Belated Happy New Year!

I think this blog will be going away pretty soon. I feel that I don't devote as much time to it as I should. I have never been good at putting words on paper. I will still read yours though :) Thanks for the comments over the past year or so!

Happy Birthday Nicky!

Today is my sweet son Nick's birthday! He is 7 years old. He wants breakfast in bed, so I should get going and start making it instead of posting about his birthday. Especially since I don't have an updated photo of him where he looks happy. (Every photo I take of him lately has his mouth closed and looking quite stoic.) He has no front teeth right now and seems a bit embarrassed by that. And it is perfect for Christmas :)

Nicky is my cuddler. He was my Christmas gift 7 years ago. He is so funny. He is my artist. He is my story teller.

I Love you Nicky! Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Nancy Smith!

Today is my Sister-in-law's birthday. Happy Birthday Nancy! I hope you have a fabulous day!


I don't get to see Nancy very much because she lives on the other side of the world...OK, it's only Glendale...but it seems much further when you say it's the other side of the world.

Nancy is Rob's brother's wife. Hopefully we will get to see you this Christmas...Possibly hang out with you at Glendale Glitters?

The photo is of all the "Smith" sisters-in-law. Nancy is the one in Red, along with Jeri in Blue and Cindi in the blue and white sweater.

No more Turtle

2 weeks ago, my husband came home with a paper bag full of something...didn't know what it was. It ended up being a turtle. The boys named her Kirby. Well, she died today. No more turtle. Last week, I noticed that she doesn't sink anymore. If I put her in the water, she would float. I googled that and it said they either have a respiratory infection or pneumonia...Not good. Well, today I looked at her and she was swimming in the tank with her neck cocked really sharp to the side. She was swimming in a circle, looking like she was trying to catch her tail. She would then run into the walls. She looked like she was going insane. I saw this all before the incident in the post below.

When I got home from school, Turtle was gone. Very Sad.

Heartbreak

Today I had to observe at school. I have been doing it for about 2 weeks now and have actually been enjoying it, even though I was scared to death at first. I have taken advantage of my Mom, M-i-L and a new friend I have become quite close to in the neighborhood whose son is the same age as mine and they go to the same pre-school. I have been taking advantage of Candace way too often, I feel, and want to let her know how much I truly appreciate her generosity with her time. Here's the latest reason why...

Yesterday, I had called my mom to make sure she was OK with watching Nolan this morning. She said she would be over in the morning so I could get off on time to school. Then, later yesterday, she called and said she had a Dr. appt and that she would be sending my dad in her place to watch my son. She and I both had a little anxiety about my dad coming because my son has a bit of a temper and is not very easy to calm down if he doesn't get his way. He also is very slow to warm up to different people...You could say he is possibly spoiled. But anyway...

This morning, I was getting ready for "work". Nolan was in GREAT spirits and was all playful with me. He was being such a great kid. I wished I could have spent the day with him and hugged on him. I decided he would be OK with anything thrown at him, so I told him that Grandpa was coming over to watch him today...Bad news...He started crying and said he wanted me to stay home. My dad got to my house and wasn't in the best mood. He sat down at the table and started reading the paper...Not 1 word to Nolan yet...I gave instructions to my dad about Nolan and tried leaving. As soon as Nolan saw my dad, he started crying harder. My dad's first words to my son were, "IF YOU CRY, YOU'RE GOING TO YOUR ROOM." Nolan cried harder. My dad repeated it. Nolan was begging me to stay. My dad was done talking, turned off his hearing aids and went back to reading the paper... Hmm.

I was now late and HAD to leave. I started walking out the door, while my son was wailing. He was trying to go with me. Finally, I called to my dad to please come guard the door so I could leave...Dad? Dad! Dad!! I go into the kitchen. He is still at the kitchen table reading the newspaper...I am screaming "DAD" at the top of my lungs to get his attention. Finally he looks up. Oooh. What a great start to my day! He finally gets up and stands at the door like one of those British soldiers at Buckingham Palace with no emotion...nothing affectionate for my son. I drive away bawling. I cannot leave my son in that situation and expect him to be OK. I call my friend Candace, crying. She comes to my rescue, once again! As soon as he got to her house, he was happy.

Thanks Mom and M-I-L for all the times you have watched my kiddos. You have no idea how grateful I am!
Thanks Brenda for helping me out with taking him and/or picking him up from school!
Thanks Candace for becoming my friend recently and helping me out so often!

If I ever think that it might be OK for my dad to watch my kiddos, please remind me of this day! My dad...I love him so...but he has no patience with my son.

But you know what? Today is going to be OK!

