Just so you know...

Thomas often asks me to turn the "Cowboy Station" on the radio. I am not a fan of country music. I think there was a brief period in time that I did like it, but that was in college. Most likely I only pretended to like it because some boy I was interested in drove a truck and had a wrangler butt. When Thomas asks me to tune in I usually tell him I don't know where the station is. It's not a lie, I really don't know where that station is. Ignorance is bliss.

Thanks to my hot husband who does not have a wrangler butt, Thomas likes to listen to country. The two boys will often tune in when they are outside working in the garage or doing other manly duties.

The other day Thomas was listening to his radio and messing around with the controls. He stumbled upon a country station. The whole house knew he had found the station. Gee-tar music was being blasted and the kids were loving it. I pretended to love it.

About 5 minutes later Thomas brought me this picture. He wanted me to know what the call numbers were for the station so I wouldn't forget. It looks like I am going to need a new excuse.

*Please be sure to notice my favorite part of the picture, the toothpick hanging out of his mouth.

Sunrise / Sunset ????

tap tap tap tap tap....tap tap tap tap tap

That is how I woke up this morning. Thomas tapping on my hand. At 6:20. Normally I would be up, but that little cough/cold that I posted about last week turned into a real doozy. I have spent the past week moving from my bedroom, to the chair downstairs, to the couch trying to get into a position where I didn't feel the need to hack up a lung. Thanks to a drug cocktail of benadryl, mucinex and codeine cough syrup, I finally slept. In my bed. In a horizontal position. It was pure bliss.

Until the tapping.

What was so important at 6:20 am? The sunrise, or sunset, according to Thomas (I guess I need to teach him the difference). My sweet boy woke me up so I could see the "beautiful sunset." I wish I would have been coherent enough to get myself out of bed. It would have been nice to spend those few moments together enjoying the beauty of a sunrise. Instead he grabbed his camera and took some pictures so I could see it when I wasn't stoned. He was right, it was beautiful.

I love him.

My Clara Jane

I have been sick the past few days. Nothing serious, just a bronchial cough that came out of nowhere. Lucky for me the holidays are over, family pictures wrapped up and the visitors are gone. I can actually allow myself to be sick.

Yesterday afternoon I parked myself on the couch in a nice pair of mismatched sweats and caught up with The Bachelor. While Thomas was upstairs playing with his hot wheels, Clara was downstairs taking care of me. She rubbed my head, kissed my cheek, brought me water and fed me fruit snacks with a spoon.

What more can a mom ask for?

Educational Neglect?

It snowed in Las Vegas yesterday.

As soon as I realized it was snowing - which sadly enough happened via facebook (thank you to all my friends for updating their status to say that it was snowing) - I ran upstairs to wake up the kids. Actually, first I ran outside in my pajamas to make sure I wasn't getting punked, then I ran upstairs to get the kids.

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Thomas popped right out of bed and looked out the window. Clara - well she has a bit of her Daddy's DNA in her and got very upset with me for waking her up. Instead of running to the window, she ran into our room and snuggled up with Steve in bed. When she finally decided that she needed to check out the excitement, she made it downstairs to see for herself.

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What's a mom to do? Do I send him back to school knowing there is a 99.9% chance the snow would be melted by the time he got out, or do I let him stay home and play with his sister? I knew the first day back after break would be spent reviewing procedures and relearning how to hold a pencil. I felt comfortable that Thomas was going to be okay if he missed that. Plus, Steve and I have both been sick with a cold / cough and we are trying really hard to prevent the kids from getting it. Keeping him home from school and away from germy kids was a sure-fire way of preventing illness. (Is that enough justification, or do I need more?)

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So I let them play outside.

Clara kept on taking the snow in her hands and examining it. She is obsessed with water and ice (if you don't believe me, check the floor by the refrigerator where she constantly plays with the icemaker and water spout) and this new stuff seemed to be right up her alley.

Thomas was our taste tester.

Thomas taught Clara how to make and throw snowballs. When she got tired of throwing them at Thomas, she turned on me. Like I said in a previous post, I have lightning fast reflexes and was able to get the shot of her throwing the snowball at me and my camera and move just in time.

Am I proud of myself for teaching Thomas how to play hooky? Umm...not sure. But I am very happy that we got to experience the fun morning together.

Christmas Post - 2010

Christmas - it came, it went, it was great.

Every Christmas season the same thing happens. Life gets so busy that I don't have time to document the great things that happened. So, one of my goals for 2011 is to start documenting my kids antics again. In order to do that, I must put up a Christmas post.

Done.

Let life resume.

