We're home/Happy New Year

I feel like we have been on the go since school let out, and unfortunately we go back to school on the 2nd. I hope to get pictures uploaded and posted sometime tomorrow between all of the laundry and de-Christmasing my house. We got home this evening from TN, where we spent the last 5 days with the Hines Family. We are so stupid that we stayed up till 1 or 2 am every night we were there, so no late night plans for us tonight. I might even be asleep by 10:00, sad I know. I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve/Day, be safe.

Check this out!!!

Jim posted about this site on his blog as well. It is a whole blog dedicated to tacky Christmas displays. I found the pictures and commentary very funny, yet I found the rude, uncalled for comments even funnier.

Check it out here at tackychristmasyards.com

When?

When will Lexi learn how to tell jokes that are actually funny? I am so sick of hearing knock, knock jokes that make no sense at all!!!!

When will Gracie know how to control her anger and not throw her shoe at her teacher from the time-out chair?

When will I not eat myself sick during the holidays?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you. This is my first scanned image on MY Christmas present, a little early I know. We had this picture taken a few weeks ago. The story of most of my pictures, Lexi smiling and Gracie refusing to smile. Gracie made sure to tell me many times after the picture that she did not want to smile. OK, whatever. I don't dress them up for Santa pix any more since we just get them taken when we see there is no line. They can have my $20 for one 5X7, but they will not take my time or my sanity away from me, the parking lot of the mall already has those things taken.

Fun in the Sn...I have to go to the bathroom!!!

Playing in the snow is very fun, I mean once you get past the two trips to the bathroom, five different pairs of gloves, snow in the face issues, falling down issues, and the snot, it's a BLAST!!



Grace had fun on the shovel. We have no hills, we don't even have a sled for that matter, so the shovel works just fine for now.

Lexi was all about snow ball fights.

Snow angels, ya gotta love that. The girls begged Jon so much he gave in and made one too, so we had a whole snow angel family. Jon said his was more of a "snow god" because it was so big.

We have a nice busy week ahead of us. Monday night is my sped party here at the house so I need to get ready for that, Tuesday is our 8 year anniversary, Wednesday I have a consultation to get my wisdom teeth pulled and then finishing up shopping, Thursday we have free babysitting from StuCo, Friday is the kids' parties at school, and Saturday Jon is going to the MO/IL basketball game, then begins the holidays. Busy, Busy, Busy!

Oh the crying, I LOVE the crying.

ICE

I hate ice. Sure it looks pretty, but if my power goes out like it did last year for three days, I will not be happy. I took this picture this morning, and right now this same grass has be flattened by the weight of all the ice. On the bright side, we don't have any big trees around, so we are not in fear of branches falling on us. Keep safe and warm.

Baking Cookies--that's happy

My sisters were in STL making cookies, and with the weather and my crappy week I had no desire to drive in. Jon went to the store today to finish buying my x-mas presents and he said he wanted to buy stuff to make cookies too. So of course I picture in my mind break and bakes, like we always do, no he said he wanted to "make" cookies, so we did. The girls had a blast.

Jon is such a dork, ya gotta love him.

Whenever we cook we always rock out in the kitchen. Today was no exception. We had the Sirius Satellite blaring to, no not Christmas music, Hairnation. If you don't know what Hairnation is just try it out. Good Times.

So now I sit here wanting to puke, too many "Test" bites of dough/cookies, but my kitchen is clean, the dishwasher is going, I have three tubs of cookies, and I had a great day with my family.

Crappy week in review...

Please do not read this if you are in a cheerful, holiday mood. I do not want to be responsible for bringing you down!!