Uh Oh, Swine Flu has hit us!

My middle son has Swine Flu! He tested positive at the DR's office today. He had a fever last week, felt fine toward the end of the week but then got a fever again yesterday, along with a bad cough. Bad news...Dr said he can't go out Trick-or-Treating! There is also a movie night after T-or-T in the green belt which he can't go to! What a horrible Halloween for poor Nicky! Now I have to go pull my oldest out of school because he had a fever this weekend and the Dr. said it was probably a mild case of the Swine Flu and they have to be quarantined for 7 days after onset of fever! Oops, didn't know...

Happy Belated birthday to Nolan

My baby turned 5 on Tuesday! It was a pretty uneventful day because Nicky was sick and I had to take care of him. Nolan got to be the center of attention at school, which he loved. He got to bring in cupcakes with spiders, because he loves Halloween. He got to pick out what he wanted for lunch AND dinner...I LOVE "Higley Hot Dogs" and Panda Express! Way to go Nolan! Do you think I had anything to do with his decisions???

We hadn't bought him a gift yet because I had absolutely no idea what to get him, although his 12" bike was getting a little small on him. Pretty soon, he was going to need a 16". Well, today we went and got him a big boy bike. As soon as he gets on it outside, I will take a photo and possibly post a Youtube video of him riding without training wheels, because he is very ready for that! It just gets more and more difficult for me to figure out what my boys want. When they were little, it was basically unisex stuff. But now, it's frustrating. I didn't grow up with boys. My brothers were all grown up when I remember anything about life. My boys can't play with Barbies and dolls! (Well, ok, they sometimes like to when they are given the opportunity, but we try not to go there). And my husband, as sweet as he is, doesn't think that they need anything for their birthday, which they probably don't. So he doesn't give me any ideas for gifts for them, nor for himself. Which brings me to my next paragraph...

His birthday is this Friday. We already celebrated it on Friday with a few close friends (I missed you AB). He played poker with his buddies. He was totally surprised and I was so happy it turned out as well as it did. He kept saying the next day that no one had ever done that for him and he felt so special. He loved everything about it and didn't want the night to end. As soon as I find my camera, I will post photos. It was fun to have it be such a surprise to him. I can't wait to do it again :)

Parenting vs. Teaching

I have been reading a lot of textbooks recently because I have midterms coming up this weekend/next week. I have been reading constantly about positive reinforcement and praise for the student. I don't know if I ever had a teacher who was really positive or showed a lot of praise for the students' efforts, so it is difficult to comprehend. As I am reading these books, I start wondering how I can change my parenting skills as well so my boys will be more effective listeners. Sometimes I wish I could share this information with my husband as well. Having 3 boys home under the age of 10 can be a bit frustrating. I felt as though I have been yelling for 7 years straight and now I have to go into calm mode while engaging my students. However, I don't think I can actually be that different from one set of kiddos (my family) to another (my students). This is really a burden on my heart.

I've been praying and reading a lot about this and I hope I can become calmer while still being authoritative. I want my family to have a renewed respect for my parenting skills. I feel that I have already done some damage to my oldest son because he sometimes has anger management issues. He gets really overwhelmed when he is not in control of a situation. My youngest has severe behavior issues when he doesn't get his way. He cries A LOT and most times, I will just give in to him because I cannot handle his crying. My middle son is always calm and gets along with everyone except possibly his younger brother because #3 is taunting him. He is generally in a great mood and I love him for it!

This past weekend, I really tried this new concept with the boys. I knew it would be a long week with them home for the break and I wanted them to enjoy themselves while I studied. So far, they have not really gotten into it too much. I did end up yelling at #3 today and sending him to his room for a time-out, but I was able to talk to him calmly and let him know that he can make choices and decide what is right. He came out of his room much calmer than when he went in. For the most part, I think God is watching over me and doing something to help me out this week...Despite the fact that I accidentally left #3 sitting on the toilet for a while as I was outside chatting with my friend.

Happy birthday Cindy and Nancy!

Sunday was my sister's and Sister's-in-law birthday.
I got to see my sister at Church, but that was about it. We were supposed to have small group for church later that evening and I was going to surprise her with a cake, but unfortunately, the group leader's daughter got Swine flu and wanted to quarantine her house. I always get a little bummed during my sister's birthday because she is always so busy and her family doesn't pamper her nearly as much as I would like to. She rarely takes time out for herself. So...Happy Birthday Cindy! I hope you had a fabulous birthday!


Nancy (Hubby's step-sister) had a birthday too. I'm sure she had a most excellent birthday because she was in Paris with her best friend. I still get to celebrate her birthday next weekend as she will be home for the first time in 6 months. We are looking forward to seeing her again. Happy Birthday!

