Turtle Turns 8!

Turtle turned 8 about a week ago! For me, it is bittersweet. I'm so excited to see how mature and grown up he's becoming in his little own way. But it's sad to realize that yet another year has slipped quickly away, never to return. I miss my little boy of the past as much as I enjoy the big boy I now have.

Since it's his 8th birthday, we let him have a party. We were thinking of doing a slumber party with 2 kids, but his friends don't do sleepovers, so we decided on Chuck E. Cheese instead. Now, the main reason we chose Chuck E. Cheese was that I don't have time to put together a home party while doing student teaching. Home parties are cheaper, but a lot more work. He also wanted to do the ticket blaster at Chuck E. Cheese.

So Turtle got to invite 5 friends to come to his party. The first concern (after doing invites) was how on earth was I going to do a cake. The party was on Friday and I was busy every night before then with something or another. I told Turtle his cake would be plain this year. Usually I make fun decorated cakes, but I couldn't imagine trying to do that this year. He wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I told him I could do something extra with the cake and he decided we would put marachino cherries in it.

Then I was at Wal-mart to get supplies and lamenting the fact that I had no time to do a cool cake when I decided to look for little Mario figures so I could make a Mario cake, but none were to be found. Instead, I came across some Angry Bird Mash-em's! So, I was able to do a fun, creative, but simple cake. It was a surprise and I wish I had gotten a picture of his face when he finally saw it!

 While we waited for the pizzas, the kids played games all over the place! Marshmallow had fun with her dad, and I even caught some of the boys together for a bit!

    

 

After games, we managed to keep most of the kids at the table for short bursts of time. They had fun though, so I can't complain.

Then it was time for Chuck E. Cheese to come out. I'm not sure if Turtle was scared or not.

 
 This was pretty much the standard issue turtle face for the evening. He never looked like he was having fun if the camera was present...

 You can see how much he's enjoying the party here:

 

Then it was time for gifts. He got lots of cool presents from his friends, his grandparents, and from his sister.

 

Marshmallow's gift was a Nerf sword. It was the hit of the party. Here's Turtle and a couple of his friends playing with his swords!

 

His birthday actually happened 2 days later and we celebrated with a present and root beer floats. I never knew there were so many ways to eat a root beer float.

 






 

Saturday Adventures

Saturdays are fun days. I generally take time from my homework to spend time with my family doing fun things. Turtle has soccer now that it's fall. Here he is at his first game of the season.

 And here are Marshmallow and I watching him play.

The really cool thing is that at his game yesterday (the second of the season) he scored a goal for his team! He was the only one to score that game. Another team member kicked a goal, but it didn't count because he was inside the circle around the goal, so it didn't count. We had told him previously that if he scored a goal, we'd go get ice cream, so after the game we went out for some yummy goal making sweetness!

One of our recent saturday adventures included a trip to a lake where we had yucky mud baths, played in the water and other wet and wild fun. On the way home we stopped by sonic for dinner. Turtle ate an ENTIRE foot long chilly dog from there.

 Marshmallow got a grilled cheese with fries.

That was BEFORE the new car... I wonder how we'll make those semi-muddy and wet trips now that we have a clean, new car.

A New Set of Wheels

Our Saturn is a few years old. She's been a good little car, but now that she's about 12 years old, she's starting to wear down. When Daddy and I met, I had a car and so did he, but he had given his to his older brother. The ironic thing is that the cars were almost identical. Mostly just a slightly different color and mine had a key fob to unlock the car. After we got married, we ended up eventually giving my car to my sister and her new husband and we got Daddy's car. It wasn't a big deal because there wasn't much difference between the two.

Daddy has recently been shopping for a replacement car. It was totally fine with me. I knew the car would give out one day and we'd need it, so why not start looking? Then Thursday he asked if I wanted to go test drive a car... No biggie. We test drove minivans for several months before we bought one. So, we went and test drove a Ford Focus. It was a nice little car. Not too expensive and not too old and in great condition. It was easy to drive and has cruise control. Daddy liked it. I liked it. The Brownies LOVED it! The car salesman tried REALLY hard to get us to buy that night. We didn't. Daddy wasn't too sure he wanted to get it, and we never rush into a large purchase like that. I knew there was a possibility we would go back today for it, but when Daddy came in and told me that he was going to call the dealership and see if they would give him what he wanted for trade in, car price and financing, it threw me for a loop! Suddenly, the possibility went from only possible to real! I was totally fine Thursday with the idea of getting a new car, but now, I was getting cold feet! I would miss the Saturn! I had a history with that car! I loved that car! I almost felt like I was giving up on a loved one or pulling the plug on a loved one.

So, I stewed and fretted over it for an hour or so whilst Daddy went to talk to the dealership and have them look over the vehicle. By the time I got the text asking me to come and sign papers, I had fed the kids, gotten my camera and decided that we might as well do it now. I could say goodbye to our faithful carriage after 8 or more years of amazing reliability. And although I will miss our little Saturn, I will enjoy our new Ford Focus, especially the cruise control and the other features that help keep me from letting my lead foot take over!

