It has Hit!

It seems like allergies are getting bad and kids & teachers at school are getting the sinusy ick. I have tried thinking I have a slight immunity built up, but I guess not. This morning, when I woke up, it had all settled in my throat and I have a wretched headache. Add on top of that, Malachi has been up the last couple nights for a mid-night snack and last night we didn't even get home until close to midnight (more on that throughout the week).

(Can you tell that Zachary had the "ICK" as well!?)

I had a dreaded paper to get written for my graduate class. As much as I'm trying to make it interesting and apply it to my job, not having feedback from the instructor makes me wonder if I'm doing the assignments correctly or if she's even receiving them! So, it's getting a bit frustrating and harder to move forward through the rest of the class, and it's only 2 weeks into it!

This week, I'll be posting pictures throughout the week of our BUSY Saturday. It started off with my haircut appointment- getting 4 boys (my nephew stayed the night) out the door and to Clay Center by 8am! WOW! Add on top of that, as much as Shawn thinks he's helping, it usually takes twice as long when he's helping us get out the door. The whole drive to town I'm wondering, "should I get it all chopped off, just a bit shorter, or just have the ends trimmed????" And, as much as I hate the thought of my kids looking back at yearbooks and realizing that their teacher looks the exact same (besides wrinkles or whatnot), I do not want to keep my hair-do the same forever. Perms don't work on my hair. Curls last about 5 minutes until I hit the car & then it's back to wavy, straight, looking-like-I-haven't-done-anything-with-it hair!

Yes, I know I have gray hair setting in. Yes, I know my hair line is receding. No, I don't want to try out the newest fad- slanted bangs. No, I don't have time to get it highlighted and thus have to budget to afford to keep that up each month. You know the basic questions while sitting in the beautician's chair. Thankfully, 20 minutes later, I was done, boys were still sane and calm for Shawn, and we got on our way up to the farm.

Coming up this week:
* Introducing, My New Blog!!!!
* Turtle Race
* Rodeo Fun
* Muttin Bustin
* Malachi's 1st Football Game!
Stay tuned!

Busy Day

Today we are headed up for many activities in the small town I attended grade school at. First off, we will get out the door (hopefully on time) for my hair appointment at 8am (yes, EARLY!!!!). The boys will head to the zoo for a short while and then we'll get going to the turtle races, tractor pull, and kids games. Then, it's off to grandma's for a well-deserved nap (Malachi was up TWICE last night) and then back to Longford for the parade & the rodeo. Ahhh. . . . it's shaping up to be a LONG day, but hopefully the boys will be in good moods and cooperate with us.

We tried attending a football scrimmage last evening and they were just too wound up to sit on the bleachers, so we left and came home. We'll see if they can handle today's activites. Sorry no picture to post today. Don't worry, I'll have many more to post throughout the week. Make sure you watch the video below. It's hilarious!

It Makes My Day

I'm going to TRY to post a video- Lord help me! Another new adventure for me to learn how to do! :) Logan & Malachi's babysitter sent me this video during the day this week and it really brightened my day, especially after the terrible day at work I had this week (see previous post). It almost brings tears to my eyes. Hopefully, it will upload successfully & you can view it. :) Enjoy!

PLEASE let me know what you think. I'm hoping it doesn't take a million years to upload my blog now that this video is on there. I'd like to post more videos as well. Might have to bug Michaele to teach me what she does!

Just a Question

Why, now after 3+ years do we start to have a breakfast, lunch, and dinner bell? Lordy be! I mean, I know some are old-fashioned and this is how it was done 'in the good ol days', but it gets a little old now that they blow the whistle at 7am Saturday mornings. I mean, come on now, doesn't anyone sleep in??? And, what's the purpose of those whistles anyway??? I'm just a person that gets incredibly annoyed with things that are not practical & purposeful. So, really, what's the purpose of those annoying bells throughout the day?????

Here are some pictures from our evening walk. Malachi likes to hide behind his blankie.

Dirty Boys!

The boys decided to crunch up the sidewalk chalk all over the deck & make a pretty "art expression" with the wagon! Hmmmm . . . I bite my lip and my inner-organized-OCD-not-liking-messes- mommy brain just lets a smile come out. Hey, boys are boys! :) And look at that smile on Zachary's face!

