Saturday, April 25, 2009

poor teachers

I had to make an emergency run to walmart the other night. We had been busy all day, and had no time. We were completely out of milk, bread and fruit. So after we laid the kids down for bed I went to walmart. It was about 10pm by the time I had made my list, gotten dressed and went. This was a Wednesday evening a SCHOOL night! When I walked in I was amazed at how many families were there. I mean, moms, dads and kids. LOTS of them. And it didn't look like they were in a hurry, it didn't look like it was and emergency trip, it didn't look like it was out of the ordinary in any way. As I stood in line, I watched the 3 kids (probably 5,7 and 8) behind me. They were running all around, eating candy, one of them was drinking a 20 oz coke. And my thoughts were not, wow that looks like a fun family... It was, "Wow those poor kids, and their poor teachers who have to deal with them in the morning!" I could not believe so many parents were there and putting there kids in such a position to fail! Especially since, like I said, it didn't look out of the ordinary for them. How are those kids going to focus at school tomorrow. How awful must they feel waking up in the morning. And their poor teacher who has to put up with grump kids, all because of the choices their parents made.
Then the next night, at 9:15 PM one of Makenzie's friends moms called me. She said they had just started her homework and she was crying because she couldn't figure it out. This was Thursday. They got this assignment on MONDAY and it was due Friday morning. A fairly simple math sheet. But at 915pm on a school night, what kid isn't going to be grumpy, and frustrated?? She asked me if I would ask makenzie and she seemed very surprised when I told her Makenzie had been asleep for over an hour! Then she asked me a few more questions, and somehow another one of their assignments came up that they had earlier in the week. The mom asked the girl about it, and she said that she had forgotten to do it. All I could think was that this poor girl was probably getting in alot of trouble at school for not doing her work. But is it really all her fault? As parents shouldn't we at least look at what our kids are supposed to be doing??? And shouldn't we be forcing them to do there work in a timely manner, and not at 915 the night before it is due??? Now I know some of us are born procrastinators (raising my hand!) And in high school, some of us may thrive on that. But in 3rd grade, I don't think it is appropriate to allow your child to start those habits. And I know that there are single parents out there, and working parents that sometimes these things happen to. They once in a while happen around here to. But I have just really been feeling bad for these kids, who don't know any different. This is their life, late nights, missing homework, trouble at school because they are tired. And I feel bad for them. It makes me proud of the way I handle my kids. As much as it ticks Makenzie off, we do homework every day at 4 o'clock. And I look at her assignments for the day. And I put my kids to bed at a reasonable time. And I am so sad for teachers who have to deal with this stuff on a regular basis. That must be so hard, because you have no control over it. And you know, it doesn't make my kids perfect (ask miss d-hall, over here!) But I think it gives them a better chance. And it allows them to take responsibility for their own actions, because they don't have other legitimate things to blame. It just made me sad. : (

Friday, April 24, 2009

Best night in a long time

I had the best night tonight!!! And we didn't do anything BIG, we didn't spend a whole lot of money. We just spent a really fun night together. Of course a little bit of guilt is associated with all of this because Makenzie wasn't there.. But that is for a different post. We started out wanting some place new to eat. And a few people have told me about the Purple cow. So Rick and I took the 3 littles for dinner and a purple milkshake. (i figured why go if you don't get the purple milk shake) Thain sat up at the ice cream bar and spun in the seat with a couple of other kids. Easton was being So charming. She had the whole restaurant smiling at her! Ava didn't feel very good, so she just chilled in Daddy's lap. After we ate we decided to walk around because it was absolutely beautiful tonight!!! The Purple Cow is in a shopping center in Ft worth with a cool old church and Central Market. Outside there was a spring concert going on, and Easton was just dancing like a crazy girl. A couple of people took pictures of her, but we could not walk 3 feet with out someone stopping us to say how cute she was! I think she really liked all the attention. We slowly made our way to Central Market. They always have amazing seasonal produce, and lots of stuff that the kids don't see on our grocery trips to walmart. LOL Every one of the workers there was awesome! We looked at all the fruit and veggies... Like 30 types of tomatoes!!! We talked about the colors, sizes and shapes of them. We looked at star fruit, baby pineapple, purple and yellow cauliflower!!! Then we got to the seafood area. This was the most fun of the whole night! The lady behind the counter pulled out all the fish for the kids to look at up close. A HUGE red snapper with his eyeballs still in, a trout that she made "talk" like a puppet (Ava thought that was the funniest thing ever!) She pulled out live Lobster and crab. THEN.... We got to the octopus and squid section... If you don't know, I have a big crush on chubby eater Andrew Zimmern. I want so badly to be adventurous in my eating. but I am SOOOO NOT!!!! But they had octopus salad and the lady gave us a little cup of it with an entire baby octopus in it!!! And I ATE IT!!!! ok, not the whole octopus, but 2 tentacles! Then we kept the octopus just for fun! LOL (trashed it once we got home and dissected it) But the kids had so much fun! Then as we walked around we talked about where different food comes from, and all the different types of cheese. Ava shared a garlic stuffed olive (YUUUUMMMMM) with me, and Rick found his favorite choco covered coffee beans! We also, just for fun let the kids get the GIANT homemade marshmallows. It was just such a relaxing, wonderful evening. The kids never once asked when we were going to leave. They didn't complain when we looked at all the different types of granola for 10 minutes. It was just nice. It has been a long time since we have actually gotten to go out, without a plan, relax, schedule free and have fun as a family. I loved it!!!

