I haven't updated in a while, so here are some of our recent laughs.
Last night, we had our annual Christmas party at my sister's where Santa makes a visit with a present for each kiddo there. We just got a toy book in the mail and I told Trevor to circle stuff he wanted. I brought it inside with us to look through. When Santa came to the door, he ran to me and whispered, "I need my wish list. Go get it!" I went up one set of stairs, and he must not have trusted me to get it, because he went up the other set of stairs to get it (yes, my sister's house is huge and has multiple stair cases). When Santa called his name for his present, he took his wish book up and tried to show him what he had circled. Later, during pictures, they had a better look at it! Hope Santa brings more of what he wants!!
For some reason, Jack thought his birthday was coming up soon. It's in June. I told him there are many other birthdays before his, but his half birthday is coming up soon. He asked if you get presents for that. I said no, but then realized, "Yes! You do! It's called Christmas! Your half birthday is on Christmas!" While I was laughing about that, Trevor addressed me as 'Jennifer.' The daycare is teaching them the names of their parents. One day, Trevor would not stop calling me that.
Jack joined Cub Scouts at the beginning of this school year. Their camp out was cancelled for this weekend, but he's been enjoying it so far.
Tomorrow marks the day that Trevor came home from the hospital. After 16 long and stressful weeks in the hospital, we said goodbye to some great nurses at Texas Childrens. Then we saw them again the next day! We had to make an emergency stop to pick up some nipples for the bottles. Trevor's first night at home was awful! He wouldn't drink from any bottle we had. We even went to buy different kids of bottles. He was a bit stubborn - and still is...
It's hard to believe he'll be old enough for kindergarten next school year. I haven't decided what we'll do though. I'd feel really bad for his teachers. He'll probably get kicked out like someone I know.

Interesting day to say the least

Sometimes, I feel like crying when I work. But,I have to find the humor in things to stay sane. So if you need a good laugh, keep reading.

If you didn't know, I teach fourth grade gifted and talented kids. I figured I should start a journal of the crazy things I hear from my students. Today alone, there were three separate incidences from three different children.

1. After an assignment was handed out, a student walked up to me very confused and said, “Where's the rest of them?” “Rest of what?” I asked. “I see #7, #8, and #9, but where are the rest of them?” “Oh, dear,” I thought to myself. Luckily, before I had to explain to flip the paper over, the student figured it out and went back to his seat.
2. Not long after, a student asked, “What's the weather going to be like on Monday?” “I have no idea! Why?” I replied. “The calendar says Monday is a Bad Weather Day.”
   Now, I understand a kindergartener or first grader saying this. But...I have explained to them recently that Monday is a district Bad Weather Day incase we had to miss school due to bad weather in the past. AND...this is not the first year that they have had a bad weather day.
3. Lastly, still during the same assignment, I heard the student sitting on my floor near my desk talking to someone. I knew the other members of the group had moved away to a table, so I looked over to see who he was talking to. It was a banana. Yes, a BANANA! I stopped asking why a long time ago...
   Keep in mind, this was not just today, but within an hour of each other. Needless to say, I was glad recess was soon after.

Only 50 some days until summer! : )

It's kind of sad and somewhat disturbing that it takes something absolutely terrible to make you realize how great you have it! I couldn't imagine being the parents who rushed to school after the shootings just to see whether their child was walking out alive or not.  I know as a teacher, no matter how trying the kids can be at times, you will never let them suffer on your time. We are their mothers and family for half of the year. We eat breakfast, snack, and sometimes lunch with the kids.  In discussions, I heard, "I can't believe the principal put herself in danger like that." But, that's what a teacher/school worker does without even thinking. There's no doubt in my mind that she went to help kids without even thinking about herself.
We do "lock down" drills at school and remind the kids to run to a classroom as soon as they hear the announcement because we won't open the doors after they are locked.  But then again, I can't imagine not letting a kid in when I know they were just in the restroom. Hopefully, that will never be the case.

