Friday, September 28, 2007

Seattle

I am enjoying some time with my sisters in Seattle. My little sister Rebecca lives here, and my older sister Erica flew out too. We are having some sister bonding time! I will post some pictures when I get home - I saw the first Starbucks! Woo hoo. I wanted to see Bill Gates house, but Becky said that you can only see the gate at the entrance. Oh well! It feels really good to have a little break from school, work, etc. I slept really good last night - so good that I snored all night and kept my little sister awake! I didn't hear a thing! It is also about 60 degrees outside. I had to break out my winter clothing to come here. It feels soooo good.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Bad Day/Good Day

I had an awful start to my day on Friday. Haleigh and I got into it over her lying to me about brushing her teeth. I don't understand why kids lie about the stupidest stuff! Do kids think that we are so dumb that we are not going to know if they brushed their teeth or not?! I have had this exact same talk with Morgan when she was Haleigh's age. UGH! Anyway, she started crying because she got in trouble and got her book fair money taken away. Well, that led to Mark wondering if she lies to avoid a confrontation with me. His suggestion was that maybe she lied instead of saying "NO" because she thought that if she said no I would get mad. Well, I choose not to believe this side of the story...because then maybe I am at fault. I think she lied because she just didn't want to brush her teeth. Anyway, anybody that knows Haleigh very well knows that she is a really happy, crazy kid. Lately she had been bummed out. She looks sad, she says she's tired...I jokingly say that she is bi-polar (I don't say this to her, I say it to Mark). If things are going Haleigh's way, Haleigh is happy. If things aren't going Haleigh's way, Haleigh isn't happy. Well.......I say all of this to say that she told Mark the reason she is never happy is because mommy yells at her too much and I don't yell at Jacob or Morgan. Well, this was like a knife through my heart. She proceeded to tell me that Morgan is good and she's not. She thinks I like Morgan and Jacob more than I like her. All the while, the knife is pushing further into my heart. I never want my kids to feel this way. I never want to be part of the reason why they feel that way. I explained to Haleigh that the reason why she seems to get "yelled at" more is partly her fault. She acknowledged that she doesn't always do the right thing or do things when she is told to...she knows that she has fault too, but I felt awful. My whole morning was ruined. I decided to eat lunch with her (she goes 10 minutes after me). It was short but sweet. We decided that we needed a mommy/daughter date. We decided to go to Joe's Crab Shack because it is her favorite and then go to Build-A-Bear Workshop. We had so much fun. We ate shrimp and crab legs at Joe's, we made a bunny at the mall and dressed her and everything, and then we got ice cream. We had a long time to talk in the car. I turned off the radio, and we just talked by ourselves. I don't realize how little we talk alone because there is usually other people with us. We talked about school, friends, homecoming, mums, "girly girls" (as Haleigh calls it) in her class that she doesn't understand, etc. We just talked and talked and talked. I bet no one can imagine me and Haleigh doing that, can you? It turned out to be a very special day - one that I will never forget. I feel bad that I may have contributed to Haleigh feeling like she is "bad" because we get onto her a lot. I need to work on that - find better ways to get the desired behavior we want out of her. Anyway, my heart was hurting Friday morning, but now it feels a lot better - I think hers does too!



Here's a picture of that little girl I love more than I can express.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Jacob's Birthday Party

We celebrated Jacob's 4th birthday on Sunday. His birthday is actually tomorrow (Sept. 19th), but we celebrated a little early. Here is a picture of the birthday boy! Isn't he just so handsome?


Here is the jump house that we rented for Jacob's birthday - as you can see Superman was the theme of the party! This was a cool jump house - it had a large jump area and then a slide down the back. The kids had a ball! If you look close you can see Morgan, Haleigh, and Jacob in the doorway! That puts the size of this thing into scale!


This is the cupcake design that Jacob picked out for his party. He didn't want a cake, so he chose the cupcake instead because he really liked how it looked. RED icing - what fun!

Here are the silly kids taking a group picture for me. What fun!