Logan LOVES Malachi! And, Malachi thinks Logan stinks! :)

Isn't he growing up so fast!?

They were pooring dirt down their shirts, in their hair, on their face, places I might not have known about. . . . (yes we found dirt clung into the ears later).

DIRTY BOYS!

But, HAPPY BOYS!

I just smile & grab the camera. Someday I'll miss this.

They love doing funny faces.

United in dirt-filled brotherly bonding:

I think I might be in for a new washing machine for Christmas. Is that even really a present????

Grouchy Day

Today was not a good day to be on my bad side! UGH! It just seemed like one thing after another set me off and I was a complete mess all day, not getting anything right. And, there's not a real good reason for why I'm grouchy. I used to tell Shawn, "I'm not being grouchy! I'm just having a rather high intolerance for stupid people right now!"

I've been contemplating friendships lately. Give & recieve. Email and email back. Nice thoughts & words, etc. I'm wondering if I'm a good friend or if I've been completely neglecting my friendships. I also don't want to be incredibly selfish in friendships, but there are times when you just have to decide to cut your losses and be lonely rather than constantly expending yourself for others that don't appreciate it. I used to be an incredibly thoughtful person (or so I thought I was!) :) and got burned so many times. And, I wonder how it all works. It's almost like middle school all over again.

And at work, which I usually enjoy and look forward to. Today was not the day to be at work! It was BUSY and CRAZY. I am tired of so many of the things being done and said and sometimes I just want to shut my classroom door and say, not think! (But, I don't!) Today, I got a request from a teacher in the building for some "tech" thing which usually I'm not too bad at doing. So, I do it for her and offer it to the rest of the building as something they might be able to use. Huh!? What do you know . . . it backfires! Of course, words got said before emails were read completely and lord forbid I exclude certain people. And, my gosh! What a crappy deal! I was (and still am) a bit ticked off and I definitely learned my lesson. Go to work- teach- get the heck out at 3:50 and don't turn back around! UGH! Some days. . . . it's frustrating I tell you. If it weren't for my love of teaching children, I just might lose my mind!

And, I switched my schedule around at work to accommodate others and now have little to no lunch time, something I used to value, but now I'm really starting to care less. I think the busier I can stay the less I can connect and the sooner I can get relief. Maybe I analyze things too much and maybe it's just 'one of those days' but man I'm really starting to re-evaluate what I'm doing in life.

So, I'm ready for bed-time. That was only part of this crummy day. Thank God my boys are being decent tonight and I can enjoy some genuine smiles and a little storytime. Let's hope I can get some rest and enjoy the last 2 days of my work week!

The 3 boys

Zachary: started 1st grade reading yesterday. He was really excited about it, but tired last night. I think he's getting some of the gunk going around, but it seems a lot like allergies, so we're starting the Zyrtec & Singulair again to try to kick it. His eyes were so puffy yesterday morning and he's really been groggy.

Logan: had another doctor appointment last night and weighed 20 lb! Last week I think they said he was 25 lb. so something is weird about that. I'm not going to freak out yet because he doesn't seem a whole bunch smaller, but I know he is getting skinny (you can see his ribs & his tiny little scrawny arms & legs aren't all that beefy). They took an x-ray and it looked good and we'll be waiting on blood work to determine why he is losing weight. We still have our KC appointments next Wed. & Thur. and will see what the doctors there think. It's getting frustrating! And he's still bleeding and in pain, so we're trying to get all that to subside.

Finally, Malachi: started "real" food. He tried rice cereal a couple weeks ago and didn't like it so much (none of my boys have really enjoyed it). So, we skipped to the oatmeal cereal and he's loving that! He also loves chewing on these little biter biscuits which make a HUGE mess! As always, he's a happy boy! :)

Being an Author

I've shared this story with several of you, but just had to get it down "on paper" (which is what I do with this blog each month as a journal for my boys). We were on a walk the other evening and I was reminded of this story, so just had to share it!

Zachary took a field trip last May to the zoo in Clay Center. Since I was home on maternity leave, I went with him, taking pictures of the event. When we got home, I printed the pictures out for him and gave them to him to write a story of his trip. He wrote a basic story/sentence for each picture. We created a title page (with his handwritten name as the author) and also "bound" the book with a few little silver rings.

