Thank You!

Ryan was so excited to get a package in the mail, had I known his first reaction I would've grabbed the camera sooner. He was so excited to get his OWN cd! But this is what we got with the short amount of memory we had left on the camera. The dancing that happened after this and on the floor where one should dance was priceless! Thanks Julie & Gunter, this was a nice polishing touch to his birthday!

Loving Being a "boy" Mom

I don't think that I could have girls-dresses, bows, tights, dress shoes, spaghetti strap shirts-too much for me. Bless the ladies that have girls because I could never do it. I enjoy getting dirty, watching & talking baseball, eating, burping, and playing super heroes while pushing cars. I know you can do all these things with a girl, but something about having boys makes it even better. I didn't know I knew so much about baseball until this past weekend. I hope that I will never be that mom that has a hard time keeping up, but I can only imagine what the next few years have in store. I love doing the "boy" things but I am glad that my boys will have enough sensitivity in them that they will respect a lady. They have a great role model and a mom that won't let them do anything less for a girl. Prime example-Friday I wore a dress...probably for the first time since I pregnant with Andrew and Ryan said, "Mommy, YOU LOOK REALLY PRETTY. Mommy, I like your outfit. I like that dress, it looks good on you." He thanks me for dinner every night too. Like I said, I love being a "boy" mom.

A Little Catch Up Session

Fun in the summer sun.

Father's Day gift for Nick's stepdad, we added a plant after it dried.
Father's Day

Lesson Learned

(Wednesday) I am watching my nieces for the remainder of the week. They are 13 in 13 days, 11, and 9 years old. They really don't need me anymore, I am here more or less to make sure they aren't going to kill one another, I am the referee more or less. They are great girls, and I can't believe how big they have gotten. They have a neighborhood pool and we used it today, twice. The second time wasn't so fun...what I learned is that the swim diapers that we buy to keep the pools safe really do work. Andrew had a minor blowout at the pool, no big deal. It was the second one that was the real test. Unreal! I told everyone at the pool because I know that it leaked a little in the pool, it had to have because when I picked him up it was brown water not clear water. Wow, the smell was unreal too! Lesson learned, swim diapers work!

(Thursday)It is raining! Do you think that stopped 4 big kids from wanting to go to the pool? No, not at all, we went in the rain. Andrew had to go, he was out voted. The water was cool but not unbearable. My boys had chattering teeth, but they were having fun. The girls wanted a snack so I was taking Roo out when what happened, poo-poo happened...again. So I scooped that kid up and walked his happy little butt to the bathroom where there is a sink and soap and washed him right up. Yesterday, I made the mistake of holding but not today, I just held his hand because I had to come home and take a bath myself yesterday. :) Oh the joys of having kids.

On a sad note, Andrew is all flared up. I don't think I ever posted we had to get rid of our dog, maybe I did. Andrew is allergic to dogs and my parents took our dog in so she wouldn't have to be out of the family. My sister has a massive dog, she is a sweet dog, but she is huge. She is also shedding her winter coat. We were here maybe an hour when I noticed that his eyes were watering and his nose was gushing snot. This morning he woke up all kinds of nasty and wheezing. I feel bad for him, I talked to Nick today and told him about Andrew. We are meeting halfway this evening so he can watch Andrew while I finish business up here. My sister feels so bad, but the good news is that now people understand how allergic he really is to dogs. We recently were at our friends' house and they have a few dogs, we had to leave after only 30 minutes because I noticed Andrew was running already. I feel bad rushing out of places, but at the same time people have to come to understand the kid is that allergic. Andrew also gets these places on his face, I finally connected these spots to allergies today. On one cheek they look like someone kissed him and left lipstick marks and the other spot on the opposite cheek is just a round circle. It is nice to know what those spots are now. See all the good that has come out of that kids misery? I feel bad for him, I anticipated some snot, but nothing like what we have. Hopefully it will clear up soon.

