The latest

We're just waiting for the liner now. Chip and his dad did this little patio/walk way area. Once the liner is in, we go with the fence. This is one good thing about the rain every day, they can't hay so they have to work on the pool.

More pool stuff

Here we are, it's Thursday today. Not too much has happened this week. The liner has been ordered, the beginning electric has been inspected. (Which my father in law and husband put in and the inspector was impressed.) So handy they are! Another reason why I think my husband is the greatest. It seems to me like he knows how to do everything. Like who knows how to install electric? I don't.

But anyway, here we are. They measured for the concrete yesterday I think and they will come tomorrow to pour it. (This is for the sides, the decking if you will.) And my husband and father in law just went to buy the wood to start the fence. I'll post more as we go.

Random pictures

Our last day at Little Gym. We have really enjoyed going on and off for the last 2 years. I will miss going but we are going to explore some other options closer to home.

My nephew has been here for the last week. I have been doing crafts with the boys almost every day. This is a frog puppet we made. Last week I had Van paint and he LOVED it. He threw an absolute tantrum when I called it quits. So this time rather than deal it that, plus another kid, I gave him some water and a water painting sheet, if that is what you call it. He loves that too. This is craft time at Grandma's after we watch the pool men and before lunch. :)

And here's Daddy and Van acting like a bunch of goof balls. Any hat Van finds laying around, he puts it on his head. He thinks its funny to put it on backwards. His new found skill is jumping. He loves to jump and then everybody claps. If you don't clap, he'll clap for himself. :) I love these two, so cute!

Pool Progression

This is a before shot

And we're digging....

And we're framing...

And the walls are poured for the day.

We are putting in an inground pool. We are so excited and we are out there every day watching the progression. We are on about day three as I am writing this. The first day was the digging, the second day more digging. And today they laid the frames and poured the concrete. Adam didn't nap because he was watching the three cement trucks. He was soo excited. They made the frame today actually and tomorrow they come off and they do the floor. I will post more pics as we go.

Happy Father's Day

This is a picture from quite a while ago but I like it. My husband doesn't read my blog but I am still going to wish him a happy father's day on it. These are some things that I love about him as a dad:

1. There isn't anything he DOESN'T do. He bathes, reads, changes, sings, feeds, etc.

2. He solely potty trained Adam.

3. He puts Adam to bed every night, unless he is working. He has been doing this since Van has been born and I know he loves it. They spend quite a long time reading together.

4. He has them involved pretty much in whatever he is doing. They are outside now doing something, I think they are on the four wheeler, I just heard it start. But yesterday Adam was out there while he was putting hay bales away.

5. He has taken the responsibility for their haircuts and takes them to the barber with him.

6. He has gone to every well check up for both of the boys and adds comments when the doctor asks questions. And I know he secretly likes going too.

7. I think he secretly reads the parenting magazines.

8. He says things like, 'Oh, we used baby oil on the boys when they had cradle cap,' to my college girlfriends when they were here. That cracked me up! But he's very involved and doesn't miss a beat.

9. His favorite books to read are Curious George, Dr. Suess books, and Clifford books. He also loves the traditional nursery rhymes.

10. I love listening to him talk about the future like little league and frost valley trips and track, I know he will be there coaching and volunteering.

To my wonderful husband and stellar father of our children... thanks for doing such a good job!

A ramblin'

I have a feeling this post is going to be a little all over the place so forgive me for that ahead of time. I think that when I look back on this, I will hardly remember it happening and wonder why I decided to write about it. But I am in the moment of it now and just want to write about it for a little bit.

A few days ago I saw in our local paper this literacy job posted in a local school district. It was advertised as 0.5 (part time) and I decided that I wanted to call and just find out a little more about it. The beauty of teaching is that it is only 180 days a year anyway, so part time of that, what can it be? So I made the phone call and left a message and this really nice lady called me back. She said she was the head of the Special Ed. department and I said, oh is this a special ed. job and she said no, she is the head of AIS as well (Academic Intervention Services which is basically the kids that need extra help but don't get Special Ed services). I said, oh, well I was just wondering what the grade level was, what the schedule looked like (if it was every day half day or just a few days a week) and if you need a Literacy degree. She told me it was K-4, every day part day and asked if I had a Literacy degree. And I said no I have an elementary degree and a special ed degree. I did my own inclusion for a few years with a teaching assistant all day and I did AIS one year too. She asked how long I have been home and I said 3 years but I did tutoring and did an AIS leave for part of the year as well. And she said, well you sound more than qualified, send me your resume out, you don't need to send all the transcripts and what not yet, and we can work something out with the schedule as well. She gave me her name and address and said she would love to sit down with me and that was about it. I told her I still needed to talk things over with my husband and I would get back to her.

I talked it over with my husband and for reasons I don't feel like 'ramblin' about, we decided that I am not going to pursue it. The reasons I was going to do it were 1: part time 2:money and 3: I love to teach reading (even though I don't a degree in that specifically.) But I realized a few things about this whole ordeal yesterday. It felt REALLY REALLY GOOD to be 'wanted'. I got off that phone and I remembered, I am not just a mom in sweatpants and greasy hair in a pony tail. I can do more than clean up after breakfast. I have qualifications. I have some experience. Someone thinks I would do a good job and pay me for it. It felt really really nice. And it is so easy to forget about that.

About a month ago, I went up to the attic where all my teaching supplies are stored and I was looking for some beginning reader books to work with, with Adam. It is sort of fun to look through my teaching stuff. Like I found all my binders of task forces I worked on and curriculum I helped make. I was like, OHHHHH, word study...... YAY!!!! I loved doing that stuff. And then I found my math binder because I wanted a hundreds chart for Adam and it got me remembering all those conference days I sat at and made up these math games and activities. I started remembering, I did a good job. I know how to do all of this, I can do it again, I ENJOYED doing this, I didn't hate my job.