So, here we are with the Saturn and then my family inside the new (to us) Focus!

And I can honestly say, there were NO tears involved!

A Tale of Two Donuts

This post is going to have to be mostly about me. These past two weeks have been CRAZY! My first week of student teaching was so much fun, but very hard on my back or my feet depending on the shoes I wore. I got some really comfy shoes from Clarks - with about 1 1/2 inches of heel. It was the smart thing to do to keep my feet from hurting, right? Well, I discovered the hard way that higher heels help my back not hurt. So, now I need to get me a nice pair of 3 in Clarks heels! After school has been hard as well, but in a different way.

My mentor teacher is awesome! During the first week of school I observed for 2 days and was teaching portions of the lesson by the third day. It's gone very well and this past week I have taught every day a little more of the classes. I got to do instruments with 2nd-5th grades. It's been a bit of a challenge - remembering what all to teach as far as expectations for playing instruments, how to play the instruments and then the parts on each instrument. The hardest part has been that, since there are 3 different instruments, the students have to take turns practicing them. That means there is dead time for 2/3 of the class and that turns into a serious potential for talking. Luckily, the classes have been mostly behaved. I've had to give reminders, but mostly that's all.

Today, while my mentor was outside in the hallway watching thru the window, one of the kids decided he needed to talk. I reminded him not to. He did again and I made him and his friend he was talking with sit on the risers to behave while I was practicing with the others or he would loose his turn playing the instrument. He was good for that practice time, so I let him and the others back with the instruments. On the next round of instruments, I caught him talking again while I was working with another group. He lost the opportunity to play at all. Later he had a conduct card written. Come to find out, he'd been hitting (apparently not hard) a friend with one of the instruments while I was working with a group.

Another incident today was that during 6th grade choir, my teacher got a call then she had to leave for a bit. I suddenly got thrown into teaching the 6th grade by myself - no help and no prep time! The projector we were using to help the kids see all the words to their music wasn't working the way it should and I couldn't figure out how to fix it, so we had to turn it off, then it wouldn't start again. Needless to say, the kids got talking and I could never get it back under control completely. SO, they didn't get to have their letter for the day to give them recess time on Tuesday. But for the most part, the class went well all things considered. We got through everything we were supposed to cover and I figured out how to work it all without my mentor there to help me. I came up with a plan B and will have to make sure I'm more prepared for an incident like that in the future!

The after school situation is difficult as well. At school, the energy from the kids helps me push through the day and enjoy it. At home, the energy from my kids drains me till I can't take it anymore. It's like I'm a different person in some ways. I come home tired and exhausted and then while I'm trying to get dinner on or the kitchen somewhat under control, my brownies are running around like hyperactive noise machines. Mostly, they are trying to have fun, but I need their help with things here and there (like having them bring their folders so I can see what they brought home), setting the table or emptying the dishwasher. But they just ignore anything I do to try and get some help with all the myriad of things needing to be done. They've already had time to play and relax, but I don't get that - hardly ever. I try to spend time with them (usually at the park or something active) then go home and work on homework while getting them ready for bed and work on homework while they go to sleep and work on homework till I get up, get things ready for the next morning and then I can shower and go to bed. By then, Jacob's been in bed for a while and asleep too.

I'm ready to be done with school. I would rather be either a stay at home mom, or if I do end up working, I'd like to do it without all the added school work on top of it. I feel like I'm a fun, cheerful person at school and a stressed, student mom at home. I need to find a way to get the two different Donuts to merge and be a smaller, better Donut!

Burning Energy

Now that school is in session, life has become QUITE different in Brownieville! Our brownies are almost unrecognizable after school. They've always been very active, but since school started, they come home and it's worse. Turtle is certainly not slow! He seems like he's become an ADHD monster - he can't hold still, he doesn't focus, he is in constant, crazy, noisy motion! Marshmallow isn't as bad, but she's definitely got more energy than she needs. It comes out in giggles. Sugar Daddy and I have had our hands full and our sanity nearly removed trying to deal with their high energy level. So, here are some of the things we do to remove the energy from their bodies.

Daddy is teaching Marshmallow to ride her bike...

It's fun to watch her learn. She's full of giggles and so excited to be doing it, but Daddy has to be right there every minute to catch her. And she loves to look all over everywhere which means she wobbles all over the place. Luckily, Daddy is very dependable at keeping her from having a hard fall.

 Sometimes he needs a break.

Here's Turtle on Daddy's ripstick! He's become quite proficient at wiggling his way down the sidewalk, street, or in this case, around the parking lot. Luckily a local park has an extra parking lot in the back that's usually mostly deserted.

 They also have a sandbox. Children have been know to be buried in it... This time it was Turtle. They even had other kids helping to bury him.

 He didn't let them bury him too much though.

Marshmallow on the other hand helped them bury her until she was in enough that she couldn't help. And she giggled the entire time! 

