Wednesday - Day 18, Snow Day

I woke up this morning and looked outside and saw no snow on the ground, so I went to check the website just to be sure, and school was cancelled! Mom, had messaged me telling me also, so I told the kids to sleep in, and we decided that it was going to be Liz who stayed home until the babysitter would come, so, she calls, and Jessica and Amy didn't answer, so time goes by, and I start to feel sick at work, (thanks mom for Jinxing me) well, I get all my work done and go home at noon, so Liz decides to go to work to get stuff done, the roads are perfect and Im sure that her boss wasn't thrilled that she was taking a snow day on a day with no snow, so, we start watching the Andromeda Strain, which I guess there is a new one out and Katie and Jon have seen it, it was rated G so I figured it was safe, hard to believe how many people smoke in that movie and where they smoke (like in a lab), oh, and luckily there were no boys in the room at the moment they showed nudity on the TV, rated G and topless woman, never heard of such a thing, so we get about 1/4th through the movie and everybody is bored with it so, we started playing Guitar Hero, then it actually started to snow, a lot, we got about 4 inches in 4 hours, Im thinking that its going to be another snow day tomorrow too. Liz made it home okay, and we got the kids to bed okay, Veronica kept waking up and saying that she was having nightmares about diseases, from the movie Im sure, but she was so in and out that I doubt she got that from the movie, Liz went in to comfort her and Liz thinks that her problem is really that she doesnt like to sleep alone, missing Mariana and you, she has been awake until around 9 almost every night.

Tuesday, Day 17 - Preparing for the big storm...

Pretty good morning this morning, even though it was 14 degrees standing out waiting for the bus, Liz says the little kids were good, even though Jacob tried to test her this morning but he stopped, After work, I got home about 5:30, Amy was here feeding the kids, she stayed a while until about 6:30, then I got the little kids to bed, Jesse has had this flap of skin on his big toe for the past few days so I decided to cut it off, I got most of it, while he was screaming in terror, then he decided to throw a fit, so I shut his door, after a while of screaming, I went in with the scissors in hand and told him if he isnt quiet I will cut the rest of his toe off, meaning the flap of skin but I think he got the point, he quickly quieted down, before this Jacob was a little defiant when I told him it was bed time, so I escorted him to bed, where he started crying, I think he is missing his mommy more and more, but I kept reminding him that she would be home soon. Well, its supposed to start snowing at 3AM here, supposed to get 3-7 inches in the next couple of days, our pipes at our house are starting to freeze, and our fridge stopped working, hope its just the breaker, Liz says its colder in our house than it is outside. I've only been there 2 times this month. The temp is supposed to stay below freezing until monday, when it hits a high of 33 degrees! I either hope it snows a tiny bit or a whole lot, so the kids either go to school or I get a day off work too.

Monday - Day 16, Shop till I drop

Well, today I woke up and it was cold, they kids all had a late start by 60(big kids) and 90 minutes, so, I let Liz sleep in a little and I took care of most of the work for the morning since I had the day off, I see why Liz says its a handful, nothing major happened, its just a bit more work than the big kids, Jesse decided to throw a fit 1 minute before we were leaving, so I chased him in his room and told him sternly we don't have time for this, that changed his attitude quickly, amazingly, then Jacob decided to play with the lights to see if it would bother me as much as it bothers Liz, I ignored it for a bit and said Jacob big kids don't do that, do you want to be a big kid soon? and since that worked I used it the rest of the morning. After that I was off to work, yes, on my day off, I had to go in and dose 3 animals, a whole 15 minutes of work if that, but it had to be done by me, so I did it. But when I started the van, I had left the windshield wipers on when I turned it off on Friday after work, so the ice on the windshield proceeded to sheer off the blade on the wiper, no worries it was a cheap replacement, just a pain getting those fan dangled things off the car. Then I spent the rest of the day shopping, from about 11am to 10pm and boy do my legs hurt. I walked the Alderwood mall, twice, not t mention all the other stores I went to, and back to, but now I am about 90% done with Christmas shopping. I guess I'm not the stereotypical guy who can shop for 24 relatives in 24 minutes on Dec. 24th.

