Christmas

We had a nice Christmas this year. We've had several snow storms, which has been fun. We had a whiter Christmas than we have in the past, so that was really pretty. We're supposed to get more this weekend, I think.



Sunday I spent the day baking and watching the Bears/Packers game. (That was an *awesome game. Sorry Green Bay fans.) We went to my mom's for dinner that night. My brother and sister-in-law are visiting, so it was great to see them, as well as my sister who lives here. We missed you guys, Heather. :(



On Christmas Eve we went to the Chamberlains and had a great time, as always. The kids did some great Christmas music, and we had some lovely ballet performed by Mike in a tutu. I'll be putting the video on YouTube later in the week.

Christmas Day we hung out at home until afternoon, and then went to my mom's for a while. My sister Heather is so talented. Look at the cute hat she made for Lexi and the Superman cape she made for Josh. It reverses to Batman. She also made Brittney a cute blanket, and sent Courtney that Saint Louis hat, which she loves.








I have a few days off school, which is really nice, but I'm not getting anything done. Every time I start something I get interrupted. Plus I'm so ADD, combined with being a Virgo, so I always get distracted or decide that the hall closet needs to be organized before I can just get the dang sheets out of it and make the bed. I am now going to get up from this computer and go get something done. I will not get distracted by children, Christmas candy, shiny objects, Judge Judy, or by all the jobs that need to be done but are not on my list. We'll see how I do.

brian regan UPS

Here's some funny for anyone with the after-Christmas blahs. Katie and Wendy got me hooked into this guy over Christmas. Really funny!

Brian Regan at the improv

One more. Tee hee

Lexi loves everything. Except Santa.

Christmas lights and Survivor

Well, not much going on around here. I think I'm finished Christmas shopping. I hope I am. Now I'm just trying to enjoy the holiday season. We went to see a Christmas light display on Saturday night, and Josh loved it. Lexi slept, Courtney and Brittney froze-- it was like that scene from Christmas Vacation... "What do you think, Audrey?" "Her eyes are frozen, Clark." I bundled Miss Alex up pretty good.



She's growing up so fast. She's such a sweetie.





Well, I think I'm happy with the outcome of Survivor, for the most part. Denise was way too passive, and it sounds like she lied about all the stuff about losing her job and only making $7/hour and all that, so booooo. Amanda just fell apart at Final 4. I think she realized she should have ditched Todd by that point. Every time they showed her I yelled at the TV that she needed to knock it off with that I'm-so-sorry-I-feel-so-bad look. Courtney was surprisingly compelling with her arguments. But Todd really did work that jury. So props to him. I'm excited for the next season, though! Superfans v. Favorites has the potential to be totally awesome. I told my family that I'd love to go on Survivor and they laughed at me. Big meanies. I wouldn't be able to do it physically, though.

So, what else? Josh painted his toenails a really lovely combination of red and lime green, for Christmas I guess. So that was nice. He got it all over his toes, but not so much on the floor or anything else, so whatever. A lot of my English students are also in Child Development classes, so they come in and tell me when they go into the daycare to work with the kids. One of my girls told me that she was going to steal Josh and take him home with her.... I told her she'd bring him back after 5 minutes. Is that so mean? He's just a crazy little boy! The high schoolers brought cupcakes, and his teacher said he felt bad that he couldn't have one. She was able to cheer him up quickly, but it makes me feel sad. Luckily he's really good about not eating what he shouldn't, and knowing what he can't have, so we don't have to battle him on it.

Well, I guess I better go get some things done. I'm supposed to be working on a web page I'm doing for school. It's fun, but it's taking me forever. I have to do some laundry, I need to wrap some presents, I'm supposed to go to the store and buy something Courtney needs for tomorrow.... Hmmmm... It's 8:00. Guess I better get on it.

long day

I just got home from Parent-Teacher Conference, ate some dinner, and it's time for bed. I hate long days like these. I have talked to so many kids and parents over the last few days that have so many problems... I'm starting to feel like a social worker instead of a teacher. Can't we just read some Steinbeck? Have a discussion about archetypes and symbolism and punctuation? No?

So Santa came to the daycare last week, and that was fun for Josh. Lexi, not so much. She cried the minute she got onto his lap. I'm told that Josh asked Santa for the following: a car, a big house, a real puppy, and candy canes. When he repeated the list back to me later, he added "something amazing". Not sure what that is... just that he wants it to be amazing. So. Sign me up for "something amazing" as well.

I can't believe how fast this month is flying by. We went to see a Christmas light display Saturday night, and Josh loved it. I still have so much Christmas stuff left to do.

Survivor is winding to an end. Not sure who to root for... So many of the people turned out to be meh this season. I guess I'll go for P.G. since she's had to work so hard just to stay in it. I want to like Denise and her lunch lady mullet, but she's just too passive for my taste. Amazing Race, though, is turning out pretty awesome. My favorite teams are still in it.

Well, Miss Sassy Pants is calling my name, so off I go.

my new t-shirt

Check out the t-shirt I just bought! Courtney said I'm such an English teacher nerd. And? Your point would be... what? (If you don't get it, ask me and I'll explain it, but there *will be a quiz later...)