There's Always One

Each year there is one kid, they are a little harder to reach to capture to get "on board" but once you get them they are all yours. It was hard to see some students go this year, one caught me off guard. I've worked hard with all my students this year, but one took a lot of extra work. She had to come to a place where she believed in herself, she had to see what I saw, and sometimes that is hard to get from an eight year old. She wrote me the most wonderful handcrafted card:

The cover:
Your the only reason I enjoy school! (now, I wanted to tell her that she need to use you're and not your but just opened the card instead)

The inside:
I enjoy you! I will miss you! I love you, it's hard to let the best teacher in the whole world go! I really will miss you! I've tried my best just for you, not because I wanted the award it's because I love you and do everything I can for you!

She got me! As she left on Thursday, she said she didn't want to go knowing I would no longer be her teacher. She started to tear up, I told her that I loved her too and she needed to go be the fourth grader she has worked so hard to become. I got her this is true, but she got me too.

I also got a pretty cool, I wrote it by myself card from one of my top girls:

It has a quarter taped to it that says "A "token" of my love"
Dear Mrs. Eubanks,
I love you with all my heart. You're the sweetest person someone could ever meet. You were the best teacher ever. I bet Andrew & Ryan couldn't think of a better mom than you. You taught me a lot about learning & discipline. I walked into your class not having a clue on how to do multiplication now I'm waling out knowing them like that "snap!" With all my love, K

With those two cards a few others, who wouldn't love to be a teacher? I kept a few cards this year, which I never do, most cards meet the trash before I meet the car, but this year, this year is different.

Grease

What is it about the movie Grease that will instantly take you back into a different time of your life? I don't really remember watching this movie a lot as a kid, but I remember watching it a few times in middle school, mainly in seventh and eighth grade because I had a friend that loved stuff like that so I'd watch it with her. It was never my first pick of a movie to watch I'd rather watch The Dead Poet's Society or School Ties where no one sings and there is a lot of drama. But tonight before coming in to check my e-mail I found myself sitting on the couch watching the beginning scenes of Grease smiling from ear to ear. I can see my sister performing as the "bitch" and I remember thinking as she lay sideways on the bench saying, "Because he sounds like a drag." wow, she really nailed that, did her teacher know her that well to know she could perform that part without acting at all? Thankfully, over the years that has changed and my sister might actually have to act out that part now. Then instantly I am not sitting on my couch, rather I am at my friend's house all of 13 secretly dreaming that one day perhaps I could feel a love like that. I get thrown into my own summer love memories and suddenly I am awakened as Danny hits the high note on the bleachers. Then I wonder what is it about this movie? Isn't it strange what a movie can do to trigger random memories and emotions? Songs do that to me too...but that is a post all in itself.

Do you see that? That is light at the end of the tunnel. :)

Two days after today....oh, let's be fair, one and half days.

Kinsley

The real world consumes me lately. "I wish the real world would just stop hassling me..." love that song...and many others.

In the last almost two months the following has occurred:
big kid: in therapy again-play therapy this time-seems to be helping
small kid: finding his words, finally
husband: doing awesome
me: only 2 months away from not having a paycheck but trying to be faithful & hopeful that we will be provided for
family: having a good time making new memories together

Everything else has passed by in such a blur that I am not sure what all to report other than I feel like a groundhog poking my head out of my deep hole for a few seconds to get a look around to see if it is worth coming out yet or not.

Never liked the last few weeks of school, too much going on-it is exhausting...but only six more days to go, one of which is a half day. If you see me standing on the corner mid July it is just me trying to get the house payment together before August 1st. :) That makes ME laugh for so many reasons!

You know what I like about me? I am a "do-er", usually, and I have to say usually, if I say I am going to do something, I do it. You know what annoys the crap out of me? When you get an e-mail addressed JUST TO YOU but 5 other people are on it too. When it says more or less, are you doing what I asked you to do? See, I have no problem with you checking up on me if you addressed that e-mail just to me, but I have a HUGE problem with you addressing it to me but CC: five other people. My response: I said I would do it, I am doing it, I have one other person to help, it is getting done. I pretty much stay true to my word, and if I wasn't going to do it, you'd be the first one to know. So today during nap time I called 30 people, then after the kids went to bed at 7, I finished calling the other 80. What I want to say is:

DEARFUCKFACE I did what you should've done.