Sunday, Day 15 - Sasafras is coming for Missmas!

Well, this morning The kids woke me up, and my headache was back, but it went away quickly, so, I sent the big kids back to bed, They are testing more and more as the days go by, so the past 3 days Ive just turned into a real stickler for the rules, which is working well, sometimes I even think I sound like real jerk, but they want to test me, and no one messes with me, NO ONE! just kidding. Anyway, after their punishments, I let them out at about 9:30. They immediately went outside. Leslie, Veronica, and Makayla were already outside. After they came in and had some hot chocolate, we watched Annie, and then had lunch, we put Jesse down for a nap, and Jacob too. I had Leslie watching Makayla and Veronica in the garage. Then I had the big kids help me get all the Christmas tree stuff out of the shed, we left a lot of the other decorations though. After the tree was up and the lights were on I woke up Jesse and got Jacob and the girls up to decorate, They used almost all the ornimants, so its a "busy" tree, I made sure they didnt put any flashing lights on there. While the little kids and Leslie, were decorating the tree, the big kids put up some lights on the porch. Then we played some Guitar Hero, until I had to take Makayla home, the side streets are pretty icy, its worse in Everett, their side streets are like sheets of ice. But I made it home safely, its going to slow me down when I go shopping tomorrow though, but Im sure Ill get a lot done.

Saturday, Day 14 - Snow!

Well, this morning went well, I made some breakfast burritos and the kids really liked them, Then we got the phone call from mom, and Grandpa came to pick up the mail, after that the kids finished their chores, and we started a movie marathon, we watched The Neverending Story, which the kids really liked, then had lunch. Then we watch The Neverending Story II, which the kids also liked, and after that we watched the 12 dogs of Christmas, which I had a bad headache through and went to lay down so Im not sure how good the movie was, Liz watched it with the kids, and then it started to snow lightly, it picked up a bit more after watching Christmas at Yellowstone. After dinner we played some Rock Band, and jammed out until bed time, the kids are getting really good, and they are pretty good about switching off fairly. By bed time it had snowed about an inch and a half to and inch, Adam wants to go measure it in the morning. As of right now there is a good covering all over and its still snowing pretty good.

Friday - Day 13, Not Friday the 13th

The kids were good this morning, even Jesse and Jacob. I we had Amy come babysit tonight so, we didnt get to see the kids after school. Im pretty tired so thats all I have to say tonight.

Thursday, Day 12 - Blah, Blah, Blog...

Today went good. No major problems in the morning, or in the afternoon, however when we got here Jacob was put to bed by Jessica for pushing and scratching, and Jesse was in his room for acting out. The rest of the kids were being very loud, it was a full moon. I got declined for the surgery position today, they were hiring someone with more experience. But they told me that they were hoping for another position to open up in the near future. We may get a chance to use the generator this weekend, there is supposed to be 60 mile an hour winds, and snow.

Wednesday - Day 11, Name That Tune...

Everything went well this morning, I even got the big kids to mostly clean the table before they left, except for Katie, I didn't have time, I think she knew. So then I get back, and like the past few times after Liz and I telling Jesse to get dressed several times I had to stand in there and "light a fire under his butt". He's been doing that a lot lately, just doing his "thing" instead of getting dressed, he's pretty honest about it when I ask what he's been doing in there. So then I went to work and Liz took over, she said that Jesse listened and went to his stop and stood in line like she told him to, and then there was Jacob. She put Angel's leash on his harness and told him he was going to be Angel today, and that he was going to "puppy school" and he was good.
Both Jesse and Jacob got really good reports from their teachers today. When we got home Jon and Julia were at JROC, we got home at about 6:15 today when you tried calling a few times. Everytime the computer would ring the kids would try and crowd me, until I got pretty stern with them. Finally when there was a break from the calls I set up the Riga Webcam on the computer and let Jesse watch for a bit, he really liked it. After the little kids went to bed, I started playing music on the computer, its amazing what these kids do and don't know, I think I will do more music tomorrow or friday. I have 171 TV & Movie themes too, and I played a few of them having Liz and Katie guess the songs, Katie got the Little house on the prarrie within 2 notes, But couldn't for the life of her get E.T. When Jon and Julia got home I played a few more, Jon was a bit hyper, Julia knows a lot of them, including C.O.P.S. and others. The finally went to bed a 9:15pm, so they are probably going to be sluggish in the morning.