Then last night, I couldn't sleep and I was thinking I should have come up here and did this blog right then and there, but it got me thinking about my nephew. His birthday is in a month and he is going to be five. He is 18 months older than my Adam. So you know what that means? My Adam will be five in 18 months. FIVE YEARS OLD. Why am I even considering doing anything part time? My baby is going to be in school in 18 months and I won't get this time back. Why can't I just sit home and be happy and not call people up for jobs? Why is teaching my own flesh and blood less worthy than teaching a bunch of kids I don't know? And my girlfriend has 2 kids, next year they are going to be in fifth and sixth grade. I swear they weren't even in school that long ago. Now I am starting to make myself sound ancient. But you know what I mean? I need to be happy that I can stay home, and make the most of it with my kids. Not that I'm not happy... I don't know. This is why I called this ramblin' because that is what I am doing.

Oh, and this is the other thing. I was thinking last night, you don't think of the 'bad' things you had to deal with when you were teaching. Like this one mother wrote me a nasty note because I sent her daughter out to get extra help with her long division with 'those kids'. She is much smarter than 'those kids' and even though she failed her long division test, she really knows how to do it. OK lady. I won't help your kid next time. Someone come and shoot me in the foot if I ever contact the teacher because she was trying to give my son extra help. I was soooo mad that day.

So those are my thoughts on that matter. To work or not to work, for some reason a dilemma in my mind.

The signs you are a parent

I decided to make a list of things that parents can totally relate to. Just about all of these have happened to me personally in no particular order.

1. Birthdays and holidays have a whole new meaning.
2. You enjoy looking at kids clothes and products more than you do things for yourself.
3. You don't miss your XM radio because you are listening to kids Cd's most of the time anyway.
4. Your social calendar is filled with activities based on your child's and that's totally OK with you.
5. A Johnson's and Johnson's commercial has brought you to tears.
6. Your 3 year old has opened the public restroom stall door as you are sitting on the toilet, and since you chose the handicapped one for more room for the stroller, you can't reach the door with your foot.
7. You've nursed in a public restroom while sitting on a toilet since there were no other options in the restaurant.
8. You've washed your child's feet in a public restroom sink.
9. When you used to look at other people's cars, you now notice women's strollers. (Friday at the Little Gym there was this woman with twin babies, and then like a 3 year old. She had this stroller that was a side by side, and then went to a point in the front with a bigger seat for the 3 year old. You should have seen all the women gravitate to that stroller, it was the topic of conversation for most of the hour.)
10. You've been exploded on by poop or puke.
11. Playdough, paints, crayons and Candy Land re-appear in a fun way.
12. Watching your husband play with/rock/feed your kids melts your heart.
13. 'Please don't pick your brother's nose' is something you've said.
14. Reading about parenting, child development, age appropriate games and crafts and healthy eating is something you are constantly doing.
15. You sing more than you have ever sang before.
16. The pitter patter of little feet is the cutest thing ever.
17. You've never paid more attention to your period schedule.
18. You wonder why God has been so gracious to give you such beautiful blessings.
19. You're not much of a hugger and kisser... but you can't stop with your kids.
20. A child's book is hard to resist purchasing.
21. As you are getting your 3 year old out of the tub, you let your one year old run around naked for a little bit, because you forgot the diaper downstairs. When you finally grab the one year old he has dropped little poops throughout the house, and has one in his hand!
22. Socks seem to be littered throughout the house.
23. You'd rather not mention the things you've found in the couch cushions.
24. You've woken up drenched and you aren't sure if it's breast milk or sweat.
25. The frequency, consistency and color of bowel movements is more interesting than it ever has been before, and you discuss it openly.
26. The sole purpose for breasts are for the nourishment for your baby and you've never expected more from them until after you've given birth.
27. You experience pain (child birth) and fatigue like you never have before.
28. Your parents take on another level of appreciation.

Touch a truck day

Jump house boy


Mommy and Van in a telephone truck.... I think. :)


Van doing what he does best- eating ice cream!

Adam taking his brother's life into his own hands.

And Adam on some firetruck or forest ranger thing. Can you tell I don't know my vehicles?

Today we skipped church and went down to Goshen for this event called 'touch a truck.' It was sponsored by the United Way and I thought it was a really brilliant idea. The United Way must have contacted like everyone in Orange County that had some type of machinery or truck and they came and dropped their vehicle off for the day and let little kids climb all over them and into them while the parents paid a small fee for the all access pass. Every horn on every vehicle was going off at some point I am sure. They had school buses, fire trucks, mail trucks, police cars, Orange County Chopper-big-motorcycle-things, four wheelers, excavators, tractor trailers, tanks, and so on. Needless to say, every little boy in a fifty mile radius seemed to be there.



My parents and I took the boys (because when it is a sunny and dry day in the summer, you have to take advantage and hay) so daddy stayed home and mowed hay. And we picked up my aunt on the way. I don't think Van really got the whole concept exactly but Adam enjoyed it. He liked the bouncy houses the best I think. It was a fun day for us.



One thing I mentioned to my aunt is, that is just funny to see people in the same boat as I am all over the place. My kids didn't have melt downs, thank God, but it's funny to see the parents with the double or triple strollers, babies strapped to themselves, running after kids, pregnant with another, dripping ice cream cones, snapping pictures. I am not necessarily all of those things but it is funny to see people that you can totally relate to, all in one area.

Planting Pumpkins

Adam and Van helped Papa plant some pumpkin seeds in the garden. Hopefully the deer won't eat them this year and we will have lots of pumpkins to carve around Halloween time. To say that Van got dirty is an understatement.