Happy Halloween

Hope you are as excited to go trick or treating as we are. Reece still can't decide if he is going to be Spiderman, Batman or Optmus Prime. Raine has been practicing shouting "trick or treat" for the past few days. I am just so excited to have a day off of school. Too bad I have a zillion papers to grade, any one want to come over and grade papers with me?

Disney Playhouse Live

Way back in the beginning of the month, October 5th to be exact, we went to see Disney Playhouse Live. The kids were both thrilled and couldn't wait for the show to start. My friend Rebecca and her daughter Amaya joined us for this fantastic afternoon. Raine became very excited when Mickey made his appearance on stage. She shouted MICKEY very loud, then when he left the stage she was so sad. She kept asking Mickey there? Mickey there?

Reece & Amaya had a ball dancing to the "Hot Dog, Hot Dog" song. They were laughing so hard & shouting at all the characters dancing.

They sat next to each other and enjoyed every minute of the show. I was so glad Uncle Travis sent Reece & Raine money for their birthday so I could take them to see their favorite TV shows live on stage.

Raine was so mad it was over. She wanted to see more Pooh Bear and Mickey.

$500 & a free IPOD

I went to a class tonight about incorporating American History trade books into your reading, writing and social studies lessons. It was pretty interesting, as I am a nerd and love learning. I am always up for a free class, especially when it's only 5 weeks long and there are only 2 face to face meetings. I had to take a pretest earlier this week and found out I can hardly recall the facts I am supposed teach these 5th graders. Thank goodness I only teach the reading and writing. When I got to class there were a zillion books all set up on this really long table. I signed in and was handed an 80GB classic ipod. At the end of class, we were asked to line up and select one of each book as if we were getting food from a buffet. NICE!! I came home with 18 books and the entire Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House series. The class will also pay me $500 as long as I get a 60% or better. COOL HUH? Now I better get to reading...

WHY?

Why

~won't my son listen to me?
~can't I get rid of this sore throat?
~am feeling so exhausted when I am exercising and eating right?
~won't Raine potty train faster?
~can't there be more hours in the day to get my work finished?
~am I so behind in my grading?
~can't I get out of debt when I haven't been spending?
~won't my laundry just iron itself and put itself away?
~don't I have any good beer in the house? (Miller Lite is horrible)
~can't it be Friday already?
~won't my son stop lying to his teacher?
~doesn't my house stay clean?

Why oh why, can't it be summer break?

One Last Hurrah of the Summer

We did it! We touched both oceans again this year! Are we spoiled brats or what?

On Saturday, August 16th, we packed up a few things and jumped in the truck for one last road trip of the summer. We headed to Temecula, California to visit the DeRusha family. On Saturday, we drove straight to Oceanside and played on the beach for a few hours. We didn't tell Reece we were going there until we could see the water. He was so thrilled, he couldn't sit still. It was all he could take to not run down the hill to the beach by himself. As we held hands and walked he kept pulling me and saying, "Come on Mom, let's go." It was so great to see the ocean again. I love listening to the waves crash on the sand. The Pacific Ocean was much warmer than the Atlantic Ocean. Although we were tip toeing in the Atlantic at the end of June and swimming in the Pacific at the end of August. We brought Dublin with us because the DeRusha family loves her as much as us: they used to dog sit for us. Mo made a few trips back to the truck to check on her since there are no dogs allowed on the beach. I felt so bad for Dublin; stuck in the back of the hot, smelly truck.

After a few hours of playing on the beach and in the water we cleaned up and went to walk around town. It was dusk and I so badly wanted to watch a sunset over the ocean, but the kids were ready to eat and my patience for the sand was decreasing. We rinsed off, changed into clean clothes and headed to the local pizza joint. It was just a few blocks from the ocean. The DeRusha family recommended it because they are friends with the owners. It was just a few blocks from the ocean. A small quaint place with the best pizza I have ever had. Dave the owner whipped us up a chicken & veggie pie that was to die for! The kids loved it too. Afterward, we walked over to Cold Stone Creamery for some yummy dessert. I ordered Peanut Butter Cup Perfection, Mo had Coffee Lovers and the kiddos shared a cup of strawberry with gummie bears. It was so very delicious. It was now 8pm and we still had to drive 40 minutes to the DeRusha casa. Both kids feel asleep 10 minutes into the drive, I guess the surf, sun and sand wore them out.