Here is my baby octopus. The kids had so much fun just looking at it!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter

This whole weekend was absolutely insane! We did lots of fun things. But doing lots of fun things by myself with 4 kids is exhausting! Friday we colored Easter eggs with my favorite cousin Candis and her crew. I am so excited that our kids have really started to be friends. They ask to see each other, and have a great time together! They all did so good coloring eggs. And we ordered pizza and they all ate outside on the swingset.

This is all the cuties with their eggs, and us mommas. Easter morning we went to church. Again... tough to wrangle 4 kids and get them all looking presentable, AND get a shower myself. But it was done and they looked fabulous, if I do say so myself! Holidays when they get candy in the morning are always tricky. They want to eat all the candy right then! So it was hard pulling the candy away from them to go to church. After church we went to Grandma and Pawpaws for lunch.


One the Saturday before Easter I took the kids to an Easter egg hunt at a nearby church. It was fabulous. They had bounce houses, a petting zoo, and a zillion eggs! And the hunts were spaced far enough apart that I was able to get pics of each one of them getting their eggs. It was so exciting to see Ava. I let her do it all by herself, even though in her age group parents could help. She trotted all around with her basket and ended with a pretty good loot. Easton's age went with the 2 year olds. I just plopped her down by a couple of eggs, she picked them up, licked em, looked at them and threw them down. But she got 2 in her basket and was happy with that.





Makenzie and Thain had fun too. Some of the kids in Makenzie's group were pretty aggressive, but she did good, keeping her cool and just looking elsewhere for eggs. At one point she was going for an egg and started to tumble down a hill! Thain couldn't wait for his hunt to start. he stood right at the boundary line for about 10 minutes, so he could be one of the first out! He really enjoyed it.


We also had one of Thain's baseball games on Sat. I really like the team he is on this year. Some fun kids, and fun moms for me to talk to!









Thursday, April 9, 2009

My kids took over... sorry!!!

This blog is yet another thing in my life that I have allowed my kids to take over. This was SUPPOSED to be all about me holding myself accountable through you, but posting all about my fat butt! But NOOOOOO I am posting about my cute kids, and Jesus being in Ava's boobie! This is kind of what happens in my life...I love to shop. ANd sometimes I actually like to shop for MYSELF! What happens is this.... I will go to the mall, all excited to get myself some new pants, or a cute dress... And what happens I am so disgusted by how in look in EVERYTHING, and get so mad at myself for STILL needing the size I needed in September, that, what do I do... Go shop for the kids. I have spent the last 4 years using my kids as a shield. I figure as long as they look terribly cute (which they always do! : )) Then no one will notice that I am less than cute. I hold them up as props when meeting new people because I don't want them to notice me, or see the flab bulging from my muffin top! OOOOOOHHHHHH.. Look at the adorable kids.... pay now attention to the lady behind the curtain!!! And that is what has happened to my blog. I am so tired of writing that I am 152 pounds I could spit! Pa-tewwee! Since I am making no progress and have become embarrassed at my lack of success, I am throwing my kids out there. Hoping everyone will just be thinking, wow, cute kids... Instead of, "Man, Jessica sure is not doing so good with her weight loss!" And that leaves me feeling even worse because again, I am hiding. And that just breeds ugly feelings. Alot of my standstill has just been scheduling... Our schedules have been so out of whack since spring break. It has been dr appt time, and dentist time, and baseball starting. Just tons going on. And for some reason I totally forgot that I could just pay an extra 20 bucks a month and send the kids to the child care. I have been fretting over what I am going to do over the summer when the kids are home, when will I ever work out. Well, I am excited to say, Tomorrow I am signing them ALL up to go to child care. That way, I can drop them off, get 2 hours KID FREE, and they have 2 free hours of playtime! Win win! Why did I not think of this sooner!!!! So in the next couple of weeks, I plan on spending alot of time at the gym! And bloggin more about my weight loss success. I refuse to type the number 152 ANYMORE!!!