Saturday rambling

So anyone who hasn't seen Nacho Libre (that's where that last movie clip sequence came from) you have to see it. If you have a goofy sense of homor. We love that movie around here. Brittney and Josh go around quoting it and it always makes me laugh. Brittney will say stuff like "they are my p.j.'s" or "I was wondering if you would like to join me in my quarters this night for some toast". The other day Josh was standing on the arm of the couch all "Summon your eagle powers" about to jump off. @@ And he broke out into "I am singing at the party". Funny.

Today it is snowing, and it is so pretty! I love the snow when it's falling... Not such a big fan after a day or two when it's just cold and crusty and grey. But it looks so pretty right now... clinging to all my weeds that I didn't pull.

Courtney is at a big debate tournament at my school today. She didn't get home until about 10:00 last night and left again about 6:30 this morning. Sounds like she's having fun. It's an invitational, and they have students from all over the place. They had to turn away schools that wanted to come because they just didn't have enough room. So she said she met some kids from a school about 30 miles away and played poker with them between rounds. When I was leaving yesterday there were all these kids all over the place in the halls in their little suits and ties and skirts and slacks and it just warmed my school-y nerd heart to see all these little imitation Alex P. Keaton's practicing their speeches and hanging out. I left my room for a minute and came back to find "I love you mommy" on my board. It would be kindof fun to have Courtney go to my school, but kindof not, so it's probably good this way for both of us.

My students are so funny... They were quizzing me the other day on what music I like. For some reason it boggles their mind that I listen to some of the same stuff they do. I had a CD in one day that had a Korn song and an Eminem song and I thought a few of their heads would explode. I must look like an easy listening type person. :) So anyway, they were quizzing me on if I used to listen to Depeche Mode (yes, and I got bonus points because I've been to one of their concerts)... if I've ever heard of Warrant and did I like the song "Cherry Pie" (yes I was your age when it came out)... One of my students is *convinced that I'm a former stoner, against all my denials to the contrary, because I like Pink Floyd and I watch That 70's Show on occasion. They are very silly.

Brittney and I went to Young Women In Excellence (is that what it's called?) the other night. Courtney was home sick. We've all had yucky colds. So anyway... I think something is wrong with me, because I just get so irritated that every event like this has to turn into a teary Girl's Camp style testimony meeting. Ugh. Now first let me say... I'm not trying to insult people who tend to get emotional... I cry at all kinds of things... I cried at a school assembly last month (OK but they were talking about child abuse, so I'm entitled.) But it just seems to be prevalent at these types of events that people get all carried away. I'm thinking in my head... suck it up, quit bawling, say your thing and sit down. I'm so nice, aren't I? Possibly the fact that I had a raging head cold and was trying to quiet a squirmy squawky baby while each person got up and talked may have contributed to my crankiness about the whole thing. Anyyywayyyy... We had to think of a flower that reminds us of our girls. The leaders had put a picture of the flower in a frame for us to give to our daughter, and we stood up and told why we chose that flower. First of all, let me say that the whole "flowers blossoming into womanhood" metaphor used to just make me want to barf when I was in YW. But I have to say, this was really nicely done and not too cheesy, except for the people that couldn't stand up and say a few words about why their daughter is like a daisy without bawling. And they had flower shaped sugar cookies, which, I'll like anything if you give me a frosted sugar cookie after. Ahem. So anyway... I said that Courtney is like a snapdragon because snapdragons are bright and dynamic and they make you smile... but mostly because you can make them talk and Courtney looooovves to talk. Brittney is like a bleeding heart flower because she's got a big heart and is very generous. See? No crying.

Well, I'm sure I could ramble on for another several long run-on paragraphs, but the powers-that-be are summoning me to come make lunch. I'm going to finish putting up Christmas today, work on Christmas cards, and go grocery shopping. Or maybe just sit on the couch and watch the food shows on PBS. One or the other.

Nachoooo- Religious man

Josh and I were messing around and found this. We liked it. Also, he told me that he wants a little motorized cart like Nacho's for Christmas. Oy.

Thanksgiving and Josh's Birthday

It's been a nice week. Josh's birthday was Tuesday. He had a really fun day, I think. He was so excited for it. When the high school students that know him would see him in the hall they'd tell him Happy Birthday. It was cute. We had McDonald's for dinner (gag... that's his favorite) and chocolate cake and opened presents. He was very excited about all of them. My camara isn't working so I can't upload any pictures right now.

Wednesday we ran errands and went over to Mindi and Steve's for pie. It was really great to see everyone. We had a good time. They have such a cute house! I hadn't been there before, so that was fun.

For Thanksgiving dinner we went to the buffet with Sean's parents and Mindi and Steve's family. It was really nice to not have to make a big meal or clean up dishes. We went home and crashed and read the newspaper ads, and then went over to my parents' house for Second Dinner. It was a nice day.

We didn't do any Black Friday shopping this year. Nothing excited me enough to get me out the door that early. Lexi has been waking up every 2-3 hours lately, so sleep is even more precious. I took Courtney to get her learner's permit yesterday, so that's a little crazy. I can't believe how fast time moves. I know it's cliche, but it's just so true. It makes me a little sad as I look at Josh and Lexi, because I know that my memory is so bad that I won't remember them as they are now. I don't remember very much of my older girls' baby years. Just bits and pieces, but not all the hours that you spend looking at them and what they looked like as they stared up at you and all those little things. We drove by my high school the other day, and I couldn't remember ever going down those stairs or really much of anything about it. Then as I thought about idividual things (drafting class, Physics, Current Issues, the lunchroom, the gym, the East parking lot crowd, beach parties) I started to remember more and more, but I feel like I should be able to remember it all like it was yesterday.