We played at the DeRusha home for about three days and actually made it back to Oceanside one more time. Reece loved playing with Ashleigh and Jake in the sand. Raine enjoyed eating snacks with Ashleigh on the blanket. We miss our friends Tom & Erin but we are so thankful they take us in for a visit to conclude our summer travels.

Saturday Mornings

Boy do I love my weekends! I pulled my waffle maker out a few weeks ago and it seems to be the thing I do on Saturday mornings. Yesterday, I went to make waffles and didn't have any eggs for the batter. YIKES. I called our friends Jared & Jess a few doors down and invited them over for waffles, if they brought the eggs. No response from them, so I sent Mo to the store. As he is pulling in the driveway with our breakfast necessities, Jess calls back. I told her Mo just returned but to still come over for breakfast. How impromptu of me and them!! It wasn't that nice of a breakfast, (nothing my dear friend Mel would cater) but it was yummy! The menu consisted of: waffles of your choice, blueberry, banana, cinnamon or plain, kiwi fruit, bananas, lemon bars, oj and coffee. Let's not forget the sprinkles for your waffles if you are Reece and Raine. All in all a meal that fattened the best of us, which in turn lead Jared to the couch with Reece for some serious TMNT cartoon time! So much fun for Reece!


It was now 10 am and the kids had to get to their tumbling classes. Not to be rude to my breakfast guests, (they were heading to a birthday party soon anyway) but I asked them to be on their way, that we had some forward rolls to do! Raine was a few minutes late for her class but that is probably better since she isn't really fond of acting like an animals, crawling up and down the mat. She is all about the wedge and bar.

JOY

I started a new bible study and it is so great! It is called Joy by Calvin Miller. I think things in my life are finally feeling smooth and systematic; which may have helped me find joy again. It's really hard to find joy when you have to jump back into the real world; a Monday-Friday work week. Especially when you are a spoiled brat and travel the country for a month.


One of the questions asked: Where is the most beautiful place (outdoors) you have ever been?


How does one who loves nature and travel answer that question? IRELAND indeed. There are so many amazingly, beautiful places there. California has some pretty amazing beaches and national forests. Utah is an incredible place with all of the red rock sculptures. Colorado has those enormous mountains that take your breath away. I could go on and on. So how would you answer that?

Happy 4th Birthday Lil Man

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY REECE

BATMAN, BATMAN, BATMAN, that is all Reece wanted on his cake. I asked him if we could make chocolate cupcakes with yellow frosting. He wasn't convinced so we added some Batman confetti to the top of each cupcake. I forgot to get a picture of that though:( We had a breakfast birthday for him before his afternoon swimming party. Daddy made us a yummy breakfast and Reece got to eat a cupcake for dessert. He opened his presents and seemed a little disappointed that more of them were not Batman oriented, until we gave him his Batman Trike. He was so excited! Reece screamed with glee when he heard the sounds it made. It so fun to see him so interested in one set toy. Mo started this Batman obsession on their journey home from the east coast with Batman cartoons. It is all he wants to watch, play and act like. Reece was very excited when his Auntie Jen gave him a Batman that rides on this super cool motorcycle. He even takes that present to bed with him. Can you guess what he's going to be for Halloween?

Hectic Life 101

Update: Life is really going a bit too fast for me. I have several posts to catch up on. Some are even written and just need pictures added to them. Why oh why can't I stay on top of this stuff. Let me just list the reasons:
~schoolwork
~housework
~homework
~dinner
~laundry
~baths
~stories
~snuggles
~relaxing time in front of the TV with spouse
~conference
~schoolwork
~housework
~Sunday school
~in laws visiting
~brother visiting
~laundry
~La Reve
~Aspen Leaves
~Disney Playhouse
~quick trip to LA
~laundry

Oh so you are able to get all that done and blogg...
Check back daily for a new but old post!! ;)