Fieldtrip

{Leaf and Bark Rubbing, December 10, 2010}

I vividly remember the last time I went on a school field trip. I was 8 months pregnant and riding on a big yellow bus to the Palms Hotel. (we only do high class field trips here in sin city). I was big, uncomfortable and in charge of 23 8-9 year olds. We were taking them to see the Polar Express at the only theater in town with an 11 am showing - The Palms. If you have ever had the privilege of watching MTV or any other classy reality show, you know this is a very family friendly place.

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I remember sitting on the bus with my back to the window. My legs were stretched out on the bus seat and I was trying to ignore the screaming children and the smell of bus fumes. All I kept thinking was, " What the he*l am I doing here?" (yes,sometimes I swear in my mind, and lets face it - out loud) I was done.

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We saw the movie, none of the children got lost or drunk, and we made our way back on the bus. Success. Until one of the kids read a billboard on the freeway and asked me what Jello Wrestling was. At that moment, I was really done. I reached into my book bag, pulled out my bible, and swore on it...No more field trips for me. No more teaching once this baby came out. I wanted out. I wanted to be a full-time mom.
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Today I had to go back on my promise. I went on another field trip. I'll have to admit I was having second thoughts after I wrote the teacher a little note telling her I would love to accompany them on their "walking field trip." However, I was willing to break my promise to myself so I could spend time with Thomas.
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The field trip was fun. We walked to the park, fed overly zealous ducks and geese, and went on a nature scavenger hunt. I helped the kids dodge horse, dog, duck, peacock and goose poop, kept them from swimming in the slimy pond and zipped up a few jackets. I was having a good time - go figure. I even chuckled to myself as I watched the teacher count the kids several times to make sure everyone was there, only to count them again - just to be on the safe side. It was at that moment I remembered the feeling, the stress of being in charge of so many little bodies and making sure nobody was misplaced.

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As that memory was beginning to take over my body, I grabbed my son's hand and gave it a little squeeze. The warmth of his hand brought me back to present time. Don't get me wrong, I loved being a teacher. I had wonderful students, an incredible team teacher who taught me so much, and co-workers I enjoyed spending time with. I was a good teacher who loved the kids, and loved spending time with them (until I had gained 40 lbs and was trying to come up with an appropriate answer to the jello wrestling question). But I enjoy the time as a stay at home mom so much more. I am SO grateful for Steve. He works hard so I won't have to be in charge of field trips anymore. Maybe one day when the kids are much older I'll have the desire to go back. Until then, I get to be a full-time mom and I only have to ride on a bus if I want to. And you can bet your Lucky Charms If Thomas or Clara want me on that bus, I'll be there.

Three.

Clara is now officially a big girl. Well, kind of. She still poops her pants and sucks on a binkie, but as far as numbers are concerned, she's a big girl. (I know I need to work with her on those things, but I'm having issues with her getting older. I'll get there, don't judge.)

We have spent the past week talking up her birthday and getting her excited for it. Maybe a little too much. She wanted a Yo Gabba Gabba birthday party. I was fine with that. What I didn't expect was she thought that Yo Gabba Gabba was actually going to be making an appearance at our house for her little family party. I spent all day Thursday trying to convince her that Foofa and DJ Lance were working and wouldn't be able to make it. Lucky for me she was distracted with her cake. She didn't even realize they weren't there.

I don't know who was more excited about the cake her - or me. I drank about a half-gallon of diet coke so I could stay awake to make this for her. For instructions, click here. I will honestly admit I became obsessed with Foofa. I had to get her eyes just right. Then after about 30 minutes of trying to paint the edge of the fondant I gave up and agreed to let Foofa have a black eye. If any one asks, it's Muno's fault. (this is probably the part in the post where all you parents with grown children are asking what kind of drugs I'm on. I often wonder that about the show's creators when I hear the names of some of these characters.)

I really wanted to take Clara for a some pictures on her birthday. I got her dressed, actually combed her hair and took her to a park for some pictures.

She wasn't into it. Seriously, this might be the best one I got.

After my mom stopped laughing at her and encouraging her, she bribed her with a big present. I was then able to snap this one. This is captures her personality, too. Do you see that smirk? She totally knew she was blowing this.

Then she fell in the street and it was all over.

After the park we drove over to U-Swirl for frozen yogurt with Grandma, then came back to the house for a family party. It was very low-key, but nice. Just the way I like it.

(can you tell I got 4 hours of sleep the night before?)

Happy Birthday, Clara!! We love you!

Catching up

Life has been busy. I have been spending countless hours on the computer editing Holiday pictures for families. I try to be up around 5 am so I can get 2 1/2 hours in before the kids wake up. By the time I am finished with editing, the last thing I want to do it blog. However, there is a light at the end. I am almost done.