Jacob blowing out his four candles - I think his friend Wyatt thought he needed some help!


Here is Jacob's little friend eating her red cupcake - don't you know her mom was thrilled with this. She actually did a great job not getting frosting everywhere.


Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying the jumphouse.

I love the hair in this picture!

Here are a few enjoying the slide!


We had a great party - I wish all of you could have been there to share in our fun. Jacob is already talking about his birthday next year!







Sunday, September 16, 2007

Denver Broncos

I understand that when you are a football fan you cannot be a fair weather fan. Those of you who are Cowboys fans know what I mean...there have been some bad years. You can never give up on your team. Well, there are some seasons that I know the Broncos are just not going to make it all the way - this year is one of those years (my prediction). There are two games a year that mean a great deal to any Bronco fan - the games against the Oakland Raiders. Sometimes I care more about whether or not the Broncos beat the Raiders than if they have a winning season. Isn't that sad? I guess if you were a Cowboy fan those games would be the Eagles or the Redskins. I can't stand the Raiders - they play dirty and they are mean. We beat them today! Jason Elam pulled it off again in OT. A good day for all Bronco fans today.



Saturday, September 15, 2007

A LONG WEEK!!!!

It is amazing how the week can last so long! My goal at the beginning of the school year was that my house remain clean during the week. IT HASN"T (mostly my stuff). Normally I saved those common household chores for M,W,F since I worked on T, Th at mother's day out. I got a lot of things done on MWF like washing dishes (we don't have a dishwasher at this rental house), doing laundry, vacuuming, ironing, mopping, toilets, etc. Well, I no longer have my MWF days since I am doing my student teaching. I miss my MWF's!!! After I am at the school all day during the week, I go to my "paying job" at The Learning Ladder from 3:45 - 6:00 where I work in the homework room. Then I follow this schedule:

Monday: 6:30 - 8:00 work out, 8:00 - 9:00 bathe Jacob and help get the kids ready for bed, 9:00 - ??? finish things I need to do (like get ready for school the next day, read emails, etc.) and go to bed

Tuesday: 6:00 - 7:00 eat dinner and get ready for the gym, 7:00 - 8:00 work out, 8:00 - ??? same as above

Wednesday: 6:00 - 7:00 eat dinner and get ready for church, 7:00 - 8:00 church, 8:00 - ??? same as above

Thursday: 6:00 - 6:30 eat dinner, 6:30 - 7:15ish conference call with my university about our student teaching and discuss topic for the paper we have to write next week, 7:15ish - 8:00 work out, 8:00 - ??? same as above

Friday: I DON'T HAVE TO WORK AT THE LEARNING LADDER!!! NO HOMEWORK!!! I want to enjoy Friday so much, but I am toooooo tired. Yesterday we went to get ice cream after school, we ate at Casa Torres, and then I came home and tried to catch up on five days worth of Dr. Phil and Oprah. That is hard to do! What am I going to do when American Idol starts again? There won't be time to watch it.

Saturday and Sunday : Days of rest?!?! This is when I really start to miss my MWF's! This is when I am finding time to do all of my normal household chores. This is when I find time to write my two papers for my university. This is when I find time to sleep...there is not enough time on the weekend. I think we should strike for another day to be added to the weekend. I know I need it, Mark needs it, and my kids even need it.

Let me tell you about my husband - I know most people think they have the most wonderful one, but I really do! Mark has been washing dishes (not always with a positive attitude, but he washes them), washing clothes, making dinner, making sure the kids do their homework after school, making sure the girls take a shower, and he even gave me a back rub last night because he said I looked tired. He is great! I am sure he is looking forward to my 12 weeks of student teaching being over as much as I am though! My kids are great too. They have three lists that have to follow. They are labeled "before school", "after school", "before bed". I am fortunate that two of my three kids are pretty much self sufficient right now. Morgan and Haleigh know what to do and do it every day. They get their own breakfast (no I do not make a warm breakfast for them - I know that will really concern some people), they make their own lunch everyday after school for the next day, they take their own showers, they clean their own rooms, etc. Maybe I need to make a checklist for myself so that I make my own lunch everyday, make my bed, etc. If I took care of my business the house would probablly be clean!