Back to School

As a good momma, I am required (probably by law now...) to update everyone on the latest back to school incident. It just so happens that this is Marshmallow's first year in public school where she gets to attend kindergarten! But to top it all off, I get to student teach this semester which is fun, but it complicates life quite a bit. (But, just for fun, I'm including a picture we made in inservice just before school started.)

Shortly before the beginning of school we got to go to meet the teacher night where we met the kids teachers. Here is Turtle with his teacher

and Marshmallow with hers.

The morning school started, I stayed home long enough to take them to their class and drop them off in person. They were excited to go and here they are just before we left.

Unfortunately, that night we had to have a double funeral for the brownies' pet gerbils. Marshmallow's died the night before school started and Turtles died that night after they got home from school. Here is their little grave in our backyard, complete with popsicle stick tombstones.

Here are the kids after the funeral. Marshmallow was distraught...

Turtle was trying (only slightly successfully) to be strong and not cry.

Here are Fluffy and Cinnamon snuggling together (they were sisters) for a nap. They were wonderful pets and the brownies will miss them a lot. (So will I!)

Nutty Brownies?

At the beginning of the summer we learned that Sugar Daddy's brother would be getting married in August in Utah. After our fun trip to Mexico, the thought of flying to Utah brought dollar signs to mind, especially since the price of tickets seemed to be on a steady rise. So, after much thought and a bit of my McNutt side coming out, we decided that I would drive with my little brownies to Utah and back for the wedding. If that wasn't nutty enough, we decided to do the entire trip in just over 1 week!

Happily we were able to talk another person (who may also be crazy)  to join us for the drive - with her 3 girls. That equals 4 girls, 1 boy and 2 moms. I'm not sure who was more outnumbered - the boy or the moms...

Here we are on our first day of the trip. We drove quickly out of Texas and fairly quickly through Oklahoma. When we got to Kansas, we had to bribe the kids with candy to stay out of the car long enough to get a picture. They just loved riding together so much they didn't want to do anything else.

Once in Kansas it took ETERNITY to Colorado, while the most exciting thing we saw along the road was this:

In fact, here's a picture of most of us as we're driving through Kansas... (You can see how much they enjoy riding together!)

 

      

       

After coasting in on the last fumes in our gas tank, we overnighted in Colorado at my Grandparent's house. Marshmallow called it the twirly mountain grandma's house because the road going up is very "twirly". I remember it as the place where we always drove over the edge of the cliff in the dark.

Day 2 we made it to Utah and eventually saw some pretty cool things. It's amazing how creative Mother Nature can be in a barren waste land. Here she got bored and decided that it would be fun to have a rock sculpture of a toilet seat.

While there we got to visit my Grandma for a little bit.

The brownies got to jump on a trampoline. I think that was one of the highlights of the trip!

We also checked their hight. Some families like to mark the height progress of their children on the wall or a doorway. We just go to Utah, find a tractor and have them stand in the wheel. It doesn't happen as often, but it's still a pretty effective way to check their progress. Marshmallow is now taller than Turtle was the first time we measured him here...

We went to visit my cousins grave. That required a short, beautiful hike to the cemetery from my Aunt's home.

Turtle got tired and needed a ride. A grown man saw it and figured if a boy that big could get a ride, surely he could as well... Marshmallow fell in love with the sunflowers.

     

      

The purpose of the trip, of course, was for a wedding, which we attended. Some of us were a little more excited than others.

 




The bride and groom looked great and Marshmallow was more than excited to see her new aunt all decked out like a fairytale princess.

    

      

And of course, she was excited to have her own fancy dress (she called it her wedding dress) and match her cute cousins.

      

     




Turtle was happy to get away from it, relax his attire and explore a nearby park.

When the wedding festivities were over (actually, after the weekend was over) we got to play with my sister and her kids. One of their other cousins came to visit as well (he was Turtle's age, so Turtle was happy to have another boy, and one his age to play adventure with.)  They got to torture play with their cousins' grandma's little dog, Toby.

We went up to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo where my brownies decided to climb the falls barefoot. I didn't have any appropriate foot gear packed for the expedition, so their uncle had to galavant after them to keep them safe.

While they climbed, my sister, her three kids, grandma and I all stayed in the shallows at the bottom where we didn't have to worry about cutting our feet on rocks that could send us sliding down a long ways. someone needed to keep the babies safe and watch Ducky waddle around in the cold water!

The climb was successful in that everyone made it back without incident, although one little girl decided that princesses should get some special treatment.

 And after such an adventure, you'd think they'd be worn out, but the brownies were still quite full of energy (must be from the LONG car rides they had been on in the previous 7 days...), but we managed to pin them down for a picture with their cousins.

By the end of the trip, as we were going BACK into Colorado from Utah, we once again took the obligatory, candy-bribed picture. By this time, the older kids were more excited about the pictures as they kept them out of the car longer. The younger were less enthusiastic about it, probably since they really just wanted to be done with the whole thing. There are 4 words every parent learns to dread on a long car trip. I refuse to put them on paper for fear it will bring nightmares tonight of hearing them over and over again. The trip is still too fresh in my memory!