OMG! She is so cute!

I realize alot of posts have been about Easton lately but she has had a lot of focus with her first birthday. I took her out for her 1st half of her 1 yr pics yesterday,adn could not believe how cute she was! I say 1st half because I have a hot pink Easton baseball bat that I will be taking her pic with, but didn't want to wear her out. Anyway... I borrowed Addie's pettiskirt, and she has been playing with the pearls constantly lately. And I was quite proud of my mtm bow! (that's made-to-match, to all of you out of the crafty bow loop) I wish I could have gotten a few shots of her being still. I was literally RUNNING to get far enough in front of her so I could stop, turn around, focus and shoot, before she came whizzing past me! I am loving so much about her right now. This is always one of my favorite stages. One of my favorite things she does right now, is if there is music on she will dance.. but if I say "Go girl, shake it girl" she will get so excited, and start swinging her arms back and forth and laughing. I am so going to video tape it tomorrow! She is also testing limits... Like running to the dog's water bowl, just to turn around to make sure I am seeing her do it. Then looking at me as she sticks her hand in it!! Such a turkey!!! She has also started singing with me... I sing Jesus Loves Me to her every night, and now as soon as I start she "sings" too. It melts my heart! But here are a few of the pics from yesterday!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Just some fun pics from Easton's party this weekend. She woke up before her party feeling pretty yucky! But once she got to the park and started playing on the slide she felt much better.

I just love this shot of all of us!

Easton and Ava... Ava did NOT want to take any pictures, so I took what I could get from her.

Easton and Makenzie. Such pretty sisters!

And.... Easton on the slide. What a big girl!






SAHM

So how amazing is it that, not only has the Lord trusted me with these wonderful children, but He has also made it possible for me to stay home to raise them?!! My entire life, my only desire for my future was to be a mommy. In high school, when all my friends were deciding their career paths, I knew I didn't have one. No drive to be a teacher, no hoping I will get a good accounting job. Just give me a couple of kids, and I was going to be happy. When I had Thain, it broke my heart that I had to work. But hey, somebody had to support our family! (no hard feelings ) I remember crying everyday on my way to work. That was one of the hardest things ever!! Then when I got pregnant with Ava I was terrified. How was I going to leave 2 little angels every day?? I never could have imagined I would have the opportunity to stay home with them. I am still in awe of Rick everyday. That he manages to support our, now, family of SIX on his military income. What a blessing he is to our family! Anyway... While I was the working mom I knew, if I ever got to stay home with my kids I would be the best mom ever! I wanted to teach them so much, and give them all the love in the world! I had a plan of Monday... music day, when we play instruments, make instruments, listen to different genres of music, go to concerts, all things musical... Tuesday... art day, going to the museum, making our own art work, looking through art books and talking about the artists... Wednesday... food day, learning to cook, studying what different countries eat and trying that food, going grocery shopping... Thursday... letters and math, and then Friday being our one tv day. But still spent watching it together, watching enriching programs, and NOT cartoon network! WHAT THE H#LL happened to these plans??? Now, some days it is all I can do to not hide in my room while my kids chase each other around the kitchen throwing knives at each other (not a real scenario!! (yet)) Don't get me wrong. I love my kids as much today, as when I first laid those plans. Here is what happens. I have a massive quantity of time with my kids. And I think it makes me appreciate that time a little bit less. I have lots of working mom friends. And the time that they spend with their kids seems to be much better quality. And that makes me sad for my kids. I am not excited every time I go to the park with them. I don't make special plans with them very often. I don't look forward to spending every second of a weekend with them. My friends can't wait to get off work and go have dinner with their kids, and look forward to a slumber party where they can paint their daughter's and her friend's fingernails, they love every minute with their kids. I know, I know.. the grass is always greener, right!? I just don't want my kids to grow up and think "mom never did anything with us" because around here, I just AM... I'm just around all the time, I just tell them to pick up their toys everyday, I just watch tv sometimes while they play by themselves. It's the age old question... which is better, quality or quantity? I don't know. I do know that I CAN do more as a mom, and my kids deserve for me to do more. But man, being a good mom is tiring! and hard! I hope that i get better at it, because right now I feel pretty crappy. But the good thing, again, my kids are healthy, fed, loved, and safe. SO I guess I'm not doing too bad.