My friend Summer reminded me of the comment "you can do anything for a year", and she said that should also say "you can do anything for 12 weeks". I'm going to be like the little engine that could...I think I can! I am 1/4 of the way there. I am really looking forward to my mini vacation coming up in a couple of weeks. I am going to Seattle to see my little sister. My older sister is meeting us there too, so we will be having a girls weekend! I have never been to Seattle, so I am really looking forward to it. I will be taking a three day weekend, and I am really excited.

On another note...my son will be turning 4 on Wednesday. I can't believe it. We are having his birthday party on Sunday. He is so excited. We are renting a jump house/slide combination. It is spider man...he asks every day when his party is. He picked out a spider man cupcakes, spider man plates, cups, and napkins. I will post about that after the fact...he is really growing up. I miss having a baby to hold. At least Jacob still snuggles with me...no more babies for us. Have a great weekend.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Spiders and Football

I really don't have much to talk about. Everything is going well with everyone at school. Morgan missed three days of school already. She always gets sick at the beginning of school; this just came a little earlier than usual. She needs to drink more water! This week will be a little busier for me in the classroom. I will be teaching all the science lessons this week! I am excited. I will also have my first observation from my clinical supervisor on Friday. I am a little nervous about that, but at least I will get practice all week before she comes. Mark is still really enjoying his job. He will be on his own within the next couple of weeks. He is learning a lot.

We have had more spiders in Texas this summer than I ever remember. Everyone I talk to is having trouble with spiders, especially black widows. This picture below is a garden spider I saw on our fence today. It is huge! It has a locust in it's web. You can click on the picture to make it larger - you will be able to see it's legs wrapped around the locust. It is wrapping it with it's silk. It was really cool to watch it for a while.

In more exciting news, the NFL has started!! I didn't get to see the Bronco game today - they don't always air in Texas, but they had a very exciting win. Jason Elam kicked the winning field goal in the last second of the game, literally. It was sweet. I will have to watch those hightlights on Sportscenter. Go Broncos, we are 1-0!


Saturday, September 1, 2007

Watermelon and Horses

Wal Mart had some of the biggest watermelons we have ever seen. Haleigh just had to have one . We didn't want to get the counter all sticky, so Mark cut it outside.
Here is Haleigh enjoying a slice!



Jacob enjoying himself a slice too!




This was a picture of him after eating his watermelon. The picture doesn't show it too well, but his face was covered in watermelon juice.


The people that we rent our house from train cutting horses. They have several horses, and the neighbors wanted the kids to come down to the barn and ride with them. The neighbors dad works for our landlord, so his kids are familiar with all of the horses. They ride a pony named Snuggles and a large horse named Ronnie. This is a picture of Pedro getting Snuggles out and ready. Jacob is a little unsure, so he is not much help!



Jacob is taking a look at a horse in a stall - the horse came up to the bars and Jacob got a tad nervous.



Here's a picture of Haleigh brushing Ronnie.


This is Morgan and Lidia helping to get Ronnie ready too.

Here is Jacob, Haleigh, and Alejandra riding Snuggles.



Morgan riding Ronnie. She just walked a little at first, but then she started to trot.




Here is Haleigh on Snuggles. This was her first time to ride alone without anyone leading her. She was really proud of herself.


Here she is riding with Imelda. She likes to go a little faster when someone is with her.



Jacob riding with Pedro. He was not ready to ride alone!




He agreed to sit on the horse alone for this picture because he wanted to show the spurs that Pedro let him borrow.






When he rides with Pedro Sr. he likes to run! He just wants to make sure that someone is holding on to him.




Haleigh and Alejandra riding together.



They had a great time riding today. They get to enjoy these fun activities now that we live in the country. They are so glad we aren't living in the duplex anymore. They couldn't even go outside there. They are much happier running around out here! It got hot, so we didn't stay out too long. I can't wait until it starts to cool down.