Potty Training

So Kennedy decided to wait until AUGUST to potty train .........I have 3 kids, and I tried to potty train I the other two, but I was unsuccessful, so what makes me think that I would be able to potty train this last one.......you know the kid that is demanding, bullheaded, and if it ain't her idea she ain't doing it. So yeah, ole Miss K decided that in the middle of a camping trip with the in laws that she was going to go potty! Great..........all her idea so she will sit on the pot for hours, and then announce to everyone every movement that I have also. AWESOME.
I officially know where every restroom is in Northeast Nebraska, Southeast South Dakota and Northwestern Iowa. It is a tour right???????

At my wits end...........

Yep.............I am there. I am at the point that I am now saying I want to go back to work. I have almost survived Summer 2010........and no Straightjacket. Today though, yeah today was a day that was banner even in Hall Days. WOW. Decided early this AM that I would go to school for a little while. I also decided that I would take the kids with me, as I decided I really didn't want to get and pay for a sitter when I was volunteering my time. So Jeff came home when I made this decision, and helped or supposedly helped get the kids ready for the trip. UMM HMM. Kennedy has a cute dress on that I put on her, and Jeff put white tennis shoes on her, because that is all he could find. Of course that is all he could ever think of looking for also........and ole Jackson has a long sleeved RUGBY on that he will be able to wear in the dead of the winter..........and shorts. UMM HMM. So yeah we changed everyone and away we went.
So we end up at school, and this is a brand new environment again for them, they are up there in short bursts here and there, but I really try not to make it a constant that we end up there. So there they are all three of them standing on chairs writing on my dry erase board, and they do well for about 3 minutes. Soon packing peanuts all over everywhere, and then we have to go to the bathroom. Kennedy is potty training (which is a story for another time) and Jackson and her go in the boy's restroom. I hear screaming. And giggling. THIS MEANS ISSUES. So yeah in about 3 minutes ole Kennedy turned on all the sinks, and about flooded the bathroom. Of course she also falls and conks her head on the floor, as she is giggling uncontrollably. Great, the role of janitor on the first day back.
So..........get it all cleaned up and next thing I know Miss K has the EXPO markers out and is coloring on the newly waxed floor. AWESOME. Oh and the Expo Cleaner doesn't clean it up. GRAND. As I am cleaning this up, she is in the corner writing on herself, and the heater vent with markers. BEAT ME. NOTE TO SELF, next year I am getting a sitter.
My room has bulletin boards covered, and my desk moved to where I think I want it for right now, and it will get done. Oh and my requisitions are in also........wonder what I ordered that big bottle of chemicals for...............I am sure it was something great I had in mind.............I am ready to go back, for my sanity and my kids.

It is 8:14 and they are in their rooms...............I am done for the day...........just have had enough. Oh and where is the dude of the house? .........you got it .......golfing. Maybe I have time to go and plow the back 40 yet.

Vicki's Challenge

Here is a picture of a card that I made for the CHALLENGE. I never have used chalks and this was my whirl at it. I just stamped with versamark and then chalked over, what a great technique and it was so easy to do!

Scrapbooking online

So I have been trying to get some of Delaney's book done for her preschool graduation. What a trip down memory lane. Honestly, looking a pictures they all take me back to that exact moment in time. I hope my memory will be this sharp in years to come. It is amazing how much of an impact my children have made on me, I have been able to experience highs, and lower moments, but not real lows..........because I always know I am just on a small deep in the rollercoaster we call life. I have looked back over the pictures of her birth, and it all comes flooding back. I remember finding out we were going to have her, and I remember going back to work for the first time. The rash she had on her face for about 3 months, and the first guilt I remember of not knowing what to do about it. Then the picutres of her best friend Addi, who is moving away this summer, and here I sit hoping she makes another friend somewhere close to Addi. It has been so fun to listen to those two giggle and just be girly together. Then the first meeting of Jackson and her ole strawberry from biffing it outside the hospital. The first time she held him, she was all excited to put him back into the bed and take him back. Somethings just never change. Then there was the first meeting of Kennedy, the day in which Delaney herself took over the total Mother Hen role. Great memories...........all captured in pictures...........and each of those pictures literally stop time for me. The Close to My Heart online Scrapbooking has been a great tool for me to get everything put together for her...........check it out it will be worth your time!