Tuesday - Day 10, Battle Wounds

This morning I turned off the alarm and must have hit the hour button, I closed my eyes for a minute or two and then looked at the time and it said 6:52 and then I had that feeling like "oh no, there goes the whole day" which was funny because that was the look on Liz's face when she woke up too... Anyway I seemed to have picked the easier ones to get off to school because it seems Liz is having all the trouble. She escorted Jesse out to the bus while Jacob was in a time out for trying to escape out the mud room door and not listening. Then when she took Jacob out to bus he tried to run away again, she tried picking him up when they saw the bus coming, and he started kicking and screaming. Then he scratched Liz's neck and drew blood, the driver Jeff came off the bus and took Jacob from Liz . it seems this is getting worse every morning, any ideas? (use the comments to respond) Today is the first day I forgot my phone, and of course as you know, it was the first day the school called. I got my phone when I came back for lunch time, and didnt check it until I got back to work. It seems that Leslie's earache had moved to the other ear and she wanted to go home. Luckily you had more contacts on the list and they either called Grandma or Sandy, not sure which but it all worked out, Sandy was nice enough to pick up perscriptions today for us, which was good because tomorrow morning we would be using the last of the guanfacene. When  I got home Jonn didnt have his 3 o clock so he was a little off, nothing major, everyone seemed a bit hyper. Molly said Jacob needed to tell his bus driver sorry tomorrow, I didnt hear why, Liz will find out. I brought home some of my favorite hot sauce and let some of the kids try it, they all thought it was too hot, but Jon tried to show off and ate a big glob on a tortillia, he'll regret that in the bathroom tomorrow. Liz thinks Adam is not wearing his pull ups, his robe reeked of pee and his room smells a bit too.

Monday - Day 9 - A Series of Uneventful events.

Well this morning everyone seemed a little tired, or maybe it was just me. But the big kids got off to school all right. That slide transfering thing that I was going to get was on sale today for nearly half price. So, I ordered that today. Liz had some trouble getting Jesse and Jacob off to school again today. Jesse was not listening and ran to the bus. Jacob wasn't listening also. I had to go help Liz's sister set up her new TV so, Liz came home and put the kids to bed and took Angel outside, When Angel came in she ran up stairs and woke up Veronica. thats about it, pretty uneventful day today.

Sunday - Day 8, 1 Week Down, 2 to go.

Well with one week down I can honestly say that this is going a bit easier that I had thought. Today went by pretty fast, we played most of the day away again on rock band, until most of the kids were getting restless and louder, especially Jesse who I had to prevent a couple meltdowns from happening today, but other than that nothing much happened, Leslie has an earache. Grandma stopped by to pick up the mail and then left which I find kind of odd that she hasn't come by for much more than that. All week and 1 visit. Sandy called to see if we needed a babysitter for the last weekend I told her I didn't know until it got a little closer to that weekend. Angel still has not gotten used to this she howls and barks all day, I kind of feel bad leaving her in her kennel most of the time, so I had the kids help me clean out the garage a little bit so we can let her roam free in there during the day. Well week 2 is about to start I hope it goes as good or better than week 1.