New best Eater in the Family!

Ever since Nate was a baby, he would eat ANYTHING you put in front of him. He never had a favorite food (OK maybe McDonald's with Mom was a favorite food!) But he never complained about anything. Even if he didn't like the food, he would still eat it. He wouldn't say much, but he wouldn't really complain either...
Well, last night, I decided to try making Eggplant Parmesan. I have been really trying hard not to have as much red meat or pork, even though we are definitely NOT giving it up. I made it with pasta, fortunately. I gave the first plate to Nick, my Ultra picky eater. After 1 bite, he wanted to spit it out. Then I gave a plate to Nate, Nolan, hubby and myself. We all ate a bite around the same time. Nate looked at me, smiled and finished with his bite. I could tell he didn't really care for it. I thought it was awful, but I continued to try eating it. I asked hubby how he liked it..."OK" he says. But then there's Nolan. He ate it so fast, we thought it may fly away if he took a breath! After all of us were finished eating our pasta (and leaving the eggplant on the plate) he was asking for more! What do I do now? I can't just make a helping of it for the little guy and not for us! Should I try a different variation for the family to see if we like it better a different way or just file it in the ol' circular file and let Nolan order it when he is at the Italian restaurant?

Back at it!

School is in full swing for the boys...and for me! I need to start observing the classroom very soon. I am getting butterflies even thinking about it! How the heck am I going to be an effective teacher if I get this nervous just walking into the classroom???

Brenda's Birthday!

I generally don't post on friends' birthdays, but today begins a new era! Happy Birthday Brenda! I hope you have a fabulous day!

Eating Healthier

I have been reading my friend Jenna's cooking blog a lot lately and it has been very inspiring. Although she is becoming a bit more vegan than me and I cannot totally cut out meats, I have found that I actually like vegetables!
Last night, I made grilled Portabella mushroom burgers with Swiss cheese, tomato, avacados and lettuce. I brushed the Portabella with olive oil, Salt, Pepper and Pesto. Rob grilled the burgers! Oh my gosh, they were fabulous! I think I may have to start including that in my routine!
The boys had hamburgers, but the oldest one had a bite of my mushroom burger and he said it wasn't TOO bad! Yay!
Sorry I forgot to take photos.

Start of a New Year/Rambling

Well, the kiddos have been back in school for a couple weeks now and I have had some free, albeit, very limited free time, but free time altogether. In between running the kids to school and trying to get my computer working again because the hard drive BROKE, I have been able to paint some of my bathroom. My sister said not to paint a bathroom green, because it makes your face look green. But I have only painted 1 wall so far and...So far, I don't look green! Yay! I love to paint walls. It is very therapeutic for me. Someone once looked at my room and told me it's Army Green. If that's how it looks, so be it. I like it. It looks really good with my furniture we got for a stinkin' deal last year right before I quit my job.

Starting next week, I have more classes. I am concerned about these classes because I actually have to go into the classroom and observe the students and teachers. I really hope the students don't turn me off to teaching. I really want to enjoy this next stage of my life in terms of my career. I really feel that God has given me this opportunity for a reason and I need to jump at the challenge. Will I be as effective a teacher as I am in my dreams? Will I be able to be a good teacher without being so wrapped up in it that I forget about my family and my priorities? I pray no. My mom was so absorbed in her teaching that we were a distant second or third in her list of importance. She will be the first to admit that her students gave her their undivided attention and they looked up to her like we never did. My husband has said that I get absorbed in my work very easily. I wish there was a class that taught me how to be effective as a teacher, but when I am not at school, how to be even more effective as a servant of God, wife, mom and good friend. If I start becoming too absorbed in me, can you please let me know?

Nate took 2nd in Forms

For the past month, Nate has been practicing his Karate as much as he can. He had a competition this past Saturday which our studio was hosting. He was doing 2 forms: one with Kama weapons and one Free Form, which is without weapons.

I was extremely nervous about the Free Form, because he had private lessons to learn the form just 1 week prior to the competition and there were some harder moves that he just couldn't nail...But he did in the competition! He took 2nd in the form. Way to go Nater!

Wicked!

I went to Wicked last night with my Mother-in-Law and a friend. Not quite the same as in NYC, but it was still great! Great seats, Great fun!