Peace, love, & happiness

And now my public vent is done...thanks for reading. I am off to do the laundry, the folding part because I said I would do it, and I am a girl of my word....98% of the time anyway.

It is THAT Good

There are some things in life that you take the time out to post. This is one of them. Yesterday, I was called out of class to receive a certified letter, opened it and saw a much needed $25 check along with a subpoena to appear in court.....today. So last night I am getting my things in order to appear today and ran across three notes that I needed to set aside. They are all from September and here was my thought process, these are pretty sorry notes trying to excuse unexcused absences and then I looked closer...no way! How did I not notice this in September?
Now, if this is your only paper to write on then you cut that part off, lick it off, scratch it out, something, you don't send this to your child's teacher, let alone with a child that can read cursive. You don't send this to your child's teacher at a Christian school! TWO TIMES I have notes like this. I did laugh, a lot, I had to send the text to all my teacher friends, because who gets a note on stationary like that? It is so out there that my good friend of almost 11 years called and said, that's funny, did someone create that and send it out? I had to convince her that it is real and I actually have to take those notes to court. Worth the time to share & worth the five minutes of laughing at it, not to mention the stress relief. This morning as I sat in the courtroom a nervous wreck I thought to myself, dearfuckface and I laughed a little and relaxed.

Dusting Off

As I pull myself up off the ground I take a minute to sit up and breathe. Things have been much too busy and the fact that it is bright outside is throwing me off too, I feel I have a ton of time, but the reality is no, I only have a few more hours of my day to get things done. Sustaining attention to do anything seems impossible here lately, but things are getting done. Who doesn't have stuff to do, who am I to sit here and talk about how busy I am? I don't know one person that isn't slammed to the ground most of the time. So, here I go, breathing, breathing, breathing, dusting, dusting, going back down now! :)This kid was one of two that was very tired this afternoon, but after he was finished crying over his plate he asked for a hug, caught me off guard, I was too busy reminding myself, "He is tired, he is three, he is tired, he is three, he is one, he is tired, he is tired, he is one, he is tired, he is three, one and half hours until bed time." Oddly enough, I wasn't so stressed after that wonderful at the dinner table hug.

100th Post

I didn't realize that this would be my 100th post, I need to think of something great & wonderful to say...nothing is coming to mind. Here's a funny story for the books:

Today we will be attending a skate party, I am being brave and taking a three year old skating. So we went shopping for the little girl who is turning four yesterday at the Family Dollar because Ryan wanted to go to Jackson, so it was the Family Dollar, Piggly Wiggly, Ingles, or countless fast food places. We went in looking for coloring books & crayons, Ryan beelined to the girls clothes section. He found a white with red polka dots sundress, very cute and said, "This would look really pretty on her. It would look good with her brown hair." I was impressed because it was a cute dress and at $7 he could buy it for her. (With three parties this month everyone is getting a $15 limit). We looked down every aisle until we found the perfect gifts, Disney Princess markers, 2 coloring books princess themed, Disney Princess sandwich holder, Disney Princess playing cards, Disney Princess water bottle, & a pink bouncy ball. We were off to the register and while waiting in line Ryan is playing with a box. He said, "We should get this for her too mom! It is purple!" Oh yes, purple & black any girl is sure to love it! I am sure her mom would love us giving her

I said, "You know, there will come a day when she will need to buy those, but I don't think four is that age. Actually, honey, there will come a day when you will need to buy those as well, but hopefully not for another 15 years." Oh, it was a great laugh, I had to tell Nick when we got home, part of me wanted to put the condoms in the bag and pay the $2 for something we would never use just to see Nick's expression as we showed him everything $15 could buy!

Ignore the solemn girl in the back, I was trying not to bounce around.

We Love It!