Razor

So Jackson at the ripe age of 4 has just had his first go at shaving. Yep, awesome. With a 4 blade razor, no less. We were sitting in the living room the other night when the kids were working on going to sleep (AKA playing in their room) and out here comes Jackson saying he hurt his lip. I look at him and he has one big line all the way down his face and then a big bulge on his lip. UMM HMM.............shaving. AWESOME. Seriously...........you can't make this stuff up.

I am thinking Kennedy is getting closer to potty training. Last night I went into the bathroom, where I knew she was being a little too quiet for my good...........sure enough.............she had the little seat up on the toilet and had poo from head to foot, and diaper off..........with stool full of toilet paper. UMM HMM.

Summer just can't come fast enough right now. 20 days left of school after today and then 5 workdays, I am thinking it can't be over fast enough.

Spring

Wow that word just is rolling off my tongue. Amazing how when you were little time was like at a stand still and now as I have my own kids, I am amazed by how time flies. Seems like it was just spring and we were just enjoying all the firsts of the season. Delaney pointed out the window the other day and said,"Hey Mom, there is a robin." Yeah those are the things that I want to point out to them first..........yet she is the one taking the time to enjoy her surroundings..........I really hope that she continues to enjoy the little things.

Ok but those stinking Asian beetles, seriously those things I could live without. What happened to the pretty little lady bugs of years gone by? Yeah I just read a little research on them and I fear we are stuck with the smelly little things, as not much effects them. Great! I remember vividly as a kid, loving to see a lady bug or my mom telling me not to hurt a lady bug as they were good for the environment. Umm hmm. Simple things.........and now stinky little beetles.

My kids are enjoying playing outside at night after daycare, amazing how fast that wears them out. Seems like water is the going source again in the sand box, they are only little and dirty once I guess. I guess my kids are just dirtier!

I must say I am ready also for the warm days of summer to be upon us. Remind me of this statement this summer on one of those days that the kids are driving me nutty.

April Classes

These are the classes I will be teaching at Wayne Optimist Day on April 10th. Both classes are $10 each with $5 going back to the Optimist's for upcoming events! Enjoy!
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Sharing a bed

You know .........I look back at life and I am just amazed how it changes..........at some point in my life, I went from the point of wanting to cuddle and fall asleep in Jeff's arms, to the point of I want a king sized bed and I don't want anyone to touch me. It really isn't anything personal. I love Jeff, but honestly...........I got to bed and I just want to be left alone. I have people (Delaney, Jackson and Kennedy) crawling all over and around me all day...........seriously bedtime comes and I just want my space. I of course am saying that as I sit an type this on my computer as my 2 foot 2 year old monster just walked by to take over my spot in my bed with her frumpy little self.
I really love hugs and kisses and the tender moments of kids......but when it comes to bedtime, honestly lets get to sleep kids. I am thinking my kids have been transitioning to the time change all week, yesterday they were up and out of bed at 6 and today they managed to be up and going by 5. My day off and they are up and going already. Honestly you can't make this stuff up. Drives me a little nutty.
I am fearful that today may have been a forecast for what the summer is going to be like at our household............and if that is the case............WOW...........hold on to your cape Batman.......it is going to be one heck of a flight! I love my kids..........I love my square eyed Jackson......who watches all to much TV...........to my melodramatic Kennedy who flops on the floor like a fish when someone utters the word no................and then Delaney........the Diva.........learned the IPOD today..............I will never get to touch the thing again. But she also learned how to do laundry today. It is offical...........she does do more around my house than her father. Jackson also got in on some of the workout today..........won't be long now folks.

Happy weekend..............