So Monday started at 5:30 am with a little thing people call the 24-hour stomach flu!! I got out of bed anyways and thought that maybe it would go away if I willed it to. So, I dyed my hair (I had roots) and got ready for school (with a couple trips to the toilet, yes both ends). I dropped the kids off and went on to work. I stayed through a 9 o'clock meeting and then headed back home to be miserable by myself. At 1:30, I got a call from Lexi's teacher and she said that Lexi's cheeks were flushed and her temp was running right under 100, so off to pick her up. Once I got her home and saw that she was acting fine, I asked her if she felt hot or if she felt cold, she replied hot. I then assessed her clothing...turtle neck and jacket..."Lexi, if you were hot why didn't you just take off your jacket?" "I don't know." I was so angry. I felt like death and now I had just picked up my kid from school who needed to take off her jacket and cool down!! You have got to be kidding me? Luckily Jon didn't have any supervision that night and he was able to take care of the kids all night long while I waited to die.
I woke up on Tuesday and felt really weak, but not sick, so off to school to get some of my mounds of work completed. Tuesday night still weak, however, Lexi had gymnastics and Jon had supervision, so us three girls were off as soon as we got home from school. The whole evening I was not in "good" parenting mode I was in "survival" parenting mode. I used an old receipt to wipe Gracie's snot/tears, I had them eat their McDonald's in the Wal-Mart cart as I piled groceries on top of them, and I told Gracie I would not stop the car for her to go potty and she better not have an accident. Much more "fun" moments, but I have already complained too much.
Wednesday was fine just busy all the same. I hate getting home from school at 4:25, leave again at 4:30 so that we can eat and make it to small groups on time, then home after bed time.
Thursday was actually pretty good, I even made fried chicken for dinner. Friday I was just crabby and hormonal. I had to apologize to the girls before we made it to school because I could tell I was being overly crabby with them. This morning Gracie woke me up at 5:30, I managed to get her back to sleep, however, not me. Oh well, the life of a mom I guess.

Sorry to be such a downer. That just means that next week has to be better, right? Oh, I just remembered that Jon has supervision I think every night next week including Saturday and Sunday afternoon, good times. I promise I will write happy things next time regardless.

Catch up

Happy December!!! Where have these last two weeks gone? It amazes me how time gets away from you, especially this time of year. I really can't remember everything that has happened, but here are some highlights...

Jon and I went x-mas shopping and out to eat for our anniversary while the girls had fun with Aunt Nancy. We generally celebrate our anniversary a month early since our real anniversary is one week before X-mas, way too crazy then.

On the Sunday before Thanksgiving Matthew came down to visit. It was so nice to catch up with him. His schedule is so busy he doesn't get to come home very often. The girls had a blast playing with him.

On Wednesday before Thanksgiving we went to STL for some more shopping and then went to Jeff and Marion's for a late lunch and to see Blake, Karla, and their TWO dogs Clarence and new St. Bernard puppy, Hershall. We also went over to see Jeff and Marion's new house which they closed on earlier in the week. It was amazing. No pictures of that yet, next time.

Thanksgiving Day was of course filled with family and food. We started the day at Alissa's with all of my family. Good times, good eats, and we even had enough rolls (Amy).

Left: Cousins playing before lunch.

Right: Cousins during nap time after lunch watching a movie.

Left: Maw Maw and Mini Me

Right: Paw Paw and Lexi

After Alissa's we went to Jeff and Marion's to eat more with all of Jon's family. The big kids had fun downstairs with Josh's new Wii, and the little kids had fun again with the adorable Hershall. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy drooling over Monte's new camera. After playing with his camera I felt like mine was just a kids toy.

We ended up staying the night there, and staying up way too late. Jon was hanging out with the guys and Marion, Karla and I had some bonding time early into the morning. We had tons of fun.

The day after Thanksgiving was not filled with shopping, it was filled with 3 hour naps all around, and then decorating the inside of the house for Christmas. On a side note Lexi has been so funny since we decorated the house...every night after we pray before bed she looks at me and says, "You forgot to say and for us to have a Lovely Christmas." I have no idea where this came from, but I purposely don't include it in our prayer so I can hear her say it.