We love it when Alex comes to visit. Ryan always says, "Now we have three brothers!" I have a sneaky suspicion he thinks we are okay too! I had the opportunity to see how close they are all becoming, Andrew was crying and Alex ran to him and said, "It is okay." Very sweet! I had to get a picture of his fabulous outfit today. ;) There is a Spiderman shirt on underneath the moose sweater.

Everyone In Georgia

Everyone in Georgia will be blogging about the snow yesterday and the no school today. We Southerners freak out over a little snow, we get excited, we have it for a day and that is it and to me that is the best snow.

This Was Funny

Today while we were painting Ryan told me the following, I am glad I had the camera handy.

Andrew's Room & Rainy Day Fun

Andrew's Room Before:Andrew's Painted Room:
Look how perfect, it matches wonderfully & will be hung soon!
Andrew painted first while Ryan got ready, then Ryan came to paint. Andrew's pictures are on Nick's new phone...we'll get those soon. I love this next picture, it is very super hero like:
Andrew's stuff is on the left hand side. Ryan's stuff is on the bottom on the sheets that you can tell were added later. My stuff is on the far right-I was just having fun. :)

Clean, Clean, Clean

At 8:30 I said NO MORE CLEANING for tonight anyway. :)

I borrowed Nick's stepmom's Rainbow vacuum cleaner because it is supposed to be the best vacuum out there in vacuum world. I went to town in Andrew's newly painted room (pictures soon) and I about fell out when it was time to change the water, it was NASTY! So I vacuumed it again...it was NASTY! So of course I rushed over to Ryan's room and started moving stuff around and his room was awful. Dog hair, dog hair, dog hair, dust, dog hair. I did Ryan's room two times then went to Andrew's room again. I pulled out the stove & fridge vacuumed & cleaned, vacuumed the couch including the cushions. With the cushions you put them in a garbage bag and shut it and your whole cushion melts down, it is cool! Anyway, today was a cleaning day and I am tired. My thought on our room, if the kids' rooms were so gross and she wasn't supposed to be in there then what is our room going to be like, she lived in it for five years! I told Nick he had to help with our room because there was too much stuff to move around.

Life without Maggie is an adjustment I keep looking for her, I am so in the habit of walking her, but believe it or not, Andrew seems to be doing better already. Crazy right? But he didn't cough nearly as much and he wasn't near as runny today. Hopefully, hopefully this is what is going "fix" him. I talked to my mom today while she was at work, Maggie was there with her, Maggie was having a great time. Hopefully this will be a happy move for her and Andrew (& Nick) will feel better. I miss my puppy though, she was awesome to snuggle with each night. :)

A little dance, jump, & hop

A little dance...on the way to pick up the fat kid from the nursery on Friday I ran into one of my parents. She didn't want me to stop to talk to her because I was with another teacher, but I pressed. Did I post about this already? I don't think so...anyway. I asked whatever came with Sylvan, since they just had her tested, and it was like music to my ears, "They found she did have a gap in math, just like you have been saying, things she should've mastered in second grade." Do a little dance, don't make a little love, but YES, YES, YES! It has taken months for me to get them to take her some place, I even quit tutoring her because I was like you have to get her professional help, finally they did it, and I am one happy teacher.

A little jump...we had to take a little jump on the home front this past week. Roo has been sick, sick, sick for the last three weeks, easily the last three weeks and after his allergy test and finding he is allergic to dogs we made a tough decision. Maggie is now living with my parents as of this afternoon, and I thought I would cry, and maybe I will, maybe I know that she is going to be one spoiled & happy dog and that keeps me from crying. We've had her for five years, that is a long time, but you never choose your pets over your children. So the little jump is seeing if this is the ticket to him getting well. We've borrowed the Rainbow to clean, clean, clean this weekend, hopefully it will help him out. What I am afraid we will find out is that Nick will feel better too.

A little hop...nothing to hop about other than we decided on going candy less again this Easter and we are doing a Marvel themed basket for Rhino. We will be hopping at Monkey's for a bunny photo shoot soon, so we'll hop for that. :)

"What the Hell?"