So that's about all that's been happening here. Courtney went to a BYU/Utah football watching party at a friend's house. I think she may be the only Utah fan there. Josh is watching Ratatootie (that's how he says it), Sean is making turkey noodle soup, I am putting up Christmas stuff, and Brittney is off playing. And Lexi is hanging out. I'm pretty thankful for Saturdays like these. :)

Adam Sandler Thanksgiving Turkey Song SNL

Nothing has happened to us this week

I'm home from work today because I was worried Lexi might be getting sick. Of course, since I took the day off, she seems to be fine. Had I decided to just go in, she would have been throwing up everywhere. Oh well. It's fun to hang out with her and Brittney today. She's off track. I thought I was supposed to be passing on some sort of fabulous antibodies to Lexi through nursing. Well I swear, she gets sick more than I do. My body must be hogging all the antibodies. Luckily when she does get sick it seems to be really mild and pass quickly.

I asked Brittney what I should put in my blog and she said to write, "Nothing has happened to us this week." Real flair for the dramatic, that one. But she's right. Not much going on. Rented a DVD of The Office season 3 on Friday (teehee), went to my mom's house on Saturday and had a nice visit, went for a nice drive on Sunday.... Man, we sound like old people. Sean's been going pheasant hunting in the field down by our house, and so far he hasn't seen much of anything(yay) but he scared one up the other day (boo) but wasn't able to get it (yay) but is determined to keep going (boo). He's going tomorrow after work again. The kids actually used that to try to get him to get a dog LOL Not bloody likely.

So that's pretty much it for now. Just trying to make Thanksgiving plans. As long as the plan includes a movie marathon and lots of pie, I'm good.

Halloween and pictures

Lauralee asked whether the buffalo roam free on Antelope Island... they do. It is a little unnerving to see them just sitting out there when you're hiking around or looking for a picnic spot and they can just roam wherever. They are huge. We happened to be driving up when a herd of them was crossing to the watering hole.

We also saw antelope and 2 red foxes.

Halloween was fun. Lexi and Josh went trick-or-treating with the daycare. Lexi slept through about half of it, so she was asleep by the time they got to my classroom. Then Sean and Courtney took them out again at night, and again Lexi slept through most of it. It's good to be a baby... you get wheeled around while you nap and people give you candy just for being cute.






Brittney was some sort of Zombie Prom Queen of the Undead, Josh was a cowboy, Lexi was a bee, and Courtney was herself.

I got some pictures done of the kids last week. Finally. I am so horrible at getting it done, and if I told the whole story of what it took to get us all there and back you'd know why. I don't know why it's such an ordeal, but it is. Anyway, here are a few of them....

Antelope Island and pumpkins

We were all out of school yesterday, so Sean took the day off and we all went to Antelope Island to hike and have a picnic. The weather is really perfect right now... summer is too hot out there. We're thinking about actually going back and going camping there in a few weeks if this weather holds, because it's perfect hiking weather.






We carved pumpkins tonight. There are 2 jack-o-lanterns, a spider, a cat, and Brittney's says "BEWARE". The first 3 pumpkins we grew in our yard, which was fun because that's about the only thing that did grow this year. Sean just found the seeds and planted them for the heck of it. I love carving pumpkins and I love Halloween.

Long Weekend

It's a long weekend! Yay! No school Monday or Tuesday. No big plans. Sean and I might go see a scary vampire movie at the drive-in tonight. Maybe go out to Antelope Island and hike tomorrow or something. We'll see. Sean and Josh went fishing with Dennis this morning, so hopefully they are having fun.

Wendi asked about basement pictures, which I do happen to have because my sister requested some also. I don't know how well you can see anything, but you can at least see what colors the girls did their room and that type of thing.



Brittney's room


Courtney's room


Bathroom



Family Room

There is also a laundry room. It's been really nice having the extra space.

Loved the latest episode of Survivor. I'm really, really hoping for a Todd/Frosti vs. Denise/James final four. That would be awesome.

Well, that's about all for now. I'm off to see if my baby is awake from her nap. I don't know why the stupid music player has such a hard time loading most of my music? Lauralee's seem to play fine. Hmph. Maybe it just hates me. Or my music. That "Teenagers" song has swearing in it, so maybe it's better that it won't load. :P It used to automatically start playing "Thriller" when you opened the blog, but now it's not? Curses.

Beware Church Basketball

I saw this lady at Wal-Mart once with a t-shirt that said, "Church Basketball: The Brawl That Begins With Prayer". How true, how true. So the opthamologist worked me in on Monday. You'll be glad to know that my eyeball didn't fall out or anything, although Josh would have loved it if I got to wear an eyepatch. I have some weird long named whatever that I won't explain because it skeeves me out (OK it has to do with my eyeball sticking to my eyelid and then peeling! off! like a scab! ripping!), but it's a result of a previous injury to the eye he says. It's not a big deal; just have to use some drops in it. The only injury to my eye that I can ever remember is a fingernail to the eye during a church basketball game. Like, my eye was bleeding a little. The opthamologist said that's a story he's heard over and over again. So anyway, I'm not sure if that's actually where the injury came from, but I'm kinda glad Courtney doesn't play church ball. It's vicious.