This week was normally busy the first half, and then on Thursday I left for another overnight conference, this time in Springfield. The conference was fine, but of course what sticks out has nothing to do with what I learned. For the first time ever someone recognized me, and I had no clue who she was. I am really bad about names, but I can almost always remember a face and where I know that person from. Not this time...I just got off the elevator and someone grabbed my arm and said, "Hey!" I looked right at her and said, "I am sorry, do I know you?" She of course is taken back and reminds me that she was my cooperating teacher (8 years ago). Still, me, clueless!! I tried to fake a 5 second conversation, but I stink at that, so finally I just walked away. About an hour later, I pulled her out of my memory and felt totally stupid for not remembering her. Of course I looked for her the rest of the weekend and never found her to have a real conversation. Oh well, I am sure it will happen again sometime.

Well, that catches everyone up on what has been happening the last few weeks. Pretty boring, just busy. Today will be filled with cleaning and decorating the outside of the house. Have a good day.

Thanksgiving

I have so many things to be thankful for, here are just a few...


10. My family has good health, food and a nice house.

9. I actually enjoy my job, and sometimes I think I am making at least a little bit of difference in kids' lives.

8. Blogger.com. That's right, blogger. I have gotten back in touch with many friends that I would probably never have kept up with otherwise. Also, I have never kept a journal, and I am finding it a little therapeutic to write about my life.

7. I have a few close friends that mean a lot to me. They are great for advice, encouragement, and reminding me I am not the only one that is crazy sometimes.

6. I have a wonderful extended family. So many nieces and nephews for my kids to play with and for my kids to look up to. I have great in-laws on my side and Jon's side all of which I am very thankful for.

5. I have two older sisters who are always there if I need them. They are the ones that can tell me when I am being stupid, tell me good job, and just listen if I need to talk. I love living so close to both of them, even though visits aren't as often as we would like.

4. I have two amazing parents. Now that I am a mom, I can truly appreciate how great they were/are. Over the years, and still, they have sacrificed (time, money and energy), taught life lessons, laughed with me and at me, and have just loved my sometimes hard-to-love self.

3. I have two awesome kids. I give them a hard time sometimes about their sassyness, and I expect a lot from them, but truly they are great kids. They are both very funny, well behaved and well mannered (at least they try). Lexi is such a little helper and she is also very smart. Gracie is such an encourager and she has such a sweet spirit (well mostly).

2. I am married to a wonderful husband. We have been married almost 8 years and he is still my best friend. I love hanging out with him, I love watching him with the girls, I love telling him about my day, and I love listening about his day. I am so thankful God blessed me with him.

1. My God who has provided everything I need, and way more than I deserve.

Happy Thanksgiving
Be safe in your travels.

RANDOM

I'm hungry. Yesterday, I started a low carb diet and so today I am starving. I know, these things don't work, it's hard to keep it off, it's not healthy, yada yada. Well, I need to do something, and the whole exercise thing has been twice a week at the most, and I can come up with any excuse to not eat healthy. So, this is what I am doing for now. Our SPED Director, whom I share an office with, is doing the low carb thing and she keeps bringing in cool snacks, so I figured I would jump on the wagon for now. But, I am still hungry.

Goldie is still swimming away with no clue that he should have kicked the bucket months ago.

Grace has done fabulous being in panties. In the last four days she only had one accident, and she cries every night when I put her in a pull up for bed. I say we are there, bye bye diapers.

I am so ready for a break from school. We actually get three days this year for Thanksgiving and I am so looking forward to it.

We are taking Lexi out of dance class and we have enrolled her in gymnastics (in the town that's 30 minutes away). She has been doing dance here now 2 months and the only good things about it are that it's in town and she liked it. There were SO many reasons I hated it.
1. It was only 30 minutes a week. During that 30 minutes they did 15minutes of ballet and 15 minutes of tap. Are you kidding me? With 2-4 year olds it took that long just to get their attention.
2. The Recital: costume $50, Jon and I to attend $45, and $5 for each additional person that wanted to come see the 3 minute performance. Can you say ridiculous?
3. Practice was closed, so parents wait in the hallway without being able to see what, if anything, your child is actually learning.
4. Lexi, my four year old, would be expected to wear makeup and fake hair to match everyone else. Not gonna happen.
The new gymnastic class only has one downfall, so far, and that is the distance once a week. We can watch all practices. It lasts and hour. The practice was very structured and organized. Once a year, at this age, they have a day where moms, dads, grandparents, etc can come and watch what your child has learned, yet it is very informal. So far it seems just what we were looking for.

