Still Got It

The chiefs may have lost, but these guys had fun!  They were in the second row in the end zone!  Whoo Hoo.  Jacob's dad showed him how to con his way into a picture with the cheerleaders.  Jacob appreciated that very much.  Jacob thought I would be jealous, but I informed him that no I wasn't worried as I had just folded his dad's socks and underwear and made dinner and I didn't see these ladies doing that! :)  I'm so glad they had fun.

Blessings

I hope everyone had a wonderful blessed Thanksgiving.  We had a great day with family and good food.  I am so very thankful for all of my blessings.  Happy Thansgiving everyone.

Thankful** Updated Version

I have a couple of friends on facebook (yes they are actual friends) who are posting what they are thankful for everyday for the month of November.  I really liked this idea, but thought it would be better in my blog, so someday my kiddos can look back and see what I was thankful for in 2009.  It would have been really wonderful if I could have posted a picture to go with each little bit of gratitude, but that will not happen.

So here it goes:
1.  I am thankful for my husband.  His kind words, his loving heart, and his powerful mind.  He is my love, my best friend and the best father to our children.

2.  I am thankful for each of my three children.  They grace me with their smiles, hugs, and kisses.  Their smiling faces, there unique senses of humor, and their beautiful souls.  I love them more each day.

3.  I am thankful for my job.  It allows me to contribute to our family and our wants and needs. I am also lucky in the fact that I actually like my job.  I get to promote my love of reading to little children in two counties!

4.  I am thankful for my friend Stacey.  I can call her any time and she will be there to listen, to advise and to give me a good laugh!

5.  I am thankful for my new coffee pot.  It has an automatic button and so it is steaming hot and ready to go in the mornings.

6.  I am thankful for my health.  My body allows me to run, jump, and play with my children without fail.

7.  I am thankful we finally sold our other home down south.  Such a huge relief.  I will miss that house, but I always have the memories, and I will not miss having two mortgage payments.

8.  I am thankful for all of the technology that is available, including my laptop, my cell phone, my camera, facebook, (which allows me to connect with old and new friends) blogs....etc. etc.

9.  I am thankful for the beautiful weather we have been having this month.  Absolutely gorgeous.

10.  I am thankful for my relationship with my in-laws.  They are so kind and generous and just a lot of fun to be around.

11.  I am thankful to our service men and women for protecting our freedoms on a daily basis.  Thank you!

12.  I am thankful for stolen moments...5:30 a.m. sitting on the screened in porch, just listening to the world waking up, snuggling with Jacob before bedtime, watching Hannah when she thinks I'm not looking she will sing, dance, etc., getting Ben up in the mornings when he wraps himself into my arms and snuggles into my neck.

13.  I am thankful for my children's teachers.  They are all three amazing individuals.  Thank you!

I will add to this sometime this month.  For now I think it's a pretty good start.  It is hard for me to sit and reflect.  I've never been really good at that.  I don't know why, but just something I am not too comfortable doing.  Maybe this will help me look inside myself a little more....

**Update**  Well I haven't really spent enough time looking inside myself this month (does that sound wrong?) However I do want to add a couple of more things to my thankful list.  So here it goes:

14.  I am thankful for working with a group of people who, for the most part, are pretty understanding, and have decided to let me drop down to 3/4 time.  So happy about this!  I will work 8-3:30 and have Fridays off!  This should make my life a bit less stressful.

15.  Once again I am thankful for my husband...see above, and all of his support and dedication to me and our children!

16.  I am thankful for all of our wonderful neighbors.  We are so lucky to live in a neighborhood where everyone knows each other and keeps an eye out for you.

17.  I am thankful for our dog Buster!  He cracks me up at least once a day.  Anyone seen Up?Remember when they say "Squirrel!" and "I hate squirrels!"  These are Buster's thoughts approximately 1, 267 times a day.  Too funny

18.  I am also thankful for the opportunity to pursue my Master's Degree.  I will take my first class this spring.  I am nervous but also excited.  I had originally thought about getting it in Library Science, but I have decided to stick with elementary education.  Maybe this will lead to new possibilities...we will see.  I am getting a masters in curriculum and instruction.  It could take years.  Don't hold your breath.  I'm not.

19.  I am also thankful for lots of frivilous things, such as coffee and chocolate carmel coffee creamer, pepsi, mcdonald's french fries, Anytime Fitness (see above items)

20.  I am thankful for this day and all of the days to come, filled with love, adventure, and hopefully stolen moments....