The last few days have been beautiful weather, but fall has definitely arrived. We went and winterized the boat and put the cabin up, and that feels a little sad. I hope it will stay nice like it has been a few weeks longer. Brittney's soccer game on Saturday got rained/snowed out, so they made it up last night and it was perfect weather.

Courtney went to her very first ever debate tournament last night. She did impromptu, which is where they give you a random topic and you have 7 minutes to write and give a speech. Usually you take maybe 2 minutes or so to prepare and then off you go. She placed 2nd in one of her rounds, which is awesome for her first time. The other rounds she did 4th and 5th. But most importantly, she really liked doing it, so that's great.

I don't know what it is, but the 4th baby is the one that is just really kicking my tail. Not her specifically, because she's been my easiest baby, but just the adding of one more person to the family. My body just didn't do as well with the pregnancy as previous times, probably because I'm older, she was a little bit of a stressful pregnancy because they kept thinking stuff was wrong with her, and the aftermath has been quite difficult as well. I'm finally starting to get a little energy back, but I'm still just flat out exhausted like I've never been before. I'm up in the night with her, then up at 5:30, get Courtney to school and the 2 littles to daycare, work, then pick them up, pick Brittney up, pick Courtney up and run kids around, dinner, household chores.... It's kicking. my. butt. So anyway, I would just absolutely die if I got pg again, and I was thinking tonight about her being my last, and the thought just makes me feel so sad. Isn't it funny how that is? No way I could have anymore kids, yet it's sad to think about not having any more.

The Poopinator

Josh will always tell me who he is (Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Hook, Darth Vadar) and who I am (when he is Captain Hook he always tells me I'm Smee. I don't want to be Smee. I want to be Tinkerbell) and what super powers he has. One day we decided that Lexi's super power is her prodigious pooping ability. We nicknamed her The Poopinator. Baby girl seriously has a diaper blowout every day. She had one at daycare this morning, of course, so they told me she was on poop watch this afternoon. About the time she normally has one the daycare teacher had one of the high schoolers checking her diaper every 10 minutes. She's so cute, though. When I put her blanket on her she hugs it and then shoves it in her mouth. When I pulled her out of the car yesterday she was working this cute little pose with her hands all folded.



Something is wrong with my eye, so I went in to see just the regular on-call doctor at my clinic last night, and he couldn't find anything on the surface that's wrong. So he called the opthamologist to see if he could get me an appointment any time soon... October 29. I'll have gone blind before then. I researched it on WebMD, so I know. I think I have acute glaucoma. Love the WebMD. Last spring I had some symptoms that I checked and it told me to seek immediate medical attention for poisoning. I was all suspicious of Sean, asking him if I did something to make him mad. So aaannyyywayyyy, hopefully my eyeball won't explode or anything before I can get in to the doctor. And if I happen to die of some mysterious possibly poison- related cause, tell the police to investigate my 2nd period class. I love 'em to death, but there are some shifty characters in there.

Major Hair Trauma

So today I had some major hair trauma. Ya know, I just want to be one of those people who has it all together... People who already know what their kids are going to be for Halloween... people who have clean windows... people who have cute hair!!
So today I got sick of my hair and went to one of those cheap places to get it cut. Well the crazy stylist must have been smoking somthing funky before I came in because she gave me the craziest worst haircut ever. I was worried while she was cutting it, and then I went home and tried to style it and was like... Ummm Hell No. I could have gone back and had her re-do it for free, but like I'm letting her near me with scissors again? So I went running around looking for another haircut place that's open on Sunday and found another cheapy place. The stylist there fixed it as best she could, but she was like... I don't know what that lady was doing. She just cut a chunk out of here and then didn't blend it there... On a side note, she was all fascinated by this streak of unpigmented hair that I have underneath in back, so then she called another stylist over to look at it too... Gotta love it when you're the center of the freak show. They found a few on top of my head too, so in a few years I may have streaks of pure white hair that can't be dyed. That should be fun.

Sean finished the pantry today, and I'm thrilled to have some extra storage space. The two main things I didn't like about my house were the small pantry and the small laundry room, so we've fixed both issues now. Here's a picture. Pay no attention to the messiness or the amount of junk food.



Here's Brittney's cute little soccer team:

Road Hog and shelves

This week has just flown by so quickly. It's amazing. I don't know where the time goes, and I just hate for life to be flying by so fast! Tuesday was Parent Teacher Conference for Brittney. She's doing great, thank goodness. Wednesday was a soccer game. Sean is putting up shelves in the pantry today, and that will be really great when it's finished. More storage space is definately a plus. I might actually be able to get some food stocked up.

So Josh, little Mr. Movie Quote, picked up "Out of my way, road hog" from some Disney movie (is it The Rescuers?)... and he'll say it when we get stuck behind someone slow or stuck in traffic. But the other day I went to pick him up after school and they have those red and yellow cars that you sit in and move with your feet... so Josh is driving around the sidewalk with other kids and yelling, "Out of my way road hog!" :/ Nice.

I just went to check the blog that my students have to write on, and the topic for the 11th graders is to talk about a current event and give their opinion on it. Simple, right? I swear like one kid has done it correctly. One of my little sweethearts wrote... I don't really keep up with current events or the news, but I think some kid is missing at Lake Powell. I'll have to go home and watch the news to see about it. Um, OK, how about you do that *before doing this assignment LOL Gotta love teenagers.

