shane really and I have spent a lot of time thinking about it to come to this conclusion. Shane tells this story of going to his Aunt's garden once and while taking to her he picked up a piece of broccoli and took a bite of it. Then looking down at the broccoli he saw hundreds of baby spiders swarm the veggie and his hand. Since that day he has not been a fan of spiders and therefore I believe they keep visiting us, to torture him. In CA we were overwhelmed with them. The first night we arrived at our apt. we had to retrieve our key from a light by our door (My brother moved our furniture and left it there for us while he partied in San Fran.) Shane reached for the key and felt a cobweb and immediately declared he was not going to get the key. It took a lot of convincing to get him to reach the key, (I was pregnant and short, still short) The parks were full of spiders, our balcony too. Stupid spiders everywhere. Eventually we moved back to NM where we thought we might get a little less spider mania but instead we moved to an apt. that was breeding ground for Black Widows. At this point I was pissed but decided that everyone gets spiders so what can you do? Eventually we moved again and our new landlords swore they never had black widows (liars) so I was like OK! Yeah I guess I should have asked if they had big freaking wolf spiders because guess what showed up THE FIRST FREAKING NIGHT? A ginormous pregnant wolf spider. I will not show a picture of this spider because it's too creepy to see still but you should know that a pregnant wold spider carries her spawn on her back, hundred of them and they are all hungry. Shane came in to the house where I was sure a Tranchula was invading our home and he froze. Then he said quickly for me to get a glass which I did. He told me that once he trapped the spider she was going to let loose her evil spawn and I didn't believe him. NEVER AGAIN!!! No words to describe the event that happened. Still too shook up from that one. Wolf Spider=evil!!! This last home we moved to recently just got visited by this pictured arachnid which is a Vinegaroon. He looks more evil than he actually is but is still not the kind of thing you want to open your door to find. It's an odd feeling knowing that you have been visited by something NO ONE ELSE seems to have seen in person. Like I said I think Shane has been singled out by the kingdom of the arachnids. I'm hoping this was the end, like the final messenger. The most awful looking one yet. I hope so because I don't know if you can legally divorce someone over a curse but it might be the only way. PS I read the these Vinegaroons are very common in TX. The new neighbors are from TX, they showed up the eve before this guys appeared. Coincidence?

How to get a gallon of milk for a dollar!

For those who are looking for a good deal you CANNOT beat a gallon of milk for a dollar. Not in this economy. You might been lucky and get the "Welcome to the neighborhood!" coupon from Albertsons, but that would only get you a gallon for $1.69 (at least that is what I got and used last week). You can try to catch Smith on a luck week and get the 3/$6.00 sale but that hasn't happened for a while. (I know because I keep looking for it.) I HATE paying more than $2.00 for a gallon, it infuriates me. Therefore I headed for CVS for milk today. I only had so much cash on me, since I am once again awaiting a new debit card in the mail. (Ava lost it this time.) I figured I would go back tomorrow for another gallon but to my surprise I don't need to and I'll now tell you the way to get the $1.00 milk. First you need to be born in September. Well at least for this weeks sale anyway. What am I talking about? I'm talking about a coupon that was printed out, for ME for my birthday. That's right a $2.00 coupon just for being born in the best month of the year! SEPTEMBER!!!! How about that? Thank you CVS!!! So then I snapped that I could get the second gallon, pay nothing and not have to come back (Although I promise to come back another day!) Hence getting 2 gallons for $2.00 or $1.00 a gallon as I like to think of it. Pretty nice and who doesn't love getting an early birthday present? I do!!!

Cooling off downtown

A few weekends ago Shane took Ava and Kennedy on an adventure on the city bus. Nova, Riot, and I chose to stay home:) I really hate the bus, I have had so many bad experiences on them that I prefer walking, driving my own car, or skipping. Really the bus holds only disgust for me. So today after a nice lunch at Kelly's Brewery (free kids weekends are just the best) Shane suggested we leave the car parked and take the bus downtown to walk around. Not wanting to be a party popper I agree but secretly wished I could drive and park. Anyway the bus was ok, not great, but ok. We got off the stop near the Galleria and began our journey. This vent the kids are pictured in held so much fun for the kiddos. They couldn't wait to show it to me. Riot loved it too:) It was nice to catch the breeze from it, it was pretty humid today. We walked in the rain a little but it was a pleasant rain. After the vent we headed to the downtown library to see what books they had for sale. A long time has passed since we were last in that location and I was pleasantly surprised at the changes:) We only had about 20 mins for shopping but we filled a brown bag full and came way happy. Only then did I get the point that Shane had been making...we had to carry it all back. Luckily for us Riot was happy on Shane shoulders and Nova got a thrill sitting on the bag of books in his umbrella stroller. The bus ride back held some interesting character and I was relieved to get off at the stop for our car. Once home the rain was coming slowly so I took advantage of it and we cleaned up the yard. I'm getting excited for the end of summer, and beginning of fall. A few leaves have fallen of the tree and for once I think were going to have beautiful fall leaves in our yard. Just remind me of this when it comes time to rake up those bad boys:)

