The beginning of the end...

SO!  Yes, it's been a LONG time since I've blogged... my bad.  I've been adjusting to working a part time job, doing a Bible study, volunteering at my kids' school... busy girl, I am.  But since I appear to have plenty of time to play on the addiction that is Facebook.. I should indeed have time to update this thing that no body reads, mainly because I don't tell them that I have it. :)

My first year at Mom's Day Out is nearly ended.  It has been probably one of my most fun  jobs ever.  I have fallen head over heels in love with a few 2-3 year olds who will likely make me cry like a baby on the last day.  They are so trusting and loving and silly.  I DO have my favorites, but they have all made the school year fun

Life on the home front has been busy and altogether good, minus some ER trips for the boy and a very expensive one for the DOG.  Both are no worse for the wear, and I am thankful for that.  Spence will be seeing an allergist at some point (i.e. as soon as we can get an appointment) thanks to our third annual trip to the ER for allergy related breathing issues.  I'm fairly certain he will not appreciate how it will help him as soon as the nurse practitioner mentioned "shots"!  Eek... we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Hannah is doing great.  She has finally conquered the sleeping issues that plagued us for months on end...and for that I thank GOD and my chiropractor, Dr. Heiland, who had some great suggestions to make bedtime a better thing.  She's ready for her school year to be done and have a new classroom of kids, hopefully not nearly as rotten as the class she's had to endure this year.  Her teacher, bless her heart, is retiring!  It was THAT bad.. :)

The Mr. is out at the range right now... having his own therapy session.  He and I have a great understanding of alone time.  Though, I would take another date night any old time.  I love him for that tho.. the fact that we don't guilt each other about having "our own time" is a cool thing, that I don't think many couples are in the practice of.  We are getting ready to celebrate 11 "long" years of marriage.  We have tickets to Brad Paisley and are excited to see him in concert.  I'm hoping to get him to take that Friday off and get a hotel for the night... HONEY... are you reading this? :)  Doesn't hurt to try. :)

Okay, I've officially updated.. now it's time to watch Idol...

New job

So I started a new job this week. I'm teaching, I should say co-teaching a 2 year old class at Mom's Day Out at the church that I grew up in. Only one day down so far, but it was a good first day. I have to say, even though I'm slightly afraid of how busy I'm about to get, I'm also excited about how many snuggles and love and joy I can receive from a room full of little ones.

Time is flying so fast. Hannah is turning eight next week. When did this happen? She is growing crazy fast. She is SO smart, and I'm not just saying that as her mother. Do any of you have an 8yo in your home that yells at you for using hairspray that is damaging the ozone with chlorofluorocarbons? I am probably not even SPELLING it correctly, yet she is on my case about recycling and reading 200 page books in one evening and just generally soaking everything in like a sponge! She pays attention, when I don't want her to, in particular. She is in the gifted program and is learning how to research things. So she is always coming home and looking up weather information and thinks it's funny that there is a hurricane that shares the same name as her right now. Funny, that is, until her little brother told her that "she" killed 60 people in Haiti. Then, she didn't think it was as funny.

And Spencer. Whew. Not quite to the end of the first quarter of Kindergarten and reading books already. It is SO fun to have watched him go from clinging to Dave that first week of school, to being totally stoked to go each morning and ramble on and on about all they did after I pick them up in the afternoon.

Sometimes it's easy for me to get complacent. Too easy, I find myself comparing myself or my circumstances to what I wish they could be or worse, what I'm glad they aren't. And I have to remember and reflect on how much God has blessed me. Blessed me with a husband who loves me and loves to spend time with me, is generous enough to spend money on me and yet, who values our individuality, and who is totally cool if I want to spend a girl's night out with friends, and who knows I'm totally cool with sending him to the range to work out his frustrations of sitting at a desk all day long to bring home our bacon. Blessed me with 2 healthy, happy, very well behaved children. Yes, they are exhausting and try our patience at times, but all I have to do to remember how great I have it there is to turn on SuperNanny and whew, I have it G-O-O-D! Blessed to find a part time job, and work in an uplifting environment where everyone works as a team and have the flexibility to be at school parties and field trips as well.   LIFE IS GOOD!

I wish I could say that I'll update again soon, but as anyone, if anyone can see from my record... I am not consistent whatsoever. But it's an update nonetheless. Until next time...