Well, that's about it for tonight. No major plans for the weekend at the moment, but I think that needs to change. I'm ready to do something fun.

feeling blah

I'm feeling so discouraged tonight about my job and about having to teach to tests and I have all these philosophical questions about what my job really is... I feel a responsibility to expose my students to great literature and teach them write for a variety of audiences and purposes and teach them grammar and root words and punctuation... Yet I also have to look at what the majority of them *need to know for purposes of testing, and what they realistically will use in the future. Anyway, I was coming here to blog about it and get it all out, but Lexi is crying and Sean can't comfort her so I guess I won't be able to. Oh well. I'm feeling discouraged. :( Tomorrow is a new day though....

Tooth Fairy, PTC, and I'm a nerd

I'm happy to report that I did actually get a few things accomplished on Saturday. Found some cute jeans for Brittney, got the grocery shopping done, took Courtney to get her hair cut and it looks cute, returned stuff to a few stores... So that's good. We rented Knocked Up and then were too tired to watch it. Sean put it in for a few minutes before we took it back and what little I saw was pretty darn funny. So I guess we'll be renting that one again. And then we went to Mike's birthday party on Sunday and that was fun to hang out with everybody.

Yesterday was Parent Teacher Conference, which always makes for a long day. Sean picked the kids up and was busy running everyone around all night, so we were both pretty tired by last night. Lexi had a doctor's appointment, and all is well. Still in the 97th percentile for Miss Chubby. Brittney had a make up soccer game. Apparently she wanted to play forward, but the coach wanted her on defense, so she just figured she'd try to score from half field. One shot the goalie got, and the other went out of bounds behind the net. But hey, ya gotta try, right?

So Josh must have heard about the tooth fairy at school today, because he told me all about how it works. Everybody loses their teeth and then loses more teeth and they can't find them (because they're lost) and then the tooth fairy takes you someplace and gets you some money. Sounds like a plan to me.

So I'm a big nerd (not news to anyone who knows me) and I read the newspaper editorial section and get all mad and say how I'm going to write a letter to the editor, and once in a while I actually do. So here's the one I wrote the other day. I can't figure out how to make a link work, but here is the address if you want to copy and paste it into your browser. Or not. It's really not that exciting.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_7056091

Survivor and slacking

Brittney's soccer game was cancelled due to the rain and wet snow that is falling. Sean is working on the car, replacing the CV shaft and doing a brake job while he's at it. And I'm sitting here messing around trying to avoid doing anything productive. I need to go grocery shopping, do laundry, get dinner crock-potting, go clothes shopping for Brittney, get a birthday present together, and then a bunch of other stuff that I can't even think about because it's too overwhelming. :P So naturally I'm sitting here like a slug playing on the computer.

One thing I have to remember to do right after this is schedule Britt's parent-teacher conference on-line. That's kindof a cool new thing they're doing. I'm really not happy with the teacher that's teaching writing this year, so I'm going to get some answers on why she's using such a lazy, sloppy way of teaching. I'm sure I'll find a way to say it more politely :) but they're definately going to know my feelings on this one. Normally I don't say anything about the little things I don't like because they aren't a big deal... this one is a big deal to me. I have PTC's at work on Monday night. Ugh and double ugh.

So this week's Survivor thoughts... Again I think they might have gotten rid of the wrong person. Don't get me wrong, I'm not really sorry to see Ashley's ginormous boobs get voted off (I think her boobs got more camara time than her face), but I think she might have been somewhat of a challenge competitor, compared to Sherea. Sherea doesn't seem to do anything noteworthy so I don't know why her name hasn't been brought up. Just staying quiet and out of trouble, basically. I wanted to like Ashley, but she was mostly just kinda 'meh' so I'm not too terribly disappointed. Again, and some more, with the James love. I wish they'd give us something from my lunch lady too, because I'm rooting for her but don't really know anything about her at this point except that she has one serious mullet. My flight attendant has positioned himself well, and although I think he's somewhat oily and weasle-like, I think he's playing a good game and has some luck on his side. That is all. Now I'm off to go actually get something accomplished today. Or maybe I'll eat lunch and watch cooking shows. :::sigh:::

Sick day

Today I am home from work with "sick" kids. Who aren't sick. :::sigh::: Josh was fine yesterday morning when we left home, but about 9:30 or so the daycare director came up to my room and said he had a fever of 101.5. So I had my students keep reading the piece I had been reading aloud to them, went into the hall and called Sean to come get Josh, went down to check on him and see if he wanted to come up into my room (he didn't), and came back to my students all freaked out and confused by the story. We are studying Hebrew literature and they were reading the creation stories from Genesis and were all confused and had all these religous questions that I couldn't answer.... Note to self: skip Genesis next year and go straight to psalms and proverbs. So anywayyyy.... I decided to take today off just in case Josh was still sick or Lexi came down with it... nope. They are fine. I don't have any paid sick leave left after my maternity leave, but oh well. It's nice to take the day off.

Having said that, though, there is no way I could be a full time stay at home mom. I know many people who do it well, but unfortunately I am not one of them. I have eaten way too much today and feel like I've accomplished nothing. I did get a few projects taken care of, so that's good. I got all of Lexi's clothes that she's outgrown put away and a few little messes cleaned up, and I got a letter to the editor written and sent. So those are a few things that have been bugging me that I got done.