Summer vacation is coming to and end. Kids are really excited. So am I, people, so am I:)

Inez Talent Show

 

Up to my Owl Balls

A little recycling project that I have got going on. These are my little Owl Balls that I am making out of felt and christmas tree ornanments that were going to get thrown. I'm having a lot of fun with them and have a few more planned. They are odd and weird and I love them. The first one was for Riot but I'll be making him a new one. The pink is a baby gremlin Owl for Kennedy but she wants another one. My green lady is my Scarlett Owl with a Denver Bronco Owl just for fun. More to come soon!

Happy Halloween...wait no Happy Holidays!

A great tradition we have in our little family, (well not so little anymore), is to decorate cookies. Last year I think we missed it and I made sure we got to do it this year. We bad a batch yesterday but I didn't feel well enough to decorate them. The girls were really happy to make their own cookies and do their own designs. I did try to make a deer by hand but it didn't turn out well. Next year I'll make sure to get that cookie cutter as well as a tree and Santa. Anyway enjoy the photos.


A Vampire...No a Bat...oh yeah an angel.lol

love

The Rowes

Couldn't say it better myself

“For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Countdown to Thanksgiving 11th day away

 

My little Nova. She is my little shadow and keeps my day busy. At 3 she is a handful and a blessing. She is rough and tuff and yet a huge lover of all things Princess. A sweet heart to all animals and babies yet hold her own and then some with the girls and anyone who gets in her way. We love our little November Mae Rowe:)

Countdown to Thanksgiving

 

I thought I would start a new tradition on my blog by doing a 12 days to Thanksgiving countdown of the things in my life I am grateful for. This first choice is a great one because I can truly say it as of today that for #12 I can great full for our bed and to be lucky enough to have a bed and home to rest our heads. (More and more people are not able to say that this year and I am truly truly thankful to be able to)
So I still had planned to do this post today but originally when I was planning my posts (I do plan many of them out you know) it was going to be a little more funny and sad as I talked about how I am grateful for the bed (again truly am) but not so much the mattress. The mattress we had (will explain) was given to us in CA by the sweetest lady I had met who had to upgrade to a new mattress. We had a full mattress and as we just had Kennedy we needed to upgrade to a new larger size. We had talked of getting a king size but hadn't when the opportunity to take her old mattress was given to us and I seized it. It wasn't the greatest mattress but it was big and that was enough for us then. Now 5 years down the road and a few moves later we were dying with it. It has lost any charm it once held for us. The girls, however, loved it. Many times they had fallen asleep on it and in the morning told us that they wished they could have it. Why I do not know but it's true. Anyway we talked again of getting a new one but our resources lacking we had to wait until we could afford a new king size one. Then today it hit me that we should switch the girls twin mattress which are very comfortable with our crappy to us but not to them one. This works because we recently redid the sleeping arrangments in our home. The girls who have shared a bedroom since birth have always slept in the same room. When we moved to a larger home Ava was given her own room to share until Riot was older. This was good in theory but not did not work at night. She always got in bed with the girls. Shane decided they needed their beds (twins) to be pushed together to keep them all together. That made a king size bed and they have been sleeping happy since. We then have turned Ava bedroom now into the play room leaving her twin in there as a couch until we find something more suitable. So now they have a king size mattress and we do to (or two twins pushed together which also work. I have to say it's been a long time since I've looked forward to going to sleep:) We'll still eventually get a better bed since one day they'll want to have their own individual beds but for now, for tonight, I'm can truly say "I love my bed!" Now if I can get Shane to stop snoring in it. hmmm!!!

Another great day! We got to spend time with our friend Laurie and her kids Zenovia and Alexander. Home Depot provided a fun project (spice rack) which was easy for the younger kids to do. We got to have lunch with Laurie and family before heading over to Hobby Lobby for some craft stuff. (Pictures to post once they are done) and then over to Dusty and Sandy's house for a little visiting time. I love the fall, not to cold to want to stay home and not to hot to avoid the heat outside:) Next trip will be the Diary of a Whimpy kid event:) Looking forward to it!!!