He had a celebration that he was an official "author" and for days on end, he toted that book EVERYWHERE he went, reading it to family, friends, neighbors, and a few unsuspecting strangers! :) I have to admit that I also bragged a little with a copy of his book. It was well written for a child that was 4 years old.

So, being an author bring about special privileges. And, with Zachary reading at such an early age and actually reading quite well for his age, I knew we might possibly run into problems. And, of course, one evening on our walk around town, we passed the city park. It was nearing bedtime. The mosquitos were out & it was growing a bit dusk. However, the nearby park was really enticing to our boys. They could hardly hold back as we walked past, and me, just wanting to get home and start our bedtime routine, I showed them the sign. "I'm sorry dear, but look! What does that sign say?"

And Zachary read it slowly, "Riley City Park Closed"

Thinking, "YES! He read it, verifying that I'm not making this up! Therefore we can keep right on walking to make it home at a decent time."

That's when he looks closer at the sign, almost squinting like a little annoying toddler ready to question your authority. "But, mom. What else does that say?"

So I read him the last part of the sign: Except for Authorized Activities. I didn't think this would be a problem at all until I saw his face light up like a kid in a candy store. "AUTHORIZED!!!??? AUTHORIZED!!!??? But, mommy, I am an author!!"

Yeah, what do you say to a kid excited that he gets to play at a park especially because he likes to write!? "Well, yes you ARE an author! I'm glad you remembered that. Go play!"

And we made it home just a tad later that night than I had planned, but sometimes life does that and it was such a precious moment for us.

I've added a couple more "on our walks" pictures for you. As you notice Logan is MIA. Yeah, he's usually that way on our walks too! :) Hmmmm . .. .

Logan and His Black Eye

Zachary & Logan were running through the house with a tennis racket & Zachary stopped while Logan kept running- right into the racket! So, we got a nice little shiner. Hmmm . . . and it's a good thing that I didn't need a group picture the next evening when we had Malachi's 5 months pictures scheduled.


And while it must have been incredibly painful (this is after a couple days and when it was starting to heal), Logan is a trooper with pain and really handles it much better than I would!


Here he is acting incredibly silly! :) He loves the camera. Too bad the one below is a little blurry.

And, while we're on the Logan and pain subject, I'd like to ask for you to continue praying for him. He was still struggling this weekend and when I called our family practice doctor today, they were about out of options as for what we can do, so we are set up to head back to KC. Since Shawn has a BUSY schedule being the only nuc med tech at the hospital right now, there is NO way he can get off, so Logan and I will be headed down to KC for 2 days of appointments.

I'm praying that we can stay positive and hopefully, but honestly, it's starting to be difficult to be positive and it's been taking a toll on me emotionally. It kills me to see Logan in the pain he's in and he is really understanding more about what's going on and starting to verbalize it, such as when he tells me he's bleeding or he needs medicine. He is smart about it and it's more than a 3 year old should have to know or deal with. And, yes, we are VERY grateful that things are not worse than they are. He could be a very sick child with something unimagineable. I do try to remember this, but it's not making it any better to help deal with his issues.

He'd been doing SOOOO much better and this set-back is just hard to take. We're praying diligently that next week (Wednesday & Thursday) we can get answers from the doctors & surgeon and find a solution that will suit Logan best.

Yum! Yum!

This past week, I've noticed that I can't fit into my teacher clothes or the clothes that I bought right afterI had Malachi. While that's fine & wonderful that I've lost so much weight, it's a bit frustrating having clothes that are a little too big. And, while I'm still way bigger than I was before I had kids and bigger than I'd prefer to be right now, it was still a nice reason yesterday to make some homemade bread.

We usually make bread about 1-2 times a month, sometimes more, depending on our energy level and motivation! :) Below is the raisin bread as it was preparing to rise. I'm not a fan of raisin bread, but my family loves it so every once in awhile it's got to be made.


And then for my favorite: Caramel Pecan Sticky Rolls!!! :) Yummy! Here is the brown sugar mixture before we added the rolls to it:


Shawn is the best at preparing this part, so I let him add the cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter (just like for cinnamon rolls) and then roll them up and cut them:


Then, soon, the house starts to smell like sweet smelling sugary pecans! :) And we take it out, flip it over onto a cookie sheet:

And usually have more than enough to share with our neighbors!


Maybe not the most healthy evening snack or breakfast, but it sure tastes wonderful!