So Josh found his toy cell phone the other day and was making Lexi text with it. He'd take her hand and pretend to push the buttons and say that she was texting this friend of Courtney's and that friend of Courtney's. Later when she was crying he told me that she was sad because she wanted to text. Oy. One kid texting is enough to drive me crazy... I don't need another. It's amazing what kids pick up from their siblings and from TV. Josh is like a little sponge. It's scary what he remembers. He seems to have mellowed out a little since starting back up with school, which is good. I went to pick him up the other day and his little friend Taya was playing with Lexi, rocking her car seat gently and that type of thing. The daycare teacher was all worried that Taya be careful and I'm like... Um, she lives with Josh. Taya is not going to bother her a bit.

So let's see... what else. Courtney was called to be Mia Maid president at church. A little interesting since she can never go to the Wed night activities. She has cross country meets most Wednesdays, and then she also has Youth Court on Wednesdays, so she is always doing one or the other. I asked her if she told the bishop that she dropped out of seminary and she said "no". Not like it really matters, but it's just kinda funny that she doesn't go to seminary or the activities and only comes sometimes on Sunday and they asked her to be the pres. They love her at church though. Her YW leader wrote me a really nice note after camp telling me how impressed she is with Courtney and what a great girl she is (I agree). I wonder what kind of notes I'll get when Josh gets older LOL I love my Joshy even if he gives me (more) gray hair.

Sean's birthday and Survivor

I swear it takes me forever to do anything... I have birthday cards I still have to mail to people whose birthdays were in August. I have a rebate to send in for contacts I bought in July. And it takes me a week to post a short boring entry to my blog.

So Sean's birthday was Sunday. He wanted to go to Chuck-A-Rama, so we went with Dennis, Marilyn, and Mindi and Steve's gang. It was a lot of fun! We came home and had some presents and cake and I think it was an OK day for him. I hope it was, anyway.

The rest of the week just flew by. I can't believe it's already the weekend again. Wednesday I thought it was Tuesday all day. I just don't know where the time goes.

So I really liked Survivor tonight. The scenery was beautiful, as always. James the burly gravedigger is my new TV boyfriend for this season. I also like the flight attendant, the lunch lady with the mullett, and Frosti. Didn't love Chicken, didn't hate him... I don't know if it was a good decision for them to vote him off.

Our mail lady is a dork. She delivers the wrong mail to our house, so I figure she's probably delivering my mail to someone else. I hope they are bringing it to me. I went out the other day and found a letter from the Huntsman Cancer Institute laying on the ground, and it was for a neighbor that lives in another cul-de-sac and she has cancer so it was probably important. If someone's car is left parked too close to the mailbox she won't deliver the mail. Our flag got broken off and we haven't replaced the whole mailbox just for that, but she won't pick up the outgoing mail because there's no flag up, even though she can see clearly that it's outgoing mail. So today the garbage man ran over our mailbox. Good news is we'll be getting a new mailbox with a flag! The post is smashed up, but I think the box is usable for the short term, but my mail lady will probably refuse to put mail in it or something.

We were going to try to go camping in the Unitah's this weekend, but it's supposed to snow, so no thanks. Not with the 4 kids. So I don't know what we'll do now. Stay home and watch movies and eat popcorn maybe.

Saturday is a special day...

Oh how I love the weekend. Today Sean and I left the kids home and went garage sale-ing in the the morning. I found a cute little thing for my plant shelf in my kitchen for $1

and a RC car for Josh for $1 and a few things like that. We saw a nice dinghy like the one Mike had up at Pineview for $25. But I didn't have $25 with me and didn't feel like going to get it so we didn't buy it.

We came home and went to Brittney's soccer game. They were both good teams, so it was a pretty good game.

Then Sean and I took off and went shopping at the mall. I bought some cute new shoes and a few other things.


Thennnnn.... Back to the store to shop for Sean's birthday tomorrow. I guess I did nothing but shop and spend money all day. Fun, but not good.

I just got on my class blog that I set up for my English classes and my kids have been posting to it over the weekend. Yay! It's turning out to be a fun thing so far. I was hoping that I could have them each set up a blog to post to, because I think it could be something they might actually keep on with after my class, but there were too many kinks to work out so I just have them post to my blog.

Survivor China starts up Thursday. Yay! We are going to have Chinese food and watch it. I hope it will be a good season.

rambling

Add this to the list of things I never want to eat:

Deep-fried Coke:
Coke-flavored batter deep-fried, covered with cinnamon sugar and Coke syrup and topped with whipping cream and a cherry. The $5 concoction is served in a clear plastic cup and eaten hot with a fork.

Yah, um, gag? Apparently they sell it at the Utah State Fair, along with fried oreos, twinkies, and Snickers bars. And while you're at it, you can pre-pay for your heart attack and triple bypass surgery.

