SP Day 75

Well, the good news is Lacreta and Brent are married. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous. My sister can plan my next big event because I'm telling you, she did a fabulous job.

The great news is William did a wonderful job in the wedding. He was the only one of the three little ones that made it to the front of the church. Kaden made it about half-way down and turned around and ran back. Makhala melted down in the entryway and never even sat foot on her way down the aisle. William slowly made his way to the front pausing very frequently to look at the people who were looking at him. He went and stood by Ty just like I told him to. Then, when I made my way to my seat next to my folks, he came and sat with us. Pretty much went off with out a hitch where William was concerned.

Now, pictures, a million and one pictures before, during, after. Pictures, pictures, pictures! Pictures were a different story. I thought I was going to go nuts before we were done doing pictures. But, thankfully, he got his picture taken as many times as was necessary and we both survived.

The only downer of the whole thing is that my babysitter cancelled on me and I didn't get to go to the reception. So, from my chair here at the house, infront of my computer, "Congratulations Lacreta and Brent. We love you very much."

SP Day 74

My beautiful niece, Lacreta, is getting married tomorrow. It's going to be a beautiful ceremony. Her colors are black and red. The church is decorated in beautiful red and gold ribbon, candles, Christmas trees, pine sprigs and pine cones. I am so excited for her and her fiancee, Brent.

My son's behavior at the rehearsal was acceptable (all though I could have used a couple of shots of tequila to calm me down because I was so anxious about his behavior). However, I have decided that Lacreta is insane trying to have 3 toddlers in her wedding. William is the oldest of these 3 children. He turned two in October. Kaden just turned two a couple of weeks ago and Makhala won't turn two until March. She's nuts. During the rehearsal Makhala kept running back and forth between the groomsmen and the bridesmaids. Willaim put his ringbearer's pillow down on the altar and laid down and put his head on it. Kaden was the best behaved child of the bunch. He just went over and stood nicely with his mom who is a bridesmaid.

I made the executive decision that William will not stand at the altar during the wedding. He's going to walk to the front then come sit with me. Then when the recessional starts I'll send him back up the aisle. It's going to be chaotic. I was just thankful that the wagon idea got nixed before rehearsal ever started. William so wouldn't have gone for that.

So, here's to wishing the bride and the groom all the best and hoping the little ones don't knock over any candles and burn the place down.

SP Day 73

While today was yet another challenging day of terrible twos. It ended with the poor boy having one of his mysterious, sudden, serious diaper rashes. I've never figured out what causes them but they're terrible.

We went over to my folks house this morning and I helped mom work on the 30 or so chair covers she's sewing for my niece's wedding. While mom and I worked on those dad took William outside and they worked on a few things together. It was a great thing for everyone. Dad got to spend some time with his buddy. I was able to help mom get quite a few of her chair covers sewn. William got to be outside (his favorite place to be) with his PawPaw (one of his favorite people to be with) and I got to get away from him long enough to recharge my patience meter and make it through the rest of the day with out completely losing my mind.

Tomorrow is the rehearsal for my niece's wedding. Please pray that William and Kaden can share a wagon nicely and that things to smoothly.

SP Day 72

Sunday has been challenging. I've been thinking for days now that William has got to be sick of going and going and going. It seems like all though I've been off of work for the last week, we haven't hardly sat still at all. So, I decided to forgo church this morning and William and I would stay home all day.

This was probably not the best decision I've ever made as a parent. He was in a stinker-ish mood all day and was getting into EVERYTHING he wasn't supposed to get into.

The good news. 8 o'clock finally showed up and he went to sleep with out a fuss. I've spent the last two hours doing dishes, hauling trash, and most of it was spent playing my new Wii game, Boom Blox. It's very addictive and lots of fun.

SP Day 71

The promised Christmas pictures. Just a few chosen ones. It was a great day.

William received THREE tricycles for Christmas. One each from Santa, MawMaw and PawPaw and Grandmother and Grandad. I think we need to coordinate a little better next year!

I think he likes the ball.

His tools were by far his favorite present.

He uwrapped with MUCH enthusiasm!

Santa brought a tricycle.

SP Day 70

The Stennett family had a wonderful Christmas day. Daddy got off work before William or I either one got up. We got to all three have Christmas together this morning before Ben went to bed. Then William and I headed over to MawMaw and PawPaw's house (my parents) where we had Christmas with my brother and sister and their families.

It was an incredibly awesome day. I promise many pictures are forth coming. The problem is that there are about a million of them and I'm too pooped right now to sort through all of it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful day and got to have the joy of Christmas in their hearts today.

SP Day 69

What could be more positive than Christmas eve with a family to cherish and the spirit of Christ in our hearts? Merry Christmas to everyone. We love you all very much.

SP Day 68

William is working desperately to figure out buttons and shoe laces. Here is his latest button project.

Yes, he's wearing 3 shirts. The one I put on him did not have buttons. He apparently did not find that to be satisfactory. So he came out of his bedroom wearing two more and requested that I button one of them. ALL the buttons.

He looks so much like Ben in this picture it's just crazy.

SP Day 67

It's midnight. I'm done shopping. I'm done wrapping. Merry Christmas.

SP Day 66

Well, Sunday was a stellar day. My friend and I hired a babysitter to stay with our kids while we went shopping. Six glorious hours of toddler-free Christmas shopping. As much as I love my child I can not stand to take him shopping if there is going to be more than one stop. First of all, he doesn't like sitting in baskets or strollers and not being able to get out and run around. Second, I hate putting him in and out of his car seat. It's a huge pain in the rear.

So, we did some shopping here in town and then hit the big city of Ft. Worth. It was great fun. Most of my girl friends live far away so having a day out with a friend is something I haven't done in a long time and I really had a great time.