Should've known better OR My husband is a saint!

So, my mom's been gone for nearly a week to see my sister in San Antonio. My mom is a stay at home grandma to 2 nieces and one nephew...full time...for free. My brother takes the cake in advantage taking. He uses her the most. My sister uses her fairly regularly, but has a much more flexible schedule. So for about the last year, the only time my mom has watched my two kids are when she's asked me if she could. I just feel so bad most of the time to even ask her, because I just feel she needs a break, for crying out loud.

Anyhow, today, she came home and I'd told my kids that we could stop by and see grandma after school for just a little while. Well, of course, everyone missed grandma, so everyone was there. It was sheer chaos. At one point, I looked at my dad and said, "wanna make a run for it?" So, basically, chaos and I don't get along really well. By the time I left, I just felt totally frazzled. Not helping the issue, is the fact that I feel kinda crappy. The kids have caught their first colds--during the second week of school--and so, yes, now I have a cold as well. Basically, in the state I was in already, I never should have gone over there, if I'd known the chaos would be there. Thus, I should've known better.

Then we came home, and it all just progressed. My darling daughter decided to stretch out on the nasty, dog-haired covered floor, sliding across it on her new back pack... knowing full well, she's not supposed to lay on the nasty, dog-haired covered floor in the first place, much less "ride" her backpack across it....

Then came dinner, which was quite tasty, but that was overlooked by the fact that my sweet son apparently has a drinking problem. Now, let me clarify. He is FIVE. He's been very regularly drinking from a cup without a lid for quite some time, and yet the last few weeks, or months... I've lost track... if he's not complaining about what we are having, he is spilling his drink all over the front of himself and the table. I kid you not, our table will need to be refinished soon. The frustration finally got to me and I yelled at him. And he proceeded to cry. It was fun times. (*sarcasm*)

And as the night went on, we came to tooth brushing time. As sweet son was brushing his teeth... he wasn't doing as well as he used to. And when Daddy tried to tell him to do better... more tears.... lots of drama since school started. So I tried to settle down before we actually prayed with them. Seemed to work a bit.

The last part of my title is dedicated to my sweet man. He is currently working his frustrations out at the gym, of which he fully deserves to tonight, cuz frankly, I'm unsure of who was the bigger basket-case: my kiddos or me. And yet, he came and kissed me tenderly on the lips before he left to go to the gym... actually, he's been gone a while... hope he's coming back...(just kidding Honey!) My point being. He could've just stomped out of here, as I was tempted to do earlier after dinner, and scram like some hubbies would do, but he didn't. He held his cool. And he still loved on me. And that, my friends, is the best gift of all in my book. And I sure do love that man.

So can I get a big : THANK GOD TOMORROW IS FRIDAY? Here's to a better day tomorrow and hopefully the kids and I will be feeling better and even more so, hopefully Daddy won't get it.

Back to school....

So this past Thursday was my kiddos first day back to school. In our district, we run our school on cycles. Each cycle lasts 9 weeks, with a 3 week break in between, save for the summer break, which lasts 6 weeks. This year was my youngest child's first day of Kindergarten. I did pretty good and so did he, until after school...when I picked him up and he was in tears. Seems someone had stolen his lunch. A KINDERGARTNERS LUNCH STOLEN ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I was just devastated that his first day was marred by someone's meanness. So, today the missing lunch box finally showed up, hidden on a bus, empty. We don't ride the bus. So that tells me someone took it. I guess they needed it more than we did.

Sis is in second grade now. She was happy to get the teacher she wanted, though I really think she's struggling with not having her BFF in her class this year, since they shared Kindergarten and 1st grade together. I have worries that something is stirring in Hannah's spirit lately. I am not afraid, per se, but I am having a hard time watching her struggle to grasp onto faith in Jesus, and fight the fears she has. It's a hard thing to grasp, even as an adult sometimes. Poor thing has been worrying herself into having stomach aches and having some horrible night terrors. We've been praying with her each night and I've even been teaching her some scripture about how God never slumbers or sleeps and keeps watch over our comings and goings. I've been reminding her of her VBS verse from last year.. Joshua 1:9..."do not be terrified, do not be discouraged; for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." I don't know what else to do. I've just asked as many people that know my child to pray for her.