Painting Pumpkin Party

We meet some friends at Trader Joe's today to do a pumpkin painting event. The kids loved it! Their clothes got ruined but I figured it was going to happen so I put them in old clothes. After seeing the clothes come back from Kindergarten I'm not surprised anymore at how bad they ruin their outfits. After the painting event we went to Barnes and Noble for story hour. It was an great Saturday! Lets hope Trick or Treating goes as well:)

My guys:)

Hard to imagine that at this time last year having a son was never a true dream for Shane or I. We had three beautiful girls and had no plans for another baby, much less a son. Then on Nov. 5, 2009 our world changed as the stick showed the line that meant we were indeed going to have another baby. It goes to show you that you can NEVER say never. Riot is 2 1/2 months old and already has a special fondness for daddy. Shane will hold Riot and talk to him and Riot coos and oohs and speak to Shane like he is singing a song. He only does this for Shane. I might he an ohh or a ahh here and there but for Shane he sings them. Am I jealous? Yes but then again eventually he starts to cry for me and all is right. As far as having 4 girls vs 2 boys while the girls might have the majority so far the boys seem to be in control as Shane is totally their favorite and Riot has his Mommy wrapped around his fingers. Who knew having a son would be so wonderful?

Bff's, Kids, and Nature

Recently I got to share lunch Shalini whom I have known since the second grade. It was a rare weekday treat as she works full time and I have more kids than I know what to do with. We decided to go to the Rio Grade Nature Center, a place I love but don't get to often enough. We had my youngest two in tow and Shalini and Nova got to be pretty good friends. Shalini "shared" her lunch with Nova, (Nova pretty much stole it from her) and they played together in the kids center. I had my hands full with Riot so I was not much help. I did stand, as told to, for this picture but could not work Shalini phone to take on of her. (Phones hate me) Before we knew it it was time to go but I think we'll try to go again, maybe next time when the temperature is cooler. It's nice to be able to tell your kids that you still have the same friends you meet 25+ yrs ago
PS All pictures taken by Shalini and not posted with her permission but as she sent them to me I post them as mine!

My Space, His Space, Our Space.

After having little room for ourselves we finally moved to a bigger home. Getting settled has been happening gradually and we still have quite a few boxes to revisit but are unpacked for the most part. Shane had been looking forward to his office longer than we have had half of our children. I looked forward to him having it as well, no longer having all the clutter in the bedroom or living room. I assumed he would spend most of his free time in said office therefore I was surprised when he took to using a laptop at the dinning room table over the office pc. I think he realized he likes the noise of his family and felt left out when he is in the office. NOT ME! I set my sewing table up in a "pantry" off the kitchen where I realized I was in need of more space and less traffic. Once I realized how little Shane used his space I moved in for the kill and suggested we share it and my former space would be a much needed area for storage. He was surprisingly quick to agree and I moved my thing in over the weekend. I still need a little more room (meaning the shelves to the left) but that will take a while to clear off. Shane has one large bookshelf in the office and with the office door and french doors leading to the back yard there isn't room now for another. Either we build a bookshelf to fit by his door or hang more shelves, either way it will be a few month before we can do that. Still I'm thrilled to have a designated space that I can leave the table open and ready to sew, (my previous home had me blocking the front door while I sewed and you can imagine how inconvenient it was). I was able to get one square done and that was it as of yesterday. I guess the baby doesn't realize yet that I have this new area. Hopefully I'll get more use of it soon. Happy Days are ahead:)

Kindergarten Kennedy and the unhappy crew!

Today was a bittersweet day for us as Kennedy started Kindergarten today. Just like Ava did on her first day she put on a butterfly shirt and headed off to take her place in the world. There is nothing like the first day of Kindergarten. Kennedy did awesome and looked so cute in her outfit. I think she was worried I would be sad but I think I'm in shock or just sleep deprived because I did well at dropping her off. The pictures were taken by Shane and as you can tell Nova and Riot were pretty pissed at him for taking them. Hopefully one day we'll get a good kid shot were no one is crying. Anyway I can't wait to her how her day went. Hopefully as well as Ava's has been. We'll see.

New School, New Grade, Great Friend!

This is a big year for Ava. She started the 4th grade yesterday which she has been looking forward to for a while. She also started a new school this year and has been very brave about it. I'm probably more nervous for her than she has been, she is a real trooper. Thankfully she has a good friend, Allyson, who attends the new school. It's been comforting knowing that she will have at least one friendly face she recognizes. (Kennedy will as well as Ally's brother Sam will be starting kindergarten at the same school on Friday) I shouldn't have been as nervous about Ava though because she came home yesterday and told me she already had a BFF in her class. I'm looking forward to meeting these new friends and getting adjusted to the new year. Tomorrow will be Kennedy's big day:) Then a peaceful weekend I hope!

The Big Sister

I want to take a moment to share a sweet picture of Nova. I feel like Shane captured her essence in this photo. Nova is all about being a princess, about dressing up, and flashing her charming smile while tilting her cherub head. Riot's birth had the most affect on her vs the other girls because it took away her position as the baby and made her a big sister. She has fit herself into the role but it took a little bit of time. She loves him or (her) as she says. Nova will always get to be the baby girl and I think will eventually love the role of big sis. Now if I can just keep her from changing clothes every few hours all will be wonderful.