riding the mower

Two days ago, I got out on the mower to mow the lawn again. Noah and Ally both like to ride with me for a little while, then they get tired and get off. This day, Noah got on with me as soon as I got started and rode for several laps around the backyard. He was barely sitting on the front edge of the seat in front of me, kind of standing while leaning back. I thought it would be more fun for him to steer (with a little help, of course) and put his hands on the steering wheel. It seemed like every time we made a turn he would let go, so I would put his hands back on the wheel. I also gently pushed the back of his head up against me, so that when we went over bumps, his head wouldn't bounce anymore. After making several rounds like this, I looked down and realized that he was about out of it!! His eyes were closed and he was trying to sleep! The poor thing! No wonder he kept letting go of the wheel. I don't know how he continued to stand there. I lifted him up and placed him on my lap. Then he went from my lap to over my shoulder. I finally decided to take him in. :) My poor baby was exhausted!!!

saying goodbye

I thought for sure that I would be in bed early last night. It was one of those days where all I wanted to do was come home and take a nap! :) I took the kids swimming with their cousins yesterday morning, so I think that may have had something to do with it (although I didn't do a whole lot of swimming myself). Then I went to work and took all of the kids to their Tae Kwon Do class. I hadn't really done a whole lot before I got home, but still, I felt exhausted! Somehow, I ended up crawling into bed around 3:30 this morning!!! I finally got into cleaning the house, and once I get started, I like to clean it all! I had been trying to get a lot of this done ever since I started this new job, and it just seemed like I couldn't find the time. Once we were dressed and out of the house, we seemed to find something to do before coming back home. Anyway, it is so much easier to clean when everyone is in bed and I have no interruptions, and I got a lot done.

Today will be the last day for a long while that we get to spend with my oldest brother and his family . They leave to head back to Spain in the morning. It has been great seeing them after two years! We will miss y'all very much Matt, Pilar and girls!!!

the dentist visit

Today was art day at work. We have field trips 3 days a week, and since I am one of the drivers, we usually only have art twice a week. Since I had a few kids tell me that they weren't here for some of our crafts, I pulled out all of my leftovers from the previous weeks, and allowed each of them to use those and other craft materials to make whatever they wanted. We had some make caterpillars, purses, crosses, family trees and several other interesting things. They really enjoyed it I think.

As soon as I got off at noon, we headed to the dentist's office. Noah has one cavity. Ally will be in braces in about five years. Ugh! That's something that I know very little about, and I am not really looking forward to.

Ok, I'm off to get some cleaning done before dinner.

Pedicure

BEWARE! There is a photo of my feet at the bottom of this post. I have been told that they look like Flintstone feet. I had to post this pic though, because I had my very first pedicure a couple of weeks ago, and I LOVED it!!! Matthew and the kids bought me a manicure & pedicure for my birthday, and the gift certificate expired in 6 months. Since it was winter at the time and I didn't see my feet much then, I decided to wait. I actually called the place the weekend before and told them that my certificate expired that Monday, and could I come in on that day and use it. They said yes, so I finally went alone to make sure that it didn't expire and become a waste of money. I knew that I would probably enjoy it, but it was for a place out of the way, and I knew that I'd have to find someone to keep the kids for an hour or so. I finally got there and enjoyed every minute of it! Well, the pedicure. The manicure was nice too, but the pedicure...why did I wait 6 months for a free pedicure?!! I think this is something that I will have to treat myself to often! So, here they are. :)

Tonight I worked on another project for school. :) I am so excited about some of the small things, like my duty badges. That sounds kinda funny, but I don't know what else to call them. Maybe it's just the word "duty". Duty. I don't know. Anyway, this summer at the daycare, I have probably heard a hundred times, "I want to be the line leader!" or "he/she was the line leader yesterday!". That one I have heard over the years, but "I wanted to turn the light off!" was one that surprised me. They actually argue over things like that...on a daily basis!!! I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since my two fight over such silly things all the time. So, the job poster that I bought had badges on the back that can be used for each child. I copied them, colored them, laminated them, made cute little badges hung on colorful ribbon out of them, and will have them each wear one every day. Of course they will be rotated. They include things like "line leader", "light monitor" :) , "door holder", etc. I went on and on about these, just like I am doing now, to Matthew earlier, and the second that I stopped talking, he started a new conversation on a whole different subject! Maybe the kids will be as excited about them as I am.

Anyhoo... here I am again, blogging at almost 1am because I am putting off getting ready for bed. It's not the going to bed part that I am avoiding. I could fall asleep right here and now, but it's the preparation that keeps me up so late. Sounds silly, I know. If I could just go to bed, I doubt I would stay up as late as I do. However, I know that before I can get into bed, I have to go around the house and make sure that all outside doors are locked, lights and tvs are off and that the kids' doors are left open. I have to put on my jammies, remove my contacts, remove my eye makeup, wash my face, apply my step 2 & 3 skin care products and brush my teeth. My cell and Matthew's need to be on the chargers and my alarm clock set. Ok, there may be more, but just reading all of that out loud, made me realize that these are probably things that most people (at least most mothers) probably also do. And look! It's now after 1am and I am still on here! Do you want to know why?! The batteries in my wireless mouse died about 3 sentences ago, and I actually felt that it was necessary at this time of night to change them out! I hated to think that all of this rambling (yes, I ramble a lot!) was a waste of time! Ok. So, I am now off to start my nightly routine. :)

Sweet dreams.

4 weeks 'til school

Normally, I would be dreading this. Not only is Ally now going into the 1st grade, but Noah will be starting Pre-K this fall! We are 4 weeks from this happening, and yet I am so excited!!! I'm excited about teaching! I'm sure the other will hit me as we get closer and have to get the kids ready for school, but right now, I am just ecstatic!! I finally finished cutting out all of the material for my classroom that I had laminated today. I cut some out earlier and then sat down at 7pm to finish up. Ugh!!! My hand is so sore from using the scissors for 5 straight hours! Poor me! :) Ok, I'm over it. Anyway, this week we painted the rooms, halls and bathrooms of the school , did some major cleaning and a few repairs, and now I am able to get my room ready! Yay!! It's getting there. Ally and Noah are enjoying the computers that we put in there. This was Noah's first experience with a computer. It was so funny! Yesterday, Ally and I showed him how to turn it on and when a box popped up, I told him to hit "ok". He reached up and touched the monitor where the box was at! :) I guess that's not so silly these days with all that comes out now, but it was cute to see him learning what the mouse was and how to use it to control the little arrow on the screen.

Tomorrow I plan to spend some more time with my brother, sister-in-law and nieces, while they are here visiting from Spain. I also need to get my house clean one of these days!! I really want it all clean at one time, even if it is just for a short time!

Goodnight!

Turtle Update

Ok, so it looks like the turtle thing is all over. I know, that didn't even last as long as the dog! The poor things just aren't getting what they need with this aquarium setup and the kids have agreed that they will be better off in a natural environment. We're hoping to find them a nice new home very close to here. So, tomorrow morning, we will head out in search of the perfect place!