So, that's what's going on here. Hope you have a fabulous weekend.

HUGE NEWS

Gracie is wearing big girl panties!!!! Last Friday I got home and found we only had a few random diapers/pullups so I thought, do we go to the store, or tests the waters? I informed Grace she would be wearing big girl panties starting in the morning. I had no idea how she would do since she had never been in panties before. So, on Sat. we tried and she only had one accident(she was turning on the light in the bathroom, so I don't really count that since she was trying to go). Then Sunday, she had two accidents. Today I sent her to school in panties (I was completely out of diapers and still hadn't gone to the store) and she had NO accidents. I am talking poop and pee on the potty!! I am so happy and a little sad all at the same time. My baby is growing up. (I am really hoping I didn't just jinx the whole thing by blogging this. I'll let you know.)

100

Here you go Jeanne, I took your challenge, an open honest list of random facts about myself. They are completely random, and probably pretty boring, so proceed at your own risk.

1. I work in special education.

2. I am the part time process coordinator and part time speech implementer for our district.

3. I just finished my list and realized I forgot #3, so this is just a filler so I don't have to change all 97 other numbers.

4. I taught sped for 4 years and preschool for 3.

5. I hope to never teach again, any age or grade.

6. Kids get on my nerves sometimes.

7. I like things organized.

8. I love country music.

9. I have a hard time loosing weight.

10. I love ice cream.

11. I am totally scared of the dark.

12. If you are outside my house at night you could follow me by the lights going on and off.

13. I love scary movies, but I don't sleep for weeks after watching them, so I don't allow myself any more.

14. I love and hate that my kids act a lot like me.

15. I am not a cuddly person.

16. It sometimes annoys me when my kids won't give me some personal space.

17. I feel very guilty to admit #16.

18. I have never liked my name.

19. I will not go poop in public unless I am going to crap my pants, literally.

20. I talk about poop all the time, and Jon HATES it.

21. I love living in a small town.

22. I love that I grew up on a farm.

23. I love working outside in the yard.

24. I blame my dad for that.

25. I have a lime green winter coat, and love it.

26. I love to eat.

27. I like that some people are scared/intimidated by me.

28. I like that in my job I have to tell people what to do.

29. I think I am really funny.

30. I know that not everyone thinks I am as funny as I do, I'm OK with that.

31. I go to a Christian Church.

32. It took a few months for me to get used to the band at my church.

33. Our next move is going to be moving to a church, not a job.

34. I really want a tummy tuck.

35. I am really bad at grammar.

36. I love taking pictures of my kids.

37. Maybe one day I will take a photography class.

38. I spend hours working on cropping my pictures on the computer.

39. I like scrapbooking.

40. I am not creative.

41. We still go to Camp Ne-o-tez every summer.

42. I hope that my kids grow up and love camp as much as Jon and I do.

43. I hate making decisions.

44. I LOVE reality TV.

45. I watch Survivor, Real World, Biggest Loser, just to name a few.

46. My favorite sitcom is How I Met Your Mother.

47. I have never had a speeding ticket.

48. I have never been in an accident.

49. I am really thinking about deleting those last two for fear they will come true.

50. I can not dance at all.

51. #50 doesn't stop me from dancing all the time, not in public of course.

52. We just got Internet at home a year ago when we moved here.

53. Before that I was maybe on the Internet 3 times in 3 years.

54. I am on the Internet everyday now.

55. I had a really crappy day today.

56. Don't even get me started on how stupid parents can be.

57. Don't even get me started on how many kids there are in this town with horrible home lives, you wouldn't believe some of the stories if I told you.