I started thinking about all the things teachers go through daily that many people who aren't teachers don't think about: watching kids pick their noses, sneeze into their hand as they wait in line to shake your hand and tell you good morning, push and shove each other in line and wait for you to tell them to stop...
Also, I thought about the things mothers go through daily that should be broadcasted to teenagers (maybe in a documenary):
-screaming and yelling at each other in the car - on long road trips, and even on trips less than a mile away.
-wiping boogers off noses, or better yet, telling children not to eat their boogers and trying to have a reason why that they will understand .... the only thing I can come up with is that it hurts your tummy!
-wiping pee and poop off the floor/pants
-having toys thrown at you from the backseat (whether it's a shoe, sock (or as we call it, an "apple pie"), ball, or Ken doll)
-watching the same video over and over and over....
-never sleeping in on days off
I think this list could go on and on.


The past two months have been full of craziness!

We had a great Halloween! I wanted Trevor's costume to match Jack's PacMan costume, but when he found the Buzz Lightyear in the garage weeks before, he fell in love with it!! Somehow, he managed to forget it about it for a while, but I knew when Halloween came, he'd remember it, and he did. He told people he was going to be Buzz Lightyear, so there's not much you can do there, unless you want to be an evil parent. It had to go and be warm that night, so there was a lot of stopping and taking the costume and boxing gloves off and drinking water (which I had to go back and get). We got a TON of candy!! It ended up in Trevor's dump truck (it was a truck-load of candy!!!).

We were actually all well for Thanksgiving. I think that's a first! That's about all I remember from that, though.

We finally had our first official guests over to the new house for our family Christmas Eve dinner. We are loving the new house, although it'll take a while to get things exactly how we want them. Our latest and greatest projects are building shelves for Trevor's room and possibly a bed frame and a loft bed for Jack. Hopefully Grandpa will help out here....Trevor kept saying, "Hey Momma, Merry Christmas!!" It was too cute.

I think Trevor's firetruck count is definitely in the double digits now!! (that's what all the shelves are for!) Before Christmas sometime, we heard a lot of sirens. We finally realized that Santa was coming down all the streets like they did where we used to live. We only had to wait about 30 minutes after we found this out, and Trevor was SOOO excited. He talked for days after about how Santa came on a firetruck with candy! He even said it again today. I'm surprised he knows what a reindeer is since he thinks Santa rides a firetruck! oh, and since we live on a cul-de-sac, it had to make a three or more point turn! Even better!! (So do the garbage trucks! They always honk at us since we sit outside for so long watching them turn around!)

His vocabulary is expanding as well, probably due to the construction videos he watches (and yes, Jeremy, they are made for kids!).  Any yellow piece of machinery has gone from "SCOOP!" to excavator, bulldozer, or backhoe.

I am thankful that I have another entire week at home!! Trevor starts a new daycare that is just down the street on Monday. I'm hoping, praying, and keeping my fingers crossed that it will help somewhat with his behavior, if not his diet. The 20-30 minute ride to and from daycare has been very stressful the past three months. He has also filled up on cookies and candy on some days on the ride home to quiet him. I gave the new daycare plenty of warnings about him....so we'll see. It won't be the end of the world to take him back to the old daycare.

Jack and I took a ride out with "Grandma Mary" to Weimar to decorate Suzy's memorial garden (the best memorial garden ever!) several weeks ago with Morgan and Baby Bear. The kids had a blast running around after we decorated the garden with Christmas decorations!

Three years ago today, Trevor had his first bottle feeding! And the day before that, was his first day with just oxygen through the nasal cannula. It's pretty cool to see how far he's come. He's capable of injuring people now. This morning, I knew the moment he woke up screaming (I think about a toy being in the wrong place) that it was not going to be a good morning. I spent most of my time trying to get Netflix on the tv upstairs to work. That didn't happen due to a "necessary" update. Trevor didn't want to go down stairs to watch it, so we were forced to wait and cry. Then I decided that I should use this time to get him dressed. Well, he knows that when he gets clothes on that he's going somewhere. So, he started yelling that he wanted to watch Barney Firetrucks and it wasn't time to go! Amazingly enough, Jack slept through all the yelling. Netflix finally started five minutes before we needed to leave. It was a fight to get the new pull up, pants and shirt on. Somewhere between that and fighting to strap him into his car seat (we probably woke up a few neighbors) I think I hurt my shoulder. I realized it about midday.
Here's hoping that tomorrow will be better.