New Kids............Same Job

This morning I am having a bit of nervousness about my job. We are giving tours to our new students today and I can't tell you how excited/nervous I am. I have been here for 12 years, and honestly I love my job. But with less and less kids, our school is now going to just have grades 5-8 in it. So as I look at my 13 innocent 5/6th graders here, I realize life is going to change quickly for them. We will be having 120 kids in grades 5-8 here next year. Good and bad come along with it. I guess my nervousness comes in the fact that I hope these new kids love it 1/2 as much as the current kids do and hopefully they will buy into the "Greatness" of this place...........because, as much as I complain about it.............this really is a great place.

I hope the high school students open their minds and embrace change too. They will be fine in Laurel.............they have a great base, and I am sure they will all do well. The emotion of it is the hardest thing to ignore.

Everything happens for a reason in life and we can't change many things that come our way. Hopefully in a year I look back at this writing and see that really.........in the whole scheme of things..........this really was just a minor hoop to jump through in life and the great school that we have envisioned for this age group is a reality.............

with teachers who just wear straightjackets in the summer...........he he he

New Spirit

Met a lady this weekend who is a designer for a few scrapbooking companies. Honestly folks, I have found my next job. Wow! Vicki Chrisman is her name, and wow is she amazing. I guess she just rejuevenated me in the fact that she just has a craft sense about her. She said that her career with being a designer came from one phone call and soon she is traveling the United States and Canada and teaching classes to anywhere from 5-100 students at a time. What a great job. She showed some simple little things to use in scrapbooking that just add the simple details. She was really one of those people that I met and just connected with. It is great to meet those people who pass in and out of our lives and just are awesome beings. I am very thankful that I got to meet her! I think we all need to find a passion, and follow it.......maybe someday I can follow in the footsteps of the likes of Vicki........and as I may not love the vintage look, I love her passion to share what she knows!
We had Crop for a Cure yesterday. What a great cause. We raised $300 for the day and it was just great for it all to work out as nicely as it did. I also got a chance to reconnect with an old friend Christy. Christy lost a 16 year old son to cancer 2 years ago...........and really it is great to be back in touch with her.I never want to be in her shoes and experience her loss, but I am glad that I am here to listen to her when she needs it. She was talking about how her husband just handles it differently and woman have the emotions with it. Makes total sense to me. Every woman needs another great woman in their journey. It is great to have the dear friends that you lose touch with back in your corner. Amazing how God works.
I am amazed how fast the weekends go. If only Monday could go 1/2 as fast, life would be great. I am sitting here on Sunday afternoon thinking of all the things the week holds..........and how much I need to get done before the week is over. Thinking March is going to be one of those months..........

Where is my straightjacket?

Wrestling

So Jackson started wrestling last night. He referred to it as fighting.........this could get interesting. Funny how we go out of our ways to make sure everyone gets to do something that is unique for them. Delaney has dance and now Jackson has wrestling. I guess it is just something more to add into our schedules. Jackson woke up this morning all worried that he can't do a push up. I guess you know what we will be working on! I just love to hear them want to learn something. It is funny how young kids crave it and the older you get the more you want to resist having to learn something new. Maybe it is the fear of the unknown that we all struggle with. That cognitive dissonance where we struggle between the all too familiar and the all too complicated. Amazing how kids just do things that are new and don't really spend too much time thinking about doing it. I guess that is one thing that maybe I wish I could have back right now. Just the ability to try something new and not think twice about it. Delaney said today she wants to try ice skating...........I immediately think of my broken arm in 3rd grade from rollerskating...........trying new things.........I challenge you to try something new today!.........how about wearing a straightjacket? Will it look good on you too?

Clothes pile

Ok so maybe telling myself that laundry is a hobby really isn't working for me.............I have tried to make it an enjoyable thing, but dang it..............NO...........IT STINKS AND I HATE IT. But I am the only one in my house that as the ability to get the correct sequence of buttons to push in order to get that machine to start. I am also almost the only person that has the ability to bend at the waist and pick items up to put into that machine. I just don't get it.
I am now totally convinced that my laundry reproduces when I am not looking. I just don't get how this happens, but it is happening. And why is it that the things that I pretreat come out of the washer and are just as dirty as they would be if I didn't pretreat them? I just don't get how it happens.
There are days that I feel like that Little Red Hen............I picked up the clothes. I pretreated the clothes. I folded the clothes. I put away the clothes. Everyone else just showed up to wear and dirty the clothes. I need to come up with an invention that folds clothes and puts them away for me.
Jackson asked what that thing was behind his door last week. Poor kid has no idea what an ironing board is................I don't iron. I run the dryer longer. Nice huh? My mother would be so proud. I have a friend that actually irons her husbands jeans..................never once thought of doing that. Just amazes me how some people spend their time!
Wonder if straightjackets need to be ironed?