Everyone is asleep this morning. I left my bedroom after Clara made her way under our covers to seek warmth. She is currently sleeping with both legs over the top of Steve's neck. I would go take a picture but I don't dare take a chance on waking her up.

Life has been great these past few weeks. November is awesome. The school district here has a habit of tacking on extra days-off to holidays, so the kids only go to school a few days a week when you factor in Nevada Day, Voting Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. I don't know what's going to happen when we have to go back full time next week.

We took a fantastic trip to California. We went to Disneyland and then drove down to Encinitas to stay at my Aunt Mary's beach house. It was awesome. The trip took place over Halloween so we found events going on around town and crashed them. We even crashed a Ward Halloween Party! We were looking for a "Halloween Activity" to do with the kids and decided plug in the LDS building in Encinitas on our GPS and drive by to see if they were having a Trunk-or-Treat. Sure enough, they were. We pulled into the parking lot and both Steve and I just looked at each other. We couldn't believe we were going to crash a party. We didn't really have a choice. There were 2 kids in the back seat grasping their costumes and pumpkins. We had to do it.

It turned out to be a lot of fun. The ward was very welcoming. While we were there I even ran into someone I knew in college. I went up to him to say hi and tell him we were crashing his ward party. Wouldn't you know it...he was crashing it too! His family was camping on the beach and decided to do the same thing we did. It was nice knowing we weren't the only ones!

Halloween night we went down to the little shops on the 101 and went trick or treating with the rest of the community. It was odd to be trick or treating to store fronts, but that's they way they do it there.

We spent the rest of our trip hanging out at the house, spending time at the beach and exploring San Diego. I could spend the next hour uploading pictures from our trip, but instead I am just going to post the vacation video.

My favorite things in the video:

-Thomas giggling on the tea-cups

-Steve's fancy Disneyland Hawaiian shirt, you need to watch the video just to see how snazzy it is.

-Clara's diva attitude - in pretty much the whole thing, not just one part.

-Clara screaming with terror when the waves crash on her feet

-Thomas dancing on the beach,

Kindergarten Picture

Guess who's getting retakes?

(You can only imagine the amount of joy this picture has given me today.)

Daily Vocabulary Lesson

Multifunctional
mul-ti-func-tion-al
— adj
1. having or able to perform many functions
The potty seat is multifunctional.

image.

Dare to Dream

I love to pick Thomas up from school. I always look forward to seeing him walk out of the classroom in his line and am always anxious to hear how his day went. Today I was standing at the gate waiting when his class came out wearing these hats. I figured they must be some kind of prize from the treasure box.

No. It seems like Hot Dog on a Stick is trying to recruit future employees. I found out that they are now making visits to elementary schools and teaching them how to make lemonade. It's so nice to know that if the dream of being a vet, race car driver, astronaut, doctor, chef, fireman, policeman or black guy that runs really fast doesn't work out, there's always a job at the mall to fall back on.

Ultimate Hand-Me-Down

A couple months after Clara was born my mom handed me this dress. She has kept it since I was three years old, hoping one day I would have a daughter who would wear it. I hung it in her closet and didn't think much about it.

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A couple of weeks ago we were getting ready for church. It was the typical Sunday. I was up early and wasting time, Steve was sleeping in. When it was time to get ready to go I realized I didn't have any cool weather (upper 60's - brrrr!) dresses for Clara that matched any tights that didn't have runs it them - a typical problem around here.

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I grabbed this dress thinking that it would do. It was clean and long enough to cover the run in her tights. I thought it may be a little big, but it fit perfectly!

After she put it on I pulled out my childhood scrapbook and showed her a picture of me wearing the same dress. I asked her who was in the picture and she insisted it was her. I tried to explain that is was me but she wouldn't go for it. I finally just agreed with her.

Maybe I will hold on to it for her daughter.

Nature Walk

On October 23, we took a little hike for our Family Time. I have lived in Las Vegas my entire life and I had NO IDEA that this place existed. I have been to Red Rock, but I didn't know about Calico Basin until I read an article about it in the neighborhood paper. It was a 1/2 mile boardwalk that surrounded a meadow. The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful and we had a great time.

Clara fell asleep in the car about 10 minutes before we arrived. Lucky for her one of us wasn't recovering from 2 broken elbows and was able to carry her.

Thomas was so excited to take off. It was the perfect hike for a nervous, over-reactive mother. There was nowhere for the kids to run off to. They had to stay on the boardwalk, therefore I knew where he was at all times.

Then she woke up.

and started to have issues with her pants.

Thomas even tried to help her out, but it was no use. She has been blessed with my log-like-no waist body. Too bad for her.

She was so excited to smell the flowers...until she actually did. She thought they "tmelled 'ike poop."

How cute is this??? I think I smell a canvas print.

A perfect end for a perfect day.