Here's a picture of him and Jack at his daycare Halloween carnival. These were last minute costumes I pulled out of the garage. It was just a coincidence that the blue overalls Jack wore two years ago fit Trevor perfectly. (When Jack wore them, they were too small, but we made up for it with blue socks) We are working on Jack's "real" costume. Or I should say, I am, since he's not helping much.

10/17/2012

Since Jack wasn't "feeling well" last Wednesday, we had to stay home from school. We hopped in the car with Mary (Suzy's mom) bright and early (kind of) and headed out to Weimar. For the last few weekends, her and Fred had made several trips there creating a memory garden for Suzy. They had some pretty interesting stories to tell of the adventures they had. After all their hard work, it looks AMAZING. It's the "Best Memory Garden Ever." (right, Fred?!)  Several of her aunts, uncles, and cousins showed up (a few even came from San Antonio). It was good to see them again. Her family members are great people! So after we ooed and aahhed at it and played outside a bit, we gathered around to remember her and sing a few songs for her (including Happy Birthday).  Her cousin led the dedication ceremony and even made us all a special token to remember the day and Suzy. Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch at a small bakery and rode home with Morgan and Bear. At Mary's house, Morgan chased Jack around until he whined that he didn't feel good. We had to go home and rest. (I think he was tired of getting beat up by Morgan). All in all, her birthday was a great day and I'm so glad to have spent it with the ones she loved the most!

Each side is dedicated to Suzy, Fred, John, and Courtney with the kids listed also

Jack reading to Bear on the way home.

Morgan beating up Jack while Bear laughs at them.

As summer draws to a close, I am forced to think more and more about the start of school whether I like it or not. I don't want to think about coming home and grading papers, writing lesson plans, or just passing out at 8 pm because I'm so tired. However, the more I think about the start of this year, the more excited I get. Yes, I'm actually excited about this school year. There are several things I love about teaching besides having the summers off.

1) Being a self-contained teacher, I can probably count on my hands the number of minutes I have to (oh, I mean, get to) see my coworkers.  This could be a good thing or a bad thing. Considering that most people can't stand their co-workers and that's all they gripe about, I'd say it's a good thing. I don't have to put up with gossip unless I want to.
2) I get to enjoy a quiet picnic lunch outside any day I want. And if I hurry, I can zoom to Dairy Queen, grab a burger, and be back in time to pick up the kids. I've even been known to drive to Momma Mary's and enjoy lunch with her (and her sisters sometimes). However, I don't know if I can drive as fast as Suzy could to pull that off by myself! : )
3) What other job gets to start fresh each year? I get a new group of kids that I get to be "mom" to for 178 days every year.
4) If that's not cool enough, I get to see those kids grow and mature during fifth grade, and then leave for bigger and better things in junior high. I love seeing my kids around town and having them tell me hi!  I don't hang out in Baytown often, so it's even more special when I do see them.
5) And best of all, I love seeing a smile on a kid's face when they realize they are awesome at something or finally "get it!"

This summer has been great! I've finally been able to enjoy a few weeks of doing absolutely nothing. Although I could get used to this, I know life must go on. There are many exciting things to look forward to this year, even though it's more than half way over.

I decided yesterday to do a Dr. Seuss theme in my classroom, instead of a Lego one, to better fit our school theme. I was trying to find an inspirational quote to end with, but I found this one first and this better fits my life and family (I have no idea what book it's from...I just googled Dr. Seuss quotes. It may not even be from him but I like it!):

“In my world, everyone's a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!” -Dr. Seuss