A Long week Ahead

I'm looking at our schedule and it seems as if the busy-ness of the school year will not subside for awhile. And, leave it to me to take on too much, so I'm hoping that things will calm down and family-life will resume normally. Tomorrow evening, I have a webmaster meeting after work and yes, I will reveal my "site" on here after I get most of the work done on it. I'm not ready right now. I also have my new blog to share eventually (hopefully opening Sept. 1).

This coming weekend will be RCHS football (yeah- daddy can take the boys this year!) and then a long-awaited hair appointment and the annual Longford parade & rodeo. The weekends are flying by way too fast and there's just not time to get everything in. We are trying to preserve the memories & time spent together, but it's becoming incredibly hard right now to blog as much. So, PLEASE bear with us if we miss a day or so and keep stopping back to check in.

Malachi got a new "toy" this week. He LOVES his bumbo & it actually helps him to sit up & interact with us.

Wind Farm Tour

A few weekends ago, we took a tour of a windfarm that will soon be up & functioning. My baby brother has been working hard with the different crews to assemble & get them running. It's nice to see him so motivated and encouraged by what he does. It is also such a progressive movement right now, so it's great that he's on board with it all.

This is the base of the 'windmill'. It is very large in diameter & has pipes sticking out of it.

Zachary & Logan had to stop for some of the "equipment pictures". Zachary actually had his camera along with us, and made us stop for a ton of pictures, but somehow he deleted them all before we got home to put them on the computer. Great learning lesson there!

Another picture of the base, but this is the anchoring concrete that is below all the dirt & gravel. It's what hold's it in the ground.

Before they pour concrete on it- this is the rebar (probably spelled that incorrectly). Amazing!

Okay, so my future brother-in-law, an architectual engineer had the camera for this shot. Can you tell how "architecty" it is?

My brother & uncle. And a few of the extras on the tour! :) We had a van & surburban FULL! (Yes, more than the seating capacity should have held!)

These were spools of wire. The wire was probably 5 inches in diameter! It is HEAVY too! We got to hold just a piece that was a foot long and it was a heavy piece!

A bunch of cement trucks.:

The place they made & loaded the cement.

Really, the whole tour was amazing & intriguing. However, we only got the video without the audio, so kinda made up our own little version of it as we rode along. My brother (who works here) was driving the surburban full of my parents, aunts, uncle, grandpa, & cousins. We followed in our van with my family & my sister & her fiancee. So, since we don't have walkie-talkie phones we just made up our own little version of the tour. I think it might have been a bit more interesting anyway!

Leisurely Reading for the Weekend

These arrived for me in the mail today:

Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education (2nd Edition) (Paperback) by Elena Bodrova (Author), Deborah Leong (Author)

Theories of Development (5th Edition) (Paperback) by William Crain (Author)

And, I tried to copy pictures of them to post so you didn't have to read such boring titles, but no such luck today. Hey, you can only ask for so much luck! :)

I'm excited to delve into the books this weekend and get started reading them for my class this semester. The last class I took required these books:

What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction (Paperback) by Alan E. Farstrup (Editor), S. Jay Samuels (Editor), Jay Samuels (Editor)

What Research Has to Say About Fluency Instruction (Paperback) by S. Samuels (Author), Alan E. Farstrup (Editor)

And, much to say, their titles made my head spin and my mind wonder if I'd need to get a caffine drip to stay awake while reading such books. Seriously, how interesting could research be? However, the more I started reading, the more of a nerd I became and the more I realized that although I had just finished college not too far back, there were new trends & methods to use in the classroom that proved to be more effective than the ones I had learned in school. And, I actually read more in the books than was required, just because I wanted to know more. (Don't hate me for being an over-achiever!)

So, I'm hoping these books that arrived today provide information that is useful & helpful in making me a better educator. And, while this post could well have been saved for my "teacher blog" that is soon to come, I had to post now, because Lord forbid I get busy and might not get the blog going by my goal date.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

All Boy!

The 3 boys (Zachary, Logan, and Taige) enjoy wrestling at mom & dad's house. Soon, Malachi will be able to join in and soon, we will have a 5th little boy to rough-house with.




See the feet gripping around? It's like a domino effect- one boy grabs another while he's being tackled by another little one.



Sometimes we have to call time-out if the oldest, yet the weaniest (is that even a word) gets stuck on the bottom.