SP Day 65

My son has been hilarious and amazingly sweet lately. I'll just let some pictures of last night and today speak for themselves.

Mr. Cool showing off while having his morning oatmeal.

Having fun with daddy's hard hat.

Ever so gently helping mommy decorate the tree.
(No, it's not glass.)

SP Day 64

Lesson for today: Humility, Kindness, Understanding

Yep, today was one of those days that made me take a step back and think "Wow, I need to be a better person."

Part 1 of my story. We had our "Chinese Christmas" gift exchange at our faculty Christmas party yesterday. For a period of time I had this beautiful red glass lantern in a metal holder with a snowflake design. I lost it to someone else and wound up with a watch that just didn't do much for me.

Part 2 of my story. There is a teacher whom I work with that I don't have much patience for. She's very scattered. Frequently doesn't know what's going on even though she's been told several times. She frequently leaves her class unattended. She's ALWAYS pulling kids out of my room because she has a hard time taking care of all of her business during the time she has. I am often angry or frustrated with this woman. I have another good friend at work who does get along with her and tells me frequently that the teacher in question has a really good heart and tries very hard to do a good job. I've just always believed that my friend was naive to this woman's true character.

Part 3 of my story. Oh, my, how quickly God can put us in our place and we never, ever see it coming. This morning, at the beginning of morning assembly, the scatter brained teacher brought me a gift bag. I assumed it was a small gift from her two children. Something along the lines of as small ceramic figurine that I usually get from my students. After assembly was over I opened the bag and found the beautiful red snowflake lantern that I had given up so begrudgingly yesterday. I felt about half an inch tall when I pulled that out of the bag. Not only had she given me a beautiful gift, she'd paid attention yesterday and among the 39 people present at the gift exchange, she'd noticed how much I loved that lantern. And, she thought enough about me to give me a gift for Christmas.

I hope that this is a lesson that will stick with me and that I will treat not only her, but everyone with a little more patience and a lot more kindness in the future.

SP Day 63

Well, it occurred to me today that I hadn't blogged in two days. Oops.

So, having learned from past experience, I do not do well trying to back blog, so I'll do today and call it good.

Right now the goal of every day is just to get through it so I can enjoy the holidays. Note to self for future reference, just goofing off in class for an entire week, is not a good lesson plan. I really wish I'd planned some meaningful stuff for this week because the days filled with "fun stuff" seem to just drag by. I thought since we'd worked so hard on the Christmas program that we'd pretty much just goof off this week. That has not turned out to be a great plan. But, the good news is, we only have Thursday and Friday left. They're both early release days with us getting out at 12:30. Friday, I don't even have to teach. The kids have their awards assemblies and go home.

So, this week is winding down and soon, I'll be on my 16 days of vacation. Ahhhhhh.

SP Day 62

Well, tomorrow will be 90 days on the job for Ben. He will be eligible for benefits and should get a raise. This is GREAT news. We'll save a big chunk of change not having to pay for his private health insurance. That plus the raise means paying off more debt. The more debt we get paid off the sooner he can begin looking for a new job. ALL of these are wonderful things.

Also, it looks like the higher ups at his job are really cracking down on people and raising their expectations of their drivers a bit. People it seems are getting fired right and left which means Ben is just moving further and further up the ladder. The more this happens, the closer he gets to being moved to day shift. I CAN NOT WAIT for him to be on days.

He still won't have weekends off and he'll still only get to see William about an hour a day on the days that he works. BUT, he'll keep William on his days off and they'll get to spend entire days together which will be AWESOME. And, I get to have my husband back in my bed at night. I can't tell you how much I'm hating colder weather with out my human heater lying next to me.

So, as much as I still hate his job, at least, things are looking up.

SP Day 61

After a very rough night of William being up and down several times and finally deciding that he was done sleeping at 4am I was afraid that today was going to be miserable. Now, mind you, he was very cranky and very sensitive today because he was exhausted, but we accomplished to have an okay day and a GREAT evening.

We went to my great nephew's birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza (basically Chuck E. Cheese). (I cannot for the life of me figure out why a two year old needs a birthday party at a place like this!) All though we had a few fits when I had to pull him away from a game or ride, he was, all things considered, very well behaved. He fell asleep on the way home and laid down when we got home. He slept a total of about two hours. I would have liked to have napped during that time myself, but I was making my hubby dinner before he headed off to work.

I was afraid since he'd had a nap and I hadn't that this evening was going to be hell. But I made myself some coffee and we played, watched Sesame Street, read a book, took a bath and had a great evening. He was so super sweet tonight. I just love it when he's like that. I wouldn't trade this evening for all the money in the world!

SP Day 60

Hooray for an un-stressful day at work. The christmas program is over. The principal and the assistant principal were absent. There was food for a baby shower in the teacher's lounge. I can honestly say I didn't do a DARN THING all day but hang out and eat. It was a great day.

On a more serious note, the eating part of the hanging out and eating has GOT to come to a stop! I eat when I'm stressed. I had just about finally gotten my eating back under control from the stress of Ben's job change when along came the stress from the Christmas program. For about the billionth time I'm planning to really cut back after the New Year. My only question to myself, is how can I make it different this time?? How can I make my decision to eat healthier stick around more than a month or two (six at best)?

I'm working on it. I'll let you know how it goes.

SP Day 59

It-is-done. As of 7:30, close to 300 children had sung, spoken, and (hopefully) entertained a huge gym FULL of people. They did an awesome job, my cake auction made nearly $750 and it will be a year before I have to take on that monsterous event again.


Ahhhhh. I can breathe once again.

SP Day 58

Tonight I learned, from experience that absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.

I sat at the dinner table looking at Ben and thinking that it had been six days since I'd had a real conversation with him. Then looking at William, knowing that I'd really only missed one evening with him but he was ten times cuter