So you have to love when you go to pick up your three year old, who is staying in the staff daycare for maybe the third time this school year with new people who kind of know him, tell you that he said, "What the hell?" not once but twice. Oh, a staff daycare in a church makes this story even better. A staff daycare, in a church, with a girl that on that very same day accepted the babysitting position you offered her, which will include watching that very same, "What the hell?" three year old. Nice! I know my face said it all, that deer caught in the headlights look, which she said, I know he didn't hear that from you, I was like you are right he didn't! Now his dad, maybe, but me, no way, atleast not in front of him. :) So I said, "I don't know where he would get that!" and she said, "He said he heard it in the Spiderman movie." to which I said, "You just told me more information than you realize."

Yes, the Spiderman movie, all of them, isn't there three? My three year old has been able to watch these movies after repeated requests for him not to watch them at Nick's stepmom's house. This is the same lady that told my mom, "It doesn't matter what Nathan says, Nanny over rules dad." (She was talking about Nick's brother & his son-he didn't want his kid going down the slide at Roo's party). So, does it surprise me that after the last few requests I have said for him not to watch it that he was allowed to watch it? No, but does it make me angry? Yes, does it anger me even more that they allowed him to watch the Hulk movie, that Nick said is very violent? Yes, what do I plan on doing about it? Not sure yet, but it will involve a long conversation including the words, "outright disrespect."

See the use of the period in the quotation mark right there, I taught that to my third graders, and I forgot that I taught them that and we were reviewing the other day and I said, "Why is that sentence wrong?" -they were editing-and three kids at once bust out, "Because the period isn't inside the quotation marks, and it must be inside to be correct." At which point I thought, hell yeah, I mean that's right! :)

Best Meatloaf song ever...sorry, I am on a huge music kick right now. I remember my mom & dad singing this song all the time when I was a teenager...such a good memory, because times weren't always happy, but I turned out just fine and my sister and I joke that if anything we learned how a marriage doesn't work.

Wicked Game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKlJU6ehuPU

Still love this song, heard it today for the first time in years and I was thankful I was the only one in the truck so I could turn it up. All the way up!

I love music, I do, I love all types of music. Saturday night we were in Nick's truck and he was flipping stations, each station was a different genre (is that what you call music...variety I guess is more fitting to music) and I sang a section of each song as he flipped with passion, Nick said you really do like a huge variety of music don't you?

Which leads me to a song I texted to my oldest friend this morning...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe9eXEGqi8U

I am not picky, if it sounds good, then I like it.

I listen to Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" when the mood strikes, I am not sure why I love it so much other than it was in this movie. I remember watching it and the main characters are dancing around in the living room and then this part of the song, the part with a sax (?) hits and I fell in love. I remember I was like ten and it got me and I had to find out about "that song", turns out my dad had it on record, I was hooked.

I could fill about 200 hours of songs that I like and the reasons why I like them, but this might be my most favorite...ever....possibly...it ranks in the top 5 for sure!

He's a Winker

Atleast that doesn't say he is a wanker, which I am not sure of the actual meaning of that word, but based on the number of movies I have seen based out of the UK, I know it isn't a good thing. I just Googled it, it means "one who masturbates" so one day he will be a winker and a wanker! Today I was folding towels, everyone's favorite thing to do in the whole world, I know you don't have to pretend you don't enjoy folding towels. :) So, I was folding towels and I winked at Andrew and that kid winked back, with both eyes, but none the less he winked back. SO CUTE!

Last night Ryan spent the night with his "grandparents" as he likes to call them, he calls all of them that now, I guess everyone having a different name is too much, he returned today around 11:00 a.m. a much more grown up three year old. After his grandparents left he asked if he had to take a nap, I said yes, after Andrew eats. Do you know what happened next? He said, I have to go potty and five minutes later he came out in his Pull Up and said, "I am going to take my nap now, you don't have to put me to bed, I am going to do it by myself." Well okay, you grew up over night. He did, he put himself down, now it did take an hour for him to actually go to sleep, but he did it all on his own. The funniest part of him coming home today was Nick's dad telling me that Ryan slept until 8:00 a.m. Now, this is unheard of, he always is up before the sun. His dad said he got up at 6 and they told him to go back to sleep, so he did until 8. When he got up he said, "Why are we up? The sun is up, we are supposed to get up before the sun comes up so we can watch it." Funny statement, but it totally explains why he gets up so early, he enjoys watching the sun rise. He does announce it everyday now that I think about it, and on the way to school each morning we do discuss the morning sky, perhaps this is something he will treasure as he grows up and it will always be his thing.