Saturday - Day 7 - The Big Little Lie

Well, this is the first weekend I didn't have to work that I actually set my alarm in a LONG time. Despite the ample warning about a certain Jesse waking up bright and early, he didn't. Makayla slept in Veronica's room and I believe they were up before Jesse. So, we woke up and started the kids on their Saturday morning chores. They all seemed to do pretty good, very little coaxing needed. They were all pretty much done before mom called on the computer.  Leslie did an excellent job on her own cleaning the downstairs. After all chores were done we broke out Rock band and played most of the day away, everyone took turns with very little bickering. After a while I put in a racing game and everyone took turns playing that even Jacob. After a while I shut down the XBOX for a bit and I was playing on my Nintendo DS (little Gameboy portable type thing) and everyone crowded around to watch. Everything was going perfectly fine (such a loaded sentence), We had dinner, lentil soup, and the kids were doing their after dinner chores, when all of the sudden it happened, Jon brought me a bowl out of the sink almost completely full of lentil soup. Pretty anti-climactic if you ask me, but that's where it started. During dinner I read all the rules to all the kids, just for fun, and made a game out of what each kid couldn't eat, game show quality stuff right there. So when the bowl full of food was there, I asked the kids who's bowl it was, well if you know it was nobodies, and I kept asking, I had my suspicions right off the bat but I was giving that person the benefit of the doubt. After no body fessed up to who owned it, I turned on Rock band and started playing, by myself. All of the kids asked if they too could play, little did they know it was all part of the plan. I said no one can play until they tell me who's bowl that was, I instantly ruled out Jesse, Adam, and Jacob because I saw them finish. So that leaves 6 culprits, with 9 witnesses at the table I figured someone knew something, it took a bit of asking but I found out Katie had dished up the blue bowl, but switched it with either Veronica or Makayla's because one of them had more, she didn't remember who's. So  that narrowed it down quite a bit. I kept asking Makayla if it was hers and she said no, then I said so you are telling me that Veronica is lying to me? and she said no. She insisted it wasn't hers,  I asked her if she liked it and she said yes. So, now I decided to put her in a catch 22, I gave her another bowl of food and told her to eat it, you could tell by her face, eyes, and how slow she ate it that she didn't like it at all, but she ate it all. Hmm.... now if she finished her first bowl, she really wouldn't have room to finish a second, knowing her appetite. So now I have all the kids knowing/realizing its her, but she still won't admit to it, so, I try to wait her out. The kids missed movie night because of this and they know it, Katie grabs a bible and trys to find the thou shalt not lie commandment, and all the kids are trying to get her to say it. (She almost fessed up an hour and a half before she actually did.) Finally after all the kids were saying that she was making it so they wouldnt be able to play a game or watch a movie, (and after I left the room) she fessed up. Then we had her apologize to all the kids. Because it was now 8:00pm bedtime for all of them and she finally fessed up. So, since I knew it wasn't the other kid's from the get go, we decided to let them stay up and play rock band until I got home from dropping Makayla off, so, about an hour. On the way home I had Makayla choose her punnishment, and she chose doing everyone's Saturday chores next Saturday. Not sure if I will make her do it all, but she will do some. So, finally a blog where I can say nothing bad about the kids! Just mine.

Well, you and I know where she gets her stubborness from, Were we not just talking about the watch in the wall socket thing before we left?

Friday - Day 6, Criticize Charlie's, Punctuation, Day

This morning the kids got up and had some donuts from the food bank, and Angel got a special can of food too. I tried to take Angel with us to the bus stop this morning but she wouldn't sit. So, we had to leave without her. It was COLD this morning but probably not as cold as it is in Latvia. Liz said that the little kids were good about sticking to the routine in the morning, except for Jesse. He ran into the bushes when he was supposed to be waiting at the bus stop, and then refused to get on the bus. Liz eventually, after all the other kids were on the bus, got him on and it seemed to take the bus driver a bit to pull off. Liz called in all the prescriptions today, and when I went to pick them up they gave me 1 bottle (for Adam), and told me I could come back on the 6th and then the 11th to get the rest. So I went there to pick up 20 and left with 1. It was very unsatisfying. I felt like I wasted my time. So I stopped at dairy queen and got a blizzard, and the trip was not wasted after all. This afternoon we went to pick up the car, and what a fiasco that was, I went from work to Everett, Picked up the car, drove it from Everett to Snohomish, had Liz & Makayla drive me from Snohomish to Everett, and then we all drove here just in time too, it was 10 minutes to 7pm when we got here. When we got here Jesse was in his room, again. Jacob was being all lovey dovey on Liz for a while, when she got home, and he went to bed with no problems. Jessica took Katie and Julia home with her, I went into to Jesse's room, and made him get his pjs on, and well, he did, but as soon as I unscrewed his light, and locked his door, he started his usual screaming/pounding fit, for about an hour. Jon played Julia's XBOX, Adam played Legos, Leslie was being Leslie, and we let Veronica stay up until the big kids bed time, because she was good and looking forward to Makayla spending the night, and trying to get Makayla to go to bed at 7pm would be impossible.