Josh's daycare teacher told me that he didn't want to eat his snack, so she told him to take one big dinosaur bite, and he told her, "That's not acceptable!" You can tell what his mom says when he gets in trouble I guess. Lexi loves to swing... well, truth be told Lexi loves everything. She loves to swing, she loves the bouncy seat, loves to nap, loves to eat, loves to cuddle, loves the bath, loves to lay in bed with daddy, even loves when Josh gets up in her face all loud and crazy. Only thing she doesn't love is the bottle. But anyway. Lexi's swing at daycare ran out of batteries, and she decided that was not acceptable, to quote Josh. She let them know that she was planning to swing no matter what, so one of my cute students that is in the daycare told me that she sat and pushed Lexi in the baby swing by hand. It's good to be 3 mos old and have everyone at your beck and call.

Need a new goal

Well, my quest to lose 20 lbs is somewhat derailed at the moment by the fact that I am way too tired to exercise. I try to fool myself into believing that all the running up and down stairs and between classrooms I do at work is enough exercise, but sadly, it's not. So I guess I'll make a goal to start eating better and go from there. I go to bed between 10:30-11:30, up to feed Lexi around 4:00, up for good by 5:30. I'm way too tired to go walking by the end of the day.

Today was kinda a hard day. I went to a Writing class that I was really excited to take. But I had to take Lexi with me because she still won't take a bottle at daycare. She was really good, but it was still hard to concentrate and get what I wanted out of the class. It's hard to juggle everything I want to and have it all come out in a way that I feel good about, but such is life I guess.

Courtney went on a tour of the juvenile detention center with the Youth Court today. She came home and said that she will never, ever go to juvie. Not that I was too worried, but I'm good with that. She said now she's interested in working there. NO!!!!! Too much like teaching. Don't do it. Stick with your original plans. Of course, I don't tell her that. Not yet, anyway. At this point I just say, "Cool!"

The latest....

Things are going really well here. School is going great... except for the part where I'm overwhelmed and don't know what I'm doing next. But I'm enjoying it and I have really cute students. Love my classes.

So Brittney had a soccer game today, and she's been playing awesome defense. Today she was dribbling the ball up the sideline and just launched it from about half field, and it went into the goal! It was one of those shots that you couldn't make again if you tried. And I'm on the sideline yelling "Yah! That's my girl!!!!" Dorky mom.

Courtney ran in a 5K at BYU today with the cross country team. She's having fun running (who knew that was possible?) and it's keeping her busy. Her Youth Court group finished their training and are now sitting on the court hearing cases, so they had a little graduation ceremony at the city council meeting the other night. The president of the court is some kid with a giant strawberry blonde afro that's like 9 inches high. Crazy. But his mom never loses him in a crowd I'm sure, so there's that.

Flowers

Brittney took these pictures in Grandpa Chamberlain's backyard. I think they turned out pretty cool, so I'm putting a few here to brighten up the place. :)

T.G.I.F.

Well, we made it through the week. I'm so glad it's Friday! No major plans for the Labor Day weekend. All I want to do is relax. We'll probably move the kids' stuff downstairs and try to clean out the storage room. I want to go see a drive-in movie if there is anything good playing.

School is going well so far for everyone. I need to record this, because 4 weeks from now I won't believe it, but my students are so quiet and attentive. After a few weeks they'll get more comfortable and make friends and I'll have to stay on them, but for now they're really cute and they seem like they'll be a fun group so I'm excited.

Now I've just got to figure out how to get rid of recurring mastitis. I've had it for 2 months now. It goes away for a week and then is back and I just can't go on with it anymore. Ugh. I think the problem is that Lexi loves to nap and will miss feedings. Guess I need to pay better attention and make sure she gets fed every 3 hours on the dot or something. That's about all that's going on.

Josh

We bought Josh some little waterski's at a yard sale on Saturday for $2. They're old and beat up, but hopefully will be good for the little ones to learn on. He's all excited about them and has been playing with them outside. Hopefully one of these years he can use them.

Yesterday Josh and I had this conversation:
Josh: Do you know what kind of Skittles I want?
Me: No, what kind?
Josh: :::thinking:::
Me: The red kind?
Josh: I want nunchuk skittles. Napoleon Dynamite says you gotta have nunchuk Skittles. Dad can buy them at the store for me and I can eat them because they don't have any chocolate.
So all this time I guess he thought Napoleon was talking about having great Skittles instead of great skills. Courtney mentioned that one of her friends had never seen that movie the other day when we were driving in the car and from the very back seat you hear Josh, "Eat all the freaking chips Kip". My 3yo quotes movie lines. Not exactly parent of the year material.

He also told Courtney when she came home from church that he can't wait until he gets bigger and like a girl so he can go to church. When I told him that he doesn't have to get bigger and like a girl, and he can go to church right now, he wasn't too interested. Hmmmmm.... should I be worried about this kid?

Is it Friday yet?? I guess I can make it one more day. Got back to work yesterday. I got new carpet in my Reading classroom, so everything had to be packed up and then unpacked, and all the furniture had to be moved back into place. My English classroom has been moved, so I have that room to get all ready as well. It's coming together more smoothly than I thought. I'm really super stressed about the whole Lexi daycare thing, though. Baby girl does not take a bottle, oh no. She pulls faces, gags, and just generally lets you know that she believes you are trying to torment her and she doesn't appreciate it. I'm so worried about it, but I know things will work out OK. Right?

Courtney is at cross country right now. I'm really proud of her. She's not particularly in shape and not particularly a runner, but she wants to try something new so she's giving it a shot. She came home and told me she's supposed to be able to run 2 miles by next Wednesday and we both bust up laughing. We'll see what happens.