So, I went back and read that, and it jsut kind of ends weird, right... Like, I suck, suck, then all of a sudden.. Hey I'm not so bad, and it was a very uncomfortable and quick transition. There were lots of other thoughts going on in my head, but "Colbert Report" was starting and I wanted to watch it. So I jumped ahead in my brain and finished out my bolg... Those are the things that end up making me a crappy mom, sometimes... But oh well, I'm missing my show... gotta go!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Where does the time go??



Where did a WHOLE YEAR go?? Tuesday we celebrated Easton's first Birthday. You know, I can't even remember what it was like having her as a newborn. I remember how easy she was. I kept thinking, ok, when is this going to turn? But it never did. She is still, totally amazing, quiet, sweet, and silly. It is so cool to think of how much she has learned in the past year. She was jsut a big blob of flubber just a few months ago. Now she can walk, laugh, feed herself, do sign language, chase her brother and sisters. She has learned different ways to get what she wants. She has learned how to climb up a slide and slide back down. So many little things! I couldn't tell you 7 things I learned this year!
So for her birthday she had a super busy day! We had Ava gymnastics in the morning. She likes to go to the rec center, becaus eI let her play with the ping pong balls and paddles! So easily amused. Then we went to a craft time at the library. She got to eat some glue, and stick her hand in some paint. Woohoo! When Daddy got home, we went to Pizza Garden for her birthday dinner. ok, more because Mommy wanted pizza. We had gotten her a special cupcake for her to eat when we got home. And boy did she go to town on it!!! I can't wait to see her with her cake on Sunday! here are a few of the pics from her Big day. Could she be any cuter??!!!
I feel like there are a thousand different things going on right now. It really isn't much, but it is enough to keep my mind racing, and to keep me from getting a good night sleep. First is, my sweet baby Easton's birthday. I am trying to get her birthday party all together, and I am usually so good about this! Weeks ahead of time, I usually have all the decorations bought, cake ordered, kids outfits bought (you know they all have to coordinate, so pictures look good ; )) and reservations made. I just today finally bought the decorations, and still am not 100% positive on where the actual party will be. OOPS! But I am sure it will all work itself out. But on top of that is just all the emotions. Knowing that this is my last baby, and that she is already a year old! Each baby I feel like I didn't hold them enough, or read to them enough, or teach them enough. I know it is silly, I still have plenty of time with all of them. But there is something so special about reading to a tiny baby and having them stare at you so intently, like you are the only thing in the room. Now, I try to read her a book and she is tearing out the pages, and bouncing on my lap and pulling at my lip. Each birthday is such a reminder of how quickly it all goes by, and reminds me of all the things I wanted to do with them, but just ran out of time.

Also on my mind, is our FANTASTIC trip to Vegas that is coming up. I can't wait. I am so excited to spend a few kid free days with my husband and super-wonderful friends! I am going to bed at night reciting black jack rules.. Always double-down on 11... Always split 6s... Do NOT hit your 12 if the dealer is holding a 14! LOL I love black jack!!! I am nervous about leaving the kids though. We have never left them for more than a night. And I know how hard it will be for the people watching them. But Rick and I deserve this time together! It will be so much fun!
But along with Vegas, I start thinking about my weight. UGGGGG. I can't wait til this is no longer a topic! I just want to be cute again. And I was thinking it would be a piece of cake to be in shape by Vegas.. But alas, I will still have a giant booty while sun-bathing beside the pool at the Mandalay Bay. Oh, well...

One of the main things on my mind is that Rick will be out of town a few weeks. That is always stressful It is impossible to get things done when it is just me! How do single moms do it?? I can't go to the grocery store, I can't take them out to eat, I can't lock them all out of the house until they fall asleep... LOL When Big scary Daddy isn't around, sometimes so yucky attitudes sneak out of those sweet kids!

But that is most of what is going on with me. It is just enough to keep me from being able to relax. I just need to learn to shake things off! Everything always works out just fine!