Happy Thanksgiving!

All of Our Fall Activities for 2009...Crammed Into One Picture Post

We made an attempted trip to the pumpkin patch and that failed, so we visited a roadside stand in the middle of a thunderstorm, but got really cool and really cheap pumpkins.  Everyone was happy.  We have played in the leaves, wrapped ourselves up as mummies, carved pumpkins and trick or treated.  We've also had 3 cases of the flu, pnuemonia, and a suspected case of chicken pox.  We've barbequed, celebrated Jacobs birthday and had a hayride for fifteen eleven year olds.  It has been busy and flown by in a rush, a fun one, but still crazy fast.  I am in total denial that Christmas is right around the corner, but first we get to celebrate my favorite holiday of all:  Thanksgiving.  I have so many things to be thankful for, 3 of which are the highlight of this post. Life is good.  Happy Fall Ya'll!

Tricky Little Trickster

This picture says it all.  I am so glad Halloween is over.  I seriously thought that last night might have been the night I finally had to be committed.  Yesterday was a beautiful day.  The kids helped rake leaves, played outside and pretty much had an awesome day.  Yes they were a little excited but not bouncing off the walls with excitement, until 5:20 p.m. then it was TIME to put on the costumes.  Hannah did her own thing and Jacob was the typical 11 year old (where's my socks, can I wear this disgusting t-shirt under my costume, short break for video games, blah, blah, blah) then there was this little guy. I had bought him a skeleton costume, which he didn't wear to his party, but I wasn't too worried about it, I figured by Halloween time he would wear it.  WRONG!  He threw a bloody little fit for an hour and 15 minutes and I threw one for at least an hour. Mine didn't involve laying down on the ground and crying, but I seriously thought about it. He refused to wear it.  He went so far as to tear up the mask.  Everyone was ready, it was 6:40, which is a late start, and Ben was refusing to get dressed.  My dear friend had brought him some of her sons costumes to play with and so we finally convinced him to wear the Ninja costume (which he wore to school on Friday) and just get in the car already!  By this time I was wondering if I could go as a cup holder or a drunk possibly.  Where is the wine?  Cause I needed some.  My husband was all Mr. Cool and Collected and I was a ranting lunatic.  So we got everyone's tears dried up, went to visit Grandma, where she handed me asuper sized  box of Pinot (God bless her) and gave the kiddos their treats and then we headed back to the neighborhood and the kids filled up their buckets.  Ben was a crazed man, he ran to every house, and was soooo excited.  So my husband pointed out that he just climaxed a little early, like before it even started!  Lord help him in the future...ok, I'm not even going there.  But anyway, we got the kiddos into bed by 8:30 and by 8:35 I was sipping on my chilled Pinot.  Aaaahhhhhhh.  Happy Halloween.

They Don't Call Me Grace For Nothing

Ya know how you tell your kids, don't do something, like say, climb on the rock wall cause the rocks will slip and you could fall and bash your head in on the concrete?  Don't climb on the rocks over and over and over, to the point your youngest exclaims "We Know!" "DON'T CLIMB ON THE ROCKS, GEESH!"  Throws his hands up in the air and walks around the rock wall 27 times while playing soccer in the front yard.  The type of warning, which being the parent  you should heed, but you don't?   Well last night about 6 p.m. I looked out our front window and noticed our rake laying in the yard.  I tried to ignore it, but then thought, what if someone thinks it is part of the big item citywide pickup and takes that rake?  Also, it's in the front yard, just laying there, making the place look junky (along with our brown and green striped couch and yucky twin mattress) and a total disregard for our house tools! Damn kids!  So I march down the stairs and out the front door, minus my shoes and bra, I want you to get a visual here, sorry I mentioned the unmentionables.  I was in my sweats and t-shirt and favorite sweater and socks.  Then I realize the yard is a mini pond and I don't have my shoes, but man the RAKE! In the YARD!   So I gingerly step on the first rock and make my way all Ninja Warrior style out to the big rock in the front yard, reach over, grab the rake and about bust my ass in the yard, I risk getting my sock wet and step off to catch my balance.  Then I turn around (now picture Kung Fu Panda in the beginning of the movie) carrying THE RAKE!  and step back onto the rock then take a faceplant, two or three feet to the concrete stairs.  The rock crashes to the new concrete below, I land on my knees and wrists.  So it really wasn't a face plant (Thank you lord for small favors) more of a knee/ wrist/ finger plant.  So I crawl into the house and start screaming/ crying for Jacob to get my husband.  Aaron comes upstairs, helps me get to the couch, ices down my leg, and I am still crying.  This was worse than childbirth, then I remembered I had drugs, so I couldn't really compare it to that!  Needless to say I made it through and my lovely husband informed me if it was broken I wouldn't have made it into the house.  Then proceeded to tell me he heard some loud crash and thought Holy Smokes someone actually came and took that ugly couch.  So he looked around the side of the house but didn't see anything and went back to grilling and drinking his beer, in peace, until Jacob came running.  He said I was totally getting an idiot award card for this little move.  And to top it all off Ben says, "Mom you aren't supposed to walk on the rocks, you could fall."  Nothing like being made an ass in front of your kids and husband.  I guess I made believers out of them though. 
Anyway, my knee is a lovely shade of purple, my back hurts, my arms and wrists hurt, and my middle toe hurts.  Go figure. Sooooo how was your Monday evening?