"...out of great failure can come great learning..."

Wow, almost a month since I posted? That seriously says how busy things have been around here. I noticed the other day that I hadn't commented or checked blogs in so long!

I have learned a lot in the past month, I have lost two students in the last month too. One because my room was too challenging and that she would have it easier in public school. Two things about that statement bother me; 1. why is a challenging room a problem when your child is making, excuse me, EARNING straight A's & thinking for herself; 2. Why is a public school easier, when I was a public school teacher before this stint in my life and I teach the same stuff the same way I did before with the exception of S.S. and math? The curriculum changed for the whole state, last year for math while I was teaching PK4 and this year S.S. is new-that isn't the point, the point is WHY DO YOU WANT TO MAKE THINGS EASIER FOR A CHILD THAT IS SUCCESSFUL IN A CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT? and the kicker, they paid for the whole year and you don't get reimbursed for that my friend. The second child is a battle won, hear me out. This child came to me in August with everyone else and in September came in with a heavy psych evaluation that said several critical things one of which is slow learner, has a slight learning disability, is ADD, & some other emotional stuff. We can't service her, I did everything I know to do just short of actually writing for her and she was still struggling. Her guardian took her frustration out on me and after her yelling at me countless times and yelling at our director last week she FINALLY took her to a public school so she would receive services. In my opinion everyone wins in this one, most importantly the girl who so desperately needs someone who knows how to help her more than I could with limited resources & I am not afraid to say it experience with her needs.

Everything else is going good in case you wondered. :)

When Do You Stop?

I have a friend, a good friend, we've been friends for over ten years now. In those ten years I have watched my friend go through a lot, a whole lot. It started our freshman year in college with the death of her grandfather with whom she was very close, it was almost impossible to get her up to go to class. Shortly after or perhaps before but I am pretty sure right after she met her husband. He is a different kind of guy, the kind of guy that is fun to hang out with, but does stuff that you aren't always comfortable with, but at the same time you find yourself almost drawn in by him because he is really a nice guy deep, deep, deep down inside. He is a guy that has a lot of emotional baggage that he never dealt with and it has always shown. My friend married him after having a child with him and being together for a little over four years. She has issues too, everyone does, she has baggage that would fill my car in a heartbeat, but who doesn't? She isn't perfect, nor do I expect her to be, I understand her for the most part, I feel I know her better than anyone and sometimes I feel as if I don't know her at all. I could fill this whole blog with the stuff we have been through together, from all her family issues to the healing of those family issues, boy/men issues, children, marriage, mistakes, things she shouldn't have done but I have always been there, always. I have been there to pick up the pieces in the middle of the night, after a long trip just to turn around to make a five hour trip round trip to pack her stuff once again to move her into my parent's house until she got on her feet, she makes another life screw up there too, but I don't love her any less for it. I have been there for stuff that I normally would blow other people off for, I have spent weekends/weeks/days/nights at her house helping her out with her children, cleaning, running errands, giving diapers, formula, baby food, wipes, clothing before I could even think about the possibility of doing these things for my own children because my children weren't even a thought at the time. Do I feel like I have been a good friend, without a doubt, I am not giving myself a pat on the back for doing what every good friend would do, I am not complaining, 89% of me wants to run to her rescue again, but then the other part of me doesn't want to, I don't want to be the one to pick up all the pieces again, but then again I don't want to leave her hanging, after all who would pick up the pieces? Who would piece everything back together on the outside, I know it is up to her to fix all the inside stuff. I want to go and take her kids for the day so she can have some time to herself just to be...just to cry/scream/breakdown/relax/just be but something is holding me back. I am not sure what it is, perhaps it is because we have been down this road before perhaps because it feels so very familiar maybe part of me doesn't know if it is real this time as much as I want it to be real and to be over I just have doubt. After several affairs she is finally ending her marriage with him, two kids later and a whole lot of drama she is ending it. I am so proud of her, but at the same time it breaks my heart to see her go through it all. Lately when we talk I find myself at a complete loss for words, what do you say? There is nothing to say, there are no words. I want to send her my gift card to Wal-Mart to buy groceries with it, I want to send her my ten dollars I have left each month out of my paycheck and send it to her for food or whatever she may need. I want to pick up all the pieces and make it pretty again, at least the illusion of pretty I guess. My only question is now, when do you stop picking up the pieces? Do you stop? As a friend do you just stop? Do you set them out on their own and say, I am here for support but I can't be your crutch, I can't make it nice for you this time. Would I want someone to do that to me? No, but if it were going to make me a better person I would be grateful later. After hearing that things get worse and worse for her because of him each day, and especially after tonight when all I want to do is go get her kids for the next few months and have them here to be safe and to hopefully let them feel a sense of "normal"-do you act on it? Do you volunteer your weekends to help? I have done that before, before I had my own children, while I was pregnant-both times, and of course in the last year. Is it enabling or just being a good friend? These are things I don't have the answers to, I don't think anyone has the answer, I think you give as much as you can give and you do it without expecting a return-I do admit at times when it got hectic I would question if she would drop everything she was doing to do the same for me...sadly, I always think no, but I kept going anyway. Part of me is to be a giving person, I like to give people what I can when I can whether it is just a listening ear or material things, I just like for people to know that I really care about them. I guess I just answered my own question, you don't stop giving maybe you have to give in a different sense but you don't stop, you don't give up on the people you love and care about the most even when you know things are the way they are because of bad choices, you know if she is trying to fix it why not be her supports while she builds her new life? Supports, not crutch. I can't make it pretty for her but I can help with the base coat.