Before Wicked, I had to go to traffic court, because I seem to have a lead foot lately! I had gotten pulled over for failing to stop at a stop sign, which shouldn't really be where it is placed anyways. There is never more than 1 car there! But as I digress...The motorcycle cop told me I failed to stop at the stop sign, I was going 36 in a 25 and my window tint was too dark. He came back with my ticket and told me he was giving me a warning for my stop sign and speeding, but that I had to get my window tint fixed. I tried explaining that we bought the car that way from the dealer, but he really didn't care about my sob story. He just told me to get it fixed before the court date. Awesome Hubby called the dealership and told them to "Make it right". They ended up stripping the old tint and retinting it legal for free! Yay! But...2 weeks after my first ticket, I got another ticket. This guy was a jerk and wasn't going to give me a warning, so needless to say, I got to go to traffic school this past weekend. Fun stuff! But the great news in all of this is that I don't have any tickets on my record!

Biting Friends

My husband got home from his trip early this week. We were all very happy to have him home...
When he got home, I noticed about 100 bites all over his arms legs and neck. He thought they were mosquito bites, but they weren't as big as the normal mosquito bites. I promptly emptied his bag and did all of his laundry as soon as we got home. The next day, his bites were itching more. He was going crazy. I had him smothered in hydrocortizone to help with the itching. It seemed to work a little bit. His parents came over that night and his mom looked at him and asked if he was sure it wasn't "Chiggers". Never heard of them and so it didn't really register for either of us. The following day, he started blistering on some of his bites. I looked up chigger bites, and his bites looked EXACTLY like them. And chiggers are known to be in lake areas in the Southern states, which was where he was. Sure enough, he has chigger bites all over him...
But now I am freaked out. I stayed up a lot of the night on Tuesday because I was doing research on these microscopic creatures. These creatures can stay on your skin for 2-5 days. He was in Louisiana less than 5 days ago when I realized what he had! I kept thinking I was having things crawl all over me that night. Questions I have been asking myself: what if he still has some on him and they start living in our bed? I stripped the bed this morning and wiped it down with Lysol. But remember the previous paragraph where I mentioned that I promptly emptied his bag? His bag was on the bed on the comforter that cannot be machine washed. Do I need to fumigate the room? Are these things going to start taking over Arizona like the Africanized bee because he brought them with him?(Probably not, but you never know) And why on Earth did God create these things??? They are nasty!

Other than the Chigger bites and all that goes with it, I am so happy to have my husband home! We have not been apart for a very long time. It was good for him to be away for a few days. The last time we were apart from each other for longer than 1 night was when I was in the hospital after having Nolan, which was almost 5 years ago. As much as I really enjoyed having a Queen-sized bed all to myself, I really enjoy sharing it more...And having meaningful conversations at dinnertime!

Welcome home Honey! We missed you and love you!

Entertainment for the Boys

I am trying to entertain the boys while the hubby is away. So many times, I end up giving in to their requests for TV or Video Games. I really want to do something fun with them while he is gone AND while they are on summer break with their mom. I want them to be able to have memories of summer vacation of doing fun and inexpensive or free things. I had the oldest in Swim Team, Basketball Camp and Karate, but Basketball camp will be over after today and I really want to do something really great this Saturday...Any ideas?

PS. I deleted my last post because it was just too depressing for me to read over and over.

My Birthday today!

Thank you Brenda for all you have done for my birthday! You really know how to pull someone out of their funk!

As I woke up today to say bye to my husband (He is on a golf trip with our neighbor in Louisiana), he said that it looked like we got a visit from the Birthday princess (That would be BRENDA) I looked outside and saw the great balloons and chalk on the sidewalk. Immediately, I knew it would be a better day, even though Rob is not here to celebrate it with me.

After Rob left, I went to my computer and saw all the wonderful wishes from everyone on Facebook. Thanks Everyone!

Then, after taking the boys to swim lessons and Basketball Camp, I saw that Brenda devoted a post just to me...It's great to have friends who care so much about you!

Rob's Broken Leg

Rob broke his leg a couple weeks ago riding Nate's Ripstik. He has been in a bit of pain. The hardest part for him is not working out in the yard. I don't remember the last time our yard looked this bad! I wouldn't mind taking it on, but Rob comes from the old school where the man takes care of the yard (Although he helps me with the inside too.) He's my Wonderful Rob...
He went to the doctor today, and the doc said that it looks like it is healing OK. Rob has to wear the boot for 6 weeks. So now there are 5 weeks left...Hopefully. His foot/leg is bruised in spots that I didn't know bruised! Poor guy. The photos that I posted are from last week, which was 5 days after the accident. This week, he has bruising going up his shin,all along the side and on the bottom of the foot, on top of the toes. But he is a trooper. If it were me, I would get a doctor's note to get me out of work for several weeks, but not Rob. He went back to work last week, the day after he got his walking boot!