4 LEGGED ANIMAL SUPPORT GROUP

Ok so I have decided that whenever some woman gets a crazy idea that she needs something with 4 legs to share with her kids and have them understand the importance and value of a said pet, umm yeah.........that said woman needs to go to a support group and talk this said purchase over with this support group and not make any rash decisions or purchases. UMM HMM.

With this being said............yeah guess who bought a guinea pig. Seriously ........I have 3 kids, 1 husband, a dog ......fish..........yeah and now the cutest little guinea pig named ROSIE. Rosie who I fear might have fleas, or I really don't understand why she is jumping straight up into the air and doing 360 degree turns. I just don't get it. UMM HMM.

So a little story of my weekend...........my in laws are all in Cancun basking in the sun and we got to have one extra visitor for the week, but he ended up going to his other grandparents this weekend. We celebrated Delaney's birthday on Sunday with my family, we went out for lunch and came home, opened presents and played a few cards. It had started snowing on our way home, but really nothing that looked very bad out. Let me just say in little less than 2 hours time, life had totally changed. We ate a little Hannah Montana cake and everyone was off. 2 hours later, they all arrived home. Needless to say, I don't know how many times we will just sit and watch it snow again! Then I remembered our incoming visitor for Sunday night, my nephew was coming back from his other grandparents. I called his uncle and Grandpa and warned them of the roads but they were already over 1/2 way here..........needless to say, it sounded like they had one heck of a trip to get here! We had more overnight visitors, and couldn't get home yet the next day so they ended up staying all day Monday too!

There was only one guinea pig incident in the 24 hour escapade...........and I run downstairs and find the cage all toppled over, and the guinea pig looking over the edge of the cage and then 5 little sets of eyes, who knew nothing about how that cage got the way it did. Umm hmm. AWESOME. I have decided so many parts of me needs to remember to enjoy this age, as they get older they just have the ability to make more excuses or shove the blame over on someone else. So put it all back together, and I still don't know the full story of how that happened and truthfully I guess I don't care. I am over it. This too shall pass right?

Then I get sick kids..............coughing so much they are throwing up in the process. Yeah great. One thing leads to another. They did take my in laws up on the free upgrade of hotel stays last night..........from the ole Super 8 (our house) to the Casear's Palace at Rod and Charlotte's and really who could blame them..........so we have one more night of my nephew here, and Grandma Smith will be here to spoil Kennedy tomorrow. We should soon be back to normal .............or as normal as normal gets this year.

You just can't make this stuff up folks.

Books that I must read.............or am reading..........

Ok so I am at the point in my life where I have a constant list going on. If the list about what I have to do at home, or what I have to pick up before I go home, or what I need to take here and there, I tell you everywhere I look I have a list. It becomes overwhelming at some times.........but one of my new goals is to get my to do list written down..........but that list isn't just things that I need to do, but maybe I need to add to those lists is a list of things that I want to do. SO.........here is my need to read and continue reading list, books that I have to read soon! Here it goes!

1. Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie (started)
2. Happiness Project (started)
3. Hoot
4. Squashed
5. Skeleton Man
6. Zen and the Art of Faking it
7. Lovely Bones
8. The Help
9. Sarah's Key
10. When You Reach Me


Ok so I am going to start with this list of 10........complete it and then on to my next list of fun. I had a lady who just retired a few years ago, and she was talking to another friend and this friend is scared to retire, because she has no hobbies.......nothing that she will fill her time with. This thought scares me.................everyone needs to stop and enjoy the fun things in life a little more. I never thought that at some point in life I would become a reader.............and just want to read for fun............but I am there. It is a passion.

My list of fun only gets longer, just as those other lists get longer too!