A Moment

On Thursday I was teaching my heart out trying to make something boring interesting, personally I felt we had beat poor Paul Revere into the ground all over again. I pretty much was reviewing what we learned, but I had a question...one question....one that no one had the answer to but I KNOW we talked about extensively in class. I love that the one student whose parents think I am too hard, who think that because their daughter pulled a B in science is being too challenged, that the same kid that said science was too hard earlier this year just pounded out detailed answers to the questions I asked her earlier that day because we were talking about "the challenge of third grade science" over material that she actually learned instead of crammed for to pass the test, we haven't talked about that particular subject matter in two months, anyway, this kid that is being too challenged not only said the answer got to her feet and shouted the answer causing me to get so excited I actually screamed YES! YES! YES! You got it, you figured it out, you are THINKING! YES! I screamed so loud I actually saw three girls cover their ears. That my friends is a moment that is worth tucking away in my happy memory file from this school year. I think I just might e-mail her mom before going to bed to tell her about her daughter's achievements for the day.

Catch Up

In eighth grade we would have a day every now and then that said "Ketchup" on the board, if you were all caught up on your work then you could pretty much color all period if you weren't then you used that time to...you guessed it "Ketchup." I thought I would do a brief catch up...just in case you missed me posting.

Last weekend I went to Dandridge & Pigeon Forge, TN for my grandfather's wedding. Seventy-two and getting married...again. I left Friday morning with my parents & returned to an upside down not a thing in the right place house. The boys stayed with Nick's mom & step-dad while he worked on Saturday, so their bags and things were all over the house. I had to be a big girl about it and not say a word. It was hard, very hard, especially Monday morning when I had to pack lunches and track down bottles and underwear for Rhino, it was absolutely insane, but I stayed in a good mood.(Did I fail to mention the house looked AWESOME Friday morning when I left?)

This week has been pretty busy, Nick left Monday night to go to Mississippi for the week and it was just the boys and myself all week. Overall, it was a good week, not too shabby, busy but good.