Thursday, Day 5 - The day it started to sink in...

Well, it started off good,  kids got to school as normal, no dogs, 'cept when I came home from lunch I saw a huge german shepard and a big friendly yellow lab with an invisible fence collar on. well, I can tell you what I am not getting Angel! So during lunch me and Liz were playing phone tag with the guy fixing our car, he was a real jerk, totally ruined both our days. Turns out he wanted us to pay an additional $266 to fix our car when this is the 5th time we have brought it in to him. So, he finally gets mad and says he is going to do some work on it and void out our 2 year 200,000 mile warranty on our clutch. Anyway, you dont need to hear about that. After work, Liz brought over Makayla, everything was going fine, until the little ones had to go to bed, Jacob threw the camera and started having a little Jacob fit, hitting me so I scooped him up under 1 arm and carried him sideways to bed, he apologized, then as I left he started saying "i miss my mommy" so I gave him the tape player he heard your voice and smiled, but then proceded to unplug the headphones, throw the tape player on the floor and shove the headphones through the crib, honestly it was kind of a  cute fit, but then he proceded to say that he missed his mommy, after that Liz was looking at the daily progress reports, and found that Jesse was having a few fits at school, so we took him in the living room and had a little talk with him, so hopefully at least a small portion of that sunk in, his fits are also because he misses his mom. So, you are missed, a lot. Liz then put Jesse to bed and woke Jacob to have a talk with him. She told him that it is better to ask for and give hugs when you are sad instead of throwing or hitting. Then they sang a few Christmas songs before prayers -or should I say "Missmas songs". I hope you can get internet on Saturday so everyone can see you and say hi. Jessica is taking Katie and Julia on friday thru Saturday.... so they probably won't be there. 

Wednesday, Day 4 - Day of the dogs

This morning everything seemed to be going smoothly, that is until I walked the big kids out to the bus, we all heard barking from the other side of the fence, then it got real close, and when it did, Jon ran back toward the house and Leslie basically froze in place, they all wanted to go back, but I wasn't about to have them miss the bus, so I went out around the fence and stood there as the dogs started to run up on me, and I yelled "NO!" Katie said I did it in a Santa Clause voice, The dogs quickly backed off, and I had to firmly tell the kids to come on, they were still afraid, espically Jon, after that I came back and Liz was getting the little kids up, they seemed extra tired this morning for some reason. Went to take Angel out, and noticed that the kids had turned on the radio for Angel like I did when I got home from lunch yesterday, it helps her stay more calm we do it at our house too. As I was saying goodbye to all the kids, I was telling Jesse to be good for Liz today, and Veronica indirectly helped use the Xbox as a bribe, I told him if he is good the rest of the week he can play Xbox this weekend. Liz called me at work and told me that the dogs were still out when the little kids were going to school, and that they scared Jacob, but they did them no harm, I think we might go talk to the owners tonight.

Well, Liz faxed a report to animal control, so, hopefully they will follow up, when I got home, I had our first struggle, and you wouldn't guess it was Jon who was the culprit, he was sent to bed early by the babysitter, and he blocked the door, refused to take his meds, so, I pushed the door open, and he ran to the closet and shut himself in there. finally after a while we (me and jessica) got him to take his meds, Adam went to bed early too, I forget what for, but Jessica sent him there, then the little kids went to bed, and I was left with Julia, Katie, and Leslie... Later, I gave Jon the wizard of oz, and he seemed to have calmed down by then, and yes, the baby sitter missed his 3 o'clock, which is probably why he did this.