58. If I can help just one kid from #57 I have done my job.

59. I hate being cold.

60. I love Rascal Flatts, they just won on the CMA's.

61. I hate shopping.

62. I love Christmas, yet I hate buying presents.

63. I don't hate giving people presents, I hate deciding (#43) what to buy and then actually shopping for it.

64. I hate crowds.

65. I don't make left turns out onto a busy street, I will just make a ton of rights.

66. I can be very rude to stupid people.

67. Sometimes I feel sorry about being rude, yet mostly I don't.

68. I like to know people's business.

69. Due to #68 I love reading people's blogs.

70. I am not a flowery nice person, more of a tell it like it is person.

71. Two months ago I really wanted another baby.

72. I don't now.

73. I still have thoughts about it.

74. I love watching the news.

75. I feel lost when I don't know the forecast or the top headlines from STL.

76. I don't like the world news.

77. I am not a friendly person to people I don't know.

78. I am not trying to be mean, I just never know what to say.

79. I am a very sarcastic person.

80. I am not a fan of cooking.

81. I love garlic.

82. I put garlic salt on just about everything I cook.

83. I never had braces.

84. When I was little, I sometimes would put my sisters' retainers in my mouth and pretend they were mine, I am so grossed out about that right now, sorry Amy and Alissa.

85. I love lazy Saturdays when you eat a big breakfast around 10ish and not shower till 2ish.

86. I love going on vacation.

87. I hate to read.

88. I don't even read really long cards, unless they are hand written.

89. I don't read those little information posts at the zoo that tells you about each animal, who cares it's an animal and it's cute, next.

90. I save my bacon grease and put some in my hashbrowns and green beans.

91. I don't drink coffee or beer, but I love the smell of both.

92. My favorite drink is Sundrop out of a 20oz bottle.

93. I gave birth to a 10lb 6oz baby, naturally(with drugs of course), yet I gave birth to an 8lb 2oz baby via c-section because I was induced twice w/o any luck and my doctor didn't want the baby to get too big, go figure.

94. I refuse to bring paper work home with me from school.

95. I bring the stress of work home everyday.

96. My favorite steak is at Outback Steakhouse.

97. I really don't like my winter work clothes that I have right now, but I don't want to shop for new.

98. I go to bed around 9pm every week night.

99. This list was pretty hard to complete only telling things about myself. I tend to want to define myself through my husband, my kids, or my family.

100. It was kind of fun to make this list and I put it out there for others who have not done it before to join in the fun.

Guilt

Does anyone else with kids feel guilty throwing away papers they do at school? I mean seriously, does anyone keep all of them. I try to keep some, but then even the few I keep turns into a lot and I end up throwing away some of those. Then there is the actual act of throwing papers away. You know you can't just put them in the trash, no, you have to push all of the papers down to the very bottom so your child doesn't find them. Then there is the one time you weren't thinking and left them on the top of the trash and your child goes to throw something away and you get the question, "How did my paper get in the trash?!?!?" And of course you would never let her know you put it there, so you play dumb, "I have no idea how that got there, I am sure it was an accident, that is a fabulous paper." Oh the lies, oh the shame, oh the mounds of papers. Is there some protocol I am unaware of?

Turn Your Head and Laugh Moments

Here are a couple stories from the last week or so.
Story 1
This morning we were all in the kitchen. I told Lexi to feed her fish, she said OK. Next thing you know there is major issues coming from around the fish bowl. Jon said, "What's the problem?" Lexi then informed him that she didn't want Gracie to LOOK at Goldie. Jon told her of course Gracie could look at Goldie she wasn't hurting him. Lexi then said, "But I am the boss of him!! Sometimes it is OK, but sometimes he just Freaks Out!!!!" I had to laugh. Then while Grace was looking at Goldie she noticed that Lexi had spilled a little food on the counter and she began to let me know. So Lexi (whimpering) said, "She was going to tell on me." I, laughing again, said, "What?" Lexi (almost in tears), "I am just really crabby this morning!!"

Now, I did feel a little sorry for her at this point because we all get a little crabby once in awhile. She did cheer up before school.