Dilemma

This picture really doesn't have anything to do with anything.  I just like it.  So there you go.  Anyway...I have noticed I have gotten away from writing anything worth anything and just throwing up some pictures and a discription, which isn't the reason I started writing this blog. When I started this I was staying home with my kiddos, selling real estate and working with Aaron.  I loved it.  I left teaching when I had Ben and it was awesome to be able stay home,fix my kids a good breakfast, play with them without thinking of what I should be doing, volunteer in my kiddos classrooms, clean my house, cook, actually fold laundry, etc. etc.  Well as everyone knows, the housing market crashed, therefore putting a dent in the ole housing market (our business) and the real estate market, which go hand in hand, but when you are married to a builder who built primarily spec houses, whoa baby.  So long story short, we moved back to my husbands hometown, I went back to work full time and somehow managed to get all three of my kids in school.  Without any major accidents.  This is very important when you have two older kids who loved legos and polly pockets, and a little guy who was walking at 9 months and into everything!  Anyway, I did not go back to teaching, instead I got a job at a public library as a children's programmer, which means I do things like storytimes, and craft hours, and outreach.  It also means I work 8-5, Monday through Friday and year round.  It also means I have to deal with this little thing called PTO (paid time off)  It is the curse or blessing of the working mother.  In my case it is the curse!  Because every time I turn around a child is sick and I have to use some of it and I can't build any up!  Also, I nickel and dime it to death.  2 hours here, an hour there, you get the drift.  Sooooo I have approximately 24 hours and 32 minutes (I'm kidding) I do only have 26 hours, and I have worked there a year and a half.   It is somewhat of an office joke :)  Cause just when I get it built up, someone gets really sick or stubs their toe or I need to get my hair done!
So today I am sitting there thinking if we can just make it til next Friday, then I get more PTO hours....You do realize where I am going with this, right?  I am also thinking, man there is a huge flu bug snorting around out there and half of the kids in Jacob's class have been absent all week.  Fingers crossed, saying prayers, not stepping on cracks, you name it, and then my cell phone rings, oh a number I don't recognize, so I answer.  Lo and Behold it is the school nurse, and she says Ben has chicken pox, you need to come get him right now.
Well that's not possible cause I have a program in 10 minutes, so I call my husband, and no answer, then my mother in law to the rescue.  So I go to my program all frazzled cause he had the vaccination and who in the HELL has the pox at school?  The nurse said no one did.  Hmmmmmmm. Just my luck.
I get through my program, then talk to my husband and he got him a doctors appointment, which we had to go in the back door and be quarantiened because apparantly the chicken pox are even worse than the H1N1. But for future reference I think I will always say I think it's the pox cause damn you get in and out of there fast.  20 minutes tops and we were heading home, with a diagnosis of who knows? It could be the pox, or any other virus that is out there, except the flu (thank the lord),mainly just watch and see.  And my selfish self is thinking 'How many hours will I have to miss, or make up?"  So answer me this, especially the mom's who work outside of the home, how do you balance this?  My husband and I really do a good job of taking turns and working together, but do you ever eventually work up some time off?  Time to have just for the hell of it, cause you need a mental health day?  Because lord I need a mental health day, all by myself.  How is that for selfish?