Side Note: Mom hope you can see this

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Mom, you are at B' internet cafe is at A, Looks to be about 5 blocks. and it looks like it may be open 24 hours
You can click and drag the map. or click the view larger map to get a bearing on things.
Hope this helps.


Head northwest on Lāčplēša iela toward Tērbatas iela
0.5 km

Turn left at Baznīcas iela
Destination will be on the left
0.2 km


Belat
Baznicas 4a, Riga

Telephone:
(+371) 7 22 05 10

Open hrs:
00.00-24.00

Internet usage per hr.:
Ls 2

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Tuesday, Day 3 - The First Letters From Mom

This morning Liz decided to make the big kids some eggs and ham, the big kids all woke up on time with their alarms, even Jon, they all ate and were off to school, (this time I brought a flashlight to walk them out, much better), I came back in and the little kids were waking up, so I went to take Angel out again, she was doing a little better this morning. So I went off to work, Liz emailed me saying that she had trouble with Jesse and Jacob. I got the first message from Mom today, saying that she was OK, and that she wasn't getting the girls that she wanted, luckily I read her blog, because I never got the email she sent. After lunch one of the babysitters called and said that she was supposed to take the small van to Special Olympics, but I had the small van so I suggested that she take the big van. When we got home Amy, (who prepared several meals for future meals today), said that Jesse was being "inappropriate" again, and was in bed when we got here, Jacob was too, Liz noticed today about the "progress reports" from Jesse and Jacob's teachers, Jacob threw books, and Jesse was noticeably agitated today. We gave the big kids their first letters tonight, They were excited to get letters already from Latvia (they came in one big envelope). The little kids were in bed already so they will get them in the morning. I just got a call from Children's saying there was a cancelation for a sleep study, and wanted to know if I wanted to bring him in. I told him that his mom was away till the 19th.

P.S.Got a call from grandma, she needed your SS#, then she called and said they wouldn't do it for anyone but you. So I told grandma that she was you, and she hasn't called back so Im sure that worked.

Monday, Day 2 - Off to school

Well, I was in charge of the big kids, so I woke up at 5:50am and brought Jon his meds at 6, all the kids got up on their own, except Jon who I had to wake up at 6:30 again, they made their own breakfasts we wished Julia a happy birthday and walked out to the bus, in the dark, tomorrow I am bringing a flashlight. When I got back and Liz was getting the little ones up, so I took Angel outside, she isn't handling the change very well, she didn't go to the bathroom at all, then I ate breakfast and left, Liz later emailed me saying that she was rushed to get the kids to the bus, and had a little trouble with Jacobs harness. I went home at lunch to let Angel out again, and the car was acting up so I had to take the van back to work, after work I went home to switch back cars, the babysitter was in the big van taking the kids to pizza Julia had taken Angel out when she got home. I took the car to the shop, Liz met me there and we went home around 7pm, Jesse was already in his room when we got back, the babysitter said he was being "inappropriate". Veronica was reading to Jacob. All the kids said Angel was whining most of the time. Veronica, and a few others needed things signed. We put the little kids to bed at 7pm, Jesse was being trouble again not putting on his pjs, I had to tell him again after Liz told him twice. He was finally dressed at 7:30 and went to bed. Then we went downstairs to play with the dog with the big kids, We let Angel play on the treadmil, she has never been on one before and she loved it. All the kids went to bed just fine. I reminded Jon to set his alarm.

Sunday, Day 1 - And So It Begins...

Well I got home from work and everything had gone well with Liz and the kids, Jesse had started to be a little overwhelmed to say the least, so we gave him his meds a little early, and sent him to his room where he proceeded to scream and kick his door, hard enough to knock off the picture of Jen and me. After a few chicken tacos that Liz had made, I brought out the XBOX and we started to play Rock band, and from the previous night the big kids had gotten a lot better, when I loaded up the laptop to check my mail, all the kids were asking if they would be able to talk to mom right then, I told them she would call if she could but not tonight, Veronica needed some reading log signed, so Liz signed it. The kids got into bed and everything just fine.