Is it summer yet? Oh wait, yes it is. Conor says I “got myself into this” so not to complain. But I'm not really complaining. It's been busy – but anyone who knows me knows I find things to keep me busy. Yes, just like my mom does. I'm working a summer program at NASA that is great! There's no complaining there. Trevor's in daycare to keep his schedule (he needs a schedule more than a penny on the ground needs to be picked up- again, if you know me, this is absoluetly necessary to pick up any coin and not be discrimatory towards the value of it. Money is money). Jack, however, is not in “daycare” this summer. He actually really wanted to go and talked about it way ahead of summer. But it was $5 less than what I pay for Trevor and couldn't bring myself to pay that all summer. So he is staying with me in the mornings and will be going to various places in the afternoons when I leave, like Nana's or Aunt Jessica's. Or course, he's already complaining about wanting to do things. I can't blame him much. We've been running errands and cleaning a lot. I've been promising to take him to Pirate's Bay and have yet to do so. I feel awful about that. But hopefully next week, it will work out. I think it was a sign to not buy a season pass to there like I had originally thought about since we haven't gone yet this summer. Needless to say, he was so excited about our trip to Hilton Head, SC for my sister-in-law's wedding that he was apparently counting down the hours at Nana's house until the plane took off. He didn't express his excitedness to me, but I knew he would have a blast. And he did. I hardly saw him the entire time we were there. He was either down the hall with whoever was in Stephie's room at the time, in Nanny's room with baby Stephanie, at the pool, at the beach, or geo caching and walking around the town. I'm still not sure what all he did, but I know it was way more than I did. I'm thankful for all you guys who hung out with him. He was in Heaven! So much so, that the day of the wedding, he didn't show up until about 20 minutes before we were scheduled to leave for the wedding. He finally walked in, soaking wet and sunburnt while I was in my dress ready to go. I haven't mentioned Trevor yet....

It was interesting. I have to say he was pretty well behaved, although certain folks (like our flight attendant on our second flight of the day and the waitress at the restaurant one morning) might be shocked at this statement. I can probably count the number of fits he had on my hands. Which is amazing. The flights were much better than I had imagined in my head for the entire week before we actually left. He requested to use the restroom on every plane we rode (4 total – one being the kind with the propellers...if you think a restroom on a regular plane is small, think again, and then laugh at the thought of me AND Trevor in it, trying to change his pull-up. Yes, it was finally accomplished.)! The highlights of the flight include the flight attendant pausing when she got to our row, after the seat belt sign came on to land, and I'm trying to strap him in. She asked if I needed help and assisted in holding him down while he screamed and squirmed because he didn't want to be strapped in. Together, he got strapped in. Next would be when the gentleman behind Conor asked how old Trevor was. When he replied, “Two,” and guy said, “Oh the terrible twos....” and probably thought to himself, “Thank goodness I'm not that guy in front of that kid.” (Who by the way, was obnoxious. Not only did he lean his seat back while I had my head down trying to get into my bag, he also put it back down after the flight attendant walked away after telling him to put it up – I didn't feel too sorry for him.). If that wasn't enough – on the way home, he was FULL of energy. He is still fascinated with firetrucks, police cars, trains and buses. So when we saw a bus, someone said, “Beep beep bus,” and he started saying that. After about the fourth time, he'd change it up to trick us and then laugh his head off about it (warning if you watch the video...it gets really loud when he laughs). His laughs are more like happy screams. But at least they are happy. He was this crazy the entire 30-40 minute ride home. Once home, he wanted to watch “Cars.” It took a while to get him calmed down and into bed. I feel sorry for the daycare teacher the next morning.

Of course, Jack always has crazy ideas that he comes up with. I think he has too much time to think. In the car yesterday, he asked me how many days were in a year. When I asked him why he needed to know, he replied, “I need to know how many clothes to pack.” Long pause.... “For what, Jack?” His reply, “So I can live with Nana and ride my bike to school next year. You would get to see me on the weekends, except for maybe during school hours (that is, if I'm in your class). “ Although I wanted to say, “Did you run that by Nana yet?” I'm at the point now where I just reply back, “Ok, Jack.”

He also was planning his birthday party for tomorrow all day yesterday, when Jessica and I had already planned a surprise party for him at the last minute, for Saturday. So the day of the surprise party, I listened to everything he had planned. He actually wrote it all out on about three sheets of paper...the invite list, the planning, and his birthday list. Pretty impressive. He had three scenes from Back to the Future planned. The living room was going to be the scene from the “Enchantment under the sea” scene, the dining room was Marty's house, and the driveway/street was the scene where Marty got hit by the car. We had already decided last week that it would be a lot of work to decorate the house like that, so we had decided no decorations. I reminded him of this hoping he'd still agree. I made him a cake that was supposed to look like the license plate from the DeLorean. It says “OUTATIME.” By the time we got to Jessica's, the decorative icing had all run together. It's the thought that counts, since we couldn't rent a real DeLorean for the party.

Needless to say, it's been an interesting month so far. Can't wait for July and beach trips!