I have enjoyed my alone time so far. I've done a little stamping, had a few lunches with my hubby and friends. Not as fun, but have done a little cleaning. :) Tonight I met with my friend Kari, who I will be teaching Mom's day out with in September. We managed to plan out our whole year tonight over dinner. Each week is labeled with a theme, so all we have to do is go research stories and craft/game ideas on our subjects and get our own weeks worth of stuff together. I think it will be a great time and I'm glad she is so organized. We'll have kids who have just turned 2, so that will be a challenge for me to keep the crafts simple. But I'm excited.

Here's hoping for a full night's sleep tonight with no little girl waking up with dreams....

Bye Bye Bunnies :(

Well, Hannah and Spencer learned one of those hard--life lessons tonight about nature in particular. We had 4 baby bunnies born in a little burrow in our front yard this spring. It's not the first time, but it's the first time my kids were genuinely interested in them. Well, after watching them grow for about a week or so. We sadly realized that a big black ol'crow was also watching them. And he got all four of them in the span of the evening tonight. So, sis was devastated. Spencer was sort of intrigued. And we got to talk about how nature isn't always all soft and fuzzy like baby bunnies. That bunnies feed other animals like snakes, eagles, hawks, and even cats. I know it wasn't fun for them to discover the yucky part of nature, but they'll be fine.

And we were also fortunate enough to thank our kids for their stellar behavior in public tonight. At our local DQ, we stood in line behind a child that was maybe in the 6-8 year old range. She had on new flip flops apparently and thought it would be fun to make them cause a LOUD clicking noise on the DQ floor. We ignored it and got through the line. Well, we sat near them, and as soon as we sat down, she stood up and started doing it all over again, and again, and again, and again... you get the point. So we got up and brought our ice cream home. Thanks be to God for our wonderful children.

Catch up

So, a little catch up is in order. For starters, my sister, Caryn is doing alright. Unfortunately, there is a medical issue, and it's the cause of her miscarriage. However, we are hopeful that, based on the numbers we're seeing so far, that she will recover without any aggressive medical treatments, and be able to try starting their little family within about 6 months to a year.

In other news, we are on a job hunt again. Dave's a contractor, and the company he is contracted to, decided to give him an out date about 3 months earlier than expected. Ok, so we look at new jobs, THEN they decide, never mind, we'll have you stay until the original date. THEN, they kind of, so to speak, guilt trip Dave into maybe staying, since they fought to keep him. Well, in my humble opinion... that's BOLOGNA. You don't tell someone their job is ending in 2 months, then make them feel bad for setting up interviews. Jerks. So, at any rate, Dave had an interview today that we are hopeful will possibly work out to be one of those kinds of jobs that you actually stay at for a LONG time. Like, one you could even see yourself retiring from. So, we'll feel our way through the mystery and trust God to open and close all the right doors.

The kids are great. We are ALL so happy for the nice spring weather. Hannah and Spencer are so happy to be outdoors again. In fact, I think Spencer's favorite new pass time is to swing. He probably played on that swing for 30 minutes straight after school today. They've also figured out how to JUMP off the swings...so I predict we'll have our first broken bone this summer at some point. :)

I've gotten so sub at Mom's Day Out a few times this month. It is a super fun job and I am really looking forward to working there
next year. I love getting snuggles from the kids and some of the things they say are just priceless. And getting paid to play with 4 and 5 year olds for 6 hours a day, 3 days a week, isn't such a bad job, ya know? :)

Okay, I think that sums up a lot that's happening around here. Toodles.

Bad News

While enjoying a lovely girls' day out with my friend, Bethany today, I got one of those phone calls that no one likes to get. Sadly, it was one of those where someone has died. This time though, it was 2 very tiny someones. My little sister, Caryn was pregnant with her first child. She began spotting last night, went straight to the doctor's office first thing this morning, only to find out that not only had her pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, BUT that in fact, she was carrying twins. I'm so devastated for her. And even more frustrating for me is that Caryn and Ken are in San Antonio, TX and the rest of our big family is here in St. Louis, MO. We feel so helpless and want to be there to hug her and be physically there, you know? I'm so glad we were able to see her and Ken just two weeks ago, and that we got to love on them both a whole lot. And I can only hope that all the laughter and hugs we left them will help them not feel so lonely while they sort this out. But, it just totally and completely sucks beyond ALL recognition.