The basement is almost finished. Yippee! I think by Tuesday it should be all done, except for the cabinetry. The wet bar and the laundry room cabinets & counters will have to wait until I can make some more sweet moola.

Poem

I wrote this poem last year about the time that Spring Break was approaching and my students were starting to make me bonkers. It's completely made up of things that my students actually had said recently. I took it to a writing group that I was part of, and they convinced me to submit it for publication in the Utah English Journal. So I did, and and they are going to publish it in the October journal. Huh. Go figure! And, yes, the last question was one student asking another if I had just said "hell" since I never swear in class... and the answer was yes. I did.

Higher Level Questioning

Why do we have to read?

Are we doing something fun today?

I was gone last time. Did we do anything important?

Are you sure you’re not having twins?

Why can’t we ever have a free day?

Can’t we just play games today?
Why do we have to play this stupid game? Can’t we just sit and talk?
Why do we have to stay in our seats while we talk? Can’t we move around?

Why isn’t my Math teacher making me do this UBSCT stuff?

This class sucks. I’m already a good reader.
I’m getting out of this class.
I hate my teacher this year. Can I get back into your class?

I have 29% in your class. Do you have some extra credit I can do?

Why do I have to sit in that seat?

You e-mailed my mom and I got in trouble.

It’s not important. I don’t think I should have to do it because it doesn’t matter.

I left it in my locker.
I left it in my car.
I left it at my mom’s house.
I left it in my binder, and I lost my binder.

Can I bring it next time?

What page are we on?
Where are we at?
What’s the question?

Why do you take away my phone? Are you prejudiced against Jews?

Did she just say “hell”?

Car Problems

We were going to go camping at Perception Point today, but as we were getting ready to go we noticed that the Suburban was leaking gas. So Sean spent the better part of the day replacing the fuel pump. Fun! He probably saved us at least $500 in labor costs though, so that was really good.

Courtney left for the County Fair at 7:00 am with Skyler and his dad. It's almost 11:00 pm and she still isn't home. They were still watching the rodeo last time I called her, about 10:00. I wonder if they'll still like each other after spending this much time together.

Brittney went to a High School Musical 2 party last night at her friend Kaylee's house. She had fun. I haven't watched the first one, and don't really want to. :P We don't have cable so she was excited to get to watch it with her friend. She's all into Hannah Montana and wants me to take her to the concert in October, but that's a big fat "no". Guess I'm not one of the cool moms. Oh well, I'll deal.

Davis County Fair

We went to the County Fair last night. Mindi and Steve and their kids met us there. It's really small, but we had a good time. I would really like the kids to enter something next year. At least Brittney, anyway. I think she'd really like that. I may have to look into doing 4-H for her because I don't know of anyone around here who does it. She loved the table setting displays, and I think she'd like to do artwork, cooking, and/or vegetable growing.






Courtney got home from Girl's Camp today. I'm really glad to have her back. She's been gone since Monday. They didn't stay overnight on their overnight hike because they saw a bear! Yikes! She said it wandered through their camp, but it was trying to get away from them, not come for a visit.

Looks like things are about to get back into full swing. I'm almost back to work, soccer has started up, Courtney is trying to get her schedule fixed and going to the first football game tonight... bring on the crazy.

Goals

My goal is to lose 20 lbs by second semester. That means I only have to lose about a pound a week, so it's totally doable. My goal for this week has been to walk every day, even if it's just a short distance, and drink more water. So far, so good.

Monday. Blah.

Well, Heather went back home today. Bummer. It's been really fun to get to see her so much this summer. I may not see her again until next year. I've always wanted to have one of those families where everyone goes camping together and hangs out together and stuff. But with Scott and Heather so far away, and Katie so busy, and us busy too... Not meant to be, I guess. Courtney has a friend who has Family Home Evening every single Monday night with their extended family. They take turns going to different family members' houses and have dinner and dessert and everything. That sounds so fun to me. OK not every Monday, but once a month would be so fun. Meet at Mueller Park and have dinner. Go to Cherry Hill and play in the water. Go boating. Do a service project. But my family is too scattered out and Sean's is too busy.

I've been trying to get out and run some errands since 11:30 this morning, and for one reason or another it hasn't come to pass. Now it's time to make dinner and take Brittney to soccer practice, so I guess I'll never make it out. I have no clothes that fit me right now since having Lexi, and I can't seem to get any time to get out shopping. Maybe I'll have to go to work naked? Scary.

Courtney left for girl's camp this morning. I hope she has fun. She's on the overnight hike right now. Her backpack weighed more than she does, so I'm a little worried about her. Hopefully she'll have fun. I have a good time hanging out with her. I'll miss her this week.

Summer

I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by! I have to be back to work in a few weeks, and while I look forward to the structure and the challenge and the stimulation, I'm really dreading the logistics of it all. I have to get Courtney over to the high school and Josh, Lexi, and me over to my school all by 7:15. Ha! Should be interesting. Here are some things we did this summer:



Courtney and Skylar watching the 24th of July parade in Bountiful





WaveRunning at Pineview

Josh has been such a handful this summer, but he can be very sweet when he wants to be.



Brittney won an award for an essay she wrote on Kindness. Here she is the morning before the assembly where she had to read it in front of sixth graders from 4 schools. She did a great job.