Story 2
Tonight at dinner here was our conversation. Lexi, "Who painted my carrots orange?" Jon, "God did." Gracie, "I helped God make them, when I was a baby." Lexi, "Oh yea that's right, tight, might, night, light."
WHAT?
So, let's recap...Gracie, with God's help, made carrots orange, and Lexi is really into rhyming.

Story 3
Gracie just hit Lexi so I sent her to her room. From her room I hear, "Mommy, Mommmmmmy, Mommy can I come out?" Now we have three rules violated 1. hitting 2. not on bed 3. talking while in trouble. So, what's a parent to do, go storming down the hallway to remind her of the last two rules. When I got to her room and flung open the door all I saw was her little body flying (literally) onto her bed and bouncing a few times because she got so much air. I tried to compose myself to stay stern, but there was no hope for me, the mad, rule following mom had left and all I could do was stand there and laugh. I did remind her to stay in her room on her bed without talking, but I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Gettin' Wiggy Wit It!

Here are my little "Colorful" girls, Gracie aka Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Lexi aka Stephanie from Lazytown.They were SO funny taking these pictures, not only could I not stop laughing over the wigs, but in almost every single picture one of them had their arm in the arm.
Here is a reminder of last year's costumes. I thought Lexi's wig last year was a little much, however, this year definitely out does last year.

Again, very funny posing.

The "serious" Ariel and the "sporty" Stephanie.

I wanted at least one without the wigs.

Off we go.

While we were out Grace kept making me laugh by spitting every time her red hair got in her mouth. Poor girl isn't use to long hair. Then Lexi made me laugh when she asked if she was rude when she told this old lady that her and Gracie were NOT twins.
Hope everyone had a great and fun evening.

Happy Halloween

My Favorite Place on Earth

Silver Dollar City

I am not really sure why I love Silver Dollar City so much. I mean there are a lot of great places to take vacations. Maybe it is just the great combination of friendly people, great food, wholesome/family entertainment, and it's pretty close to home that makes me love it so much. Or it could be just the many, many great memories I have of vacationing with my family there for as long as I can remember. Which ever reason, I am like a kid again every time I am able to go, even for a short visit. This time was really special for me because it was the first time my kids could actually enjoy and begin to love a place that I cherish so much. What fun memories we made.

Lexi and Gracie's first roller coaster. They LOVED it. Lexi is next to me in a black sweat shirt, and Gracie is next to my dad in a green sweat shirt.

The new kids' section was wonderful. They rode almost all of the rides there.

Lexi and Maw Maw.

Gracie waiting for me to get in.

When I was little I wanted to grow up and be a saloon girl. Sadly, for me and only me, that dream has almost completely died.

The great shoot out is always fun. I really love me dad's facial expressions. Who does he think he is Dirty Harry?

Look at Lexi's expression.

Daddy and Gracie on the train.

Mommy and her girls on the train.

I love how when you go on vacation some rules get "amendments."

1. Don't play with guns, not even pretend guns, unless you are on a ride and are tying to win.

2. Don't call people bad names, unless you are on a train and the conductor tells you to shake your fist and say "ugly" at the robbers.

3. Don't talk to strangers, unless they are sweet old people at Silver Dollar City.

4. Don't stomp your feet or beat on the dinner table, unless you are at the Dixie Stampede.

GOOD TIMES!!

Pumpkin Patch--Gracie

On Friday I went went Gracie and her class to the pumpkin patch. I gotta tell you I was even less impressed this time. At least when I went with Lexi there were some pumpkins. I think I have more pumpkins in front of my own house right now then they had at the whole "pumpkin patch." Oh well, again my kid had fun, so I won't complain any more. It was nice to get to do something just the two of us. On the way there, without any prompting from me, she said, "You will have to take my picture with the pumpkins." Of course I said I would, and I was a little excited that she might actually look at the camera and smile for a change...Wishful thinking!!

Gracie coming out of the straw maze.

On top of the club house.

Her favorite part was the animals

She LOVED the pigs!!

Friday, after the pumpkin patch and after Jon got home, we left and went to Branson with my parents. That post is to come soon. Hope everyone had a great weekend. We did.