We have been growing Rhino's hair out and the other morning I threw on a hat I purchased at a yard sale over a year ago and I had to take the time to snap a picture.

He has tired boy eyes and wouldn't stand still but I thought his hair was cute sticking out of his hat.

Yesterday, I was talking to Nick on the phone on his way home while changing Roo's diaper after work and noticed a bunch of bumps that looked like bug bites but were so random and clustered together randomly there was no way it was a bug. I thought it was odd. Natalie dropped off Alex while her husband took her to the airport for her big girls away weekend, I mentioned it to her then, but didn't think much more of it. The boys:

(Did you just think three men in a tub?)

So after the kids bath, I noticed it had moved to his cheek. Then as I was talking to Kevin, Natalie's husband, when he came to get Alex I was like do you think these are bug bites? I told him I didn't think they were and he said he thought they might be bug bites. About that time Nick walks in from MS, and I was like well while he is naked check this out, do you think it is bites, I don't. He said he has chicken pox, that is what that is, can't you tell? I insisted they weren't chicken pox, but it has been years since I have seen anyone with chicken pox, so I didn't totally rule that out. This really bothered me for the next thirty minutes, no one has had chicken pox, I thought he was having an allergic reaction to his antibiotic that he has been on for his ear infections. Well LONG, LONG, LONG story short after talking to a nurse & pediatrician, my parents, consulting a friend, talking to the nursery worker, and the internet it was determined it was an allergic reaction (he had been on the medicine for nine days). We went to the doctor today and sure enough that is the final diagnosis, so we opted for the shot of steroids & new antibiotic to see if it will clear him up. Just in case you are wondering the paramedic in the house insisted I was wrong and that an allergic reaction is immediate and can't be delayed, but after I talked to my parents about MY allergic reaction to the same medicine over 20 years ago and my dad said it was days after I had started the medication he was a little more willing to at least think about the possibility and after reading on the internet and talking to the nurse & doctor last night he was ready to admit he was wrong, but of course he didn't say those words, he said, I just learned something new. (That sounds hateful and mean but really isn't meant to be...but I just get to sit back and say I was right, I was right!-there is friction in this house when it comes to medicine because Nick went to school to learn about a lot of drugs and works with it so he is supposed to know it all, according to him.) :) Here is what he looked like tonight:

Yes, that is a Pull Up on my 1 year old...we were at the doctor's office waiting and he pooped, I had no diapers or diaper bag. Rhino just happened to have three wipes and a Pull Up in his bag from school-thank goodness!
Apparently this doesn't bother him too much! I am just glad we know what is wrong with that kid, it doesn't appear to itch so that is good, I just can't wait to see him with no more hives.

On a happier note, we had a blast with Mr. Alex last night, he is a cutie all the way! He and Rhino played for a long time (together Nat-finally-they weren't just in the same room playing) in Rhino's room. They ate dinner together and then played again while I cleaned the kitchen. Everyone helped clean up Rhino's room before the bath and then Kevin came to pick Alex up during bath time. Luckily, we were able to play a little longer because Kevin let Alex hang out with us for a little while. I didn't tell Rhino that Alex was coming until right before he showed up, he said, "We will have three brothers tonight! That will be exciting!" Here are some more pictures from dinner & bath time, no playtime pictures because I had to cook & clean while they played, I know, I know you are disappointed but when you are home alone with three kids you have to get it all done right when you can.

I made Mickey Mouse pancakes just for Alex.

An Art Filled Morning

I am missing my camera right now...my new camera phone sucks!

This morning we used glitter pens on a huge piece of paper. We were covered in glitter, so the boys took a bath. I had to get the perfect purple water, but I added too much coloring so it looked like Grape Kool Aid. We decided to finger paint. (I stole that idea from Natalie). I have wanted Andrew to finger paint for a while now, so it was the perfect time. You can paint, clean your fingers (Ryan asked for a brush because he doesn't like things on his hands) and clean your brush, clean your canvas to start all over, and then clean yourself all at the same time. Since I still don't have my camera back from my mom's here are some crappy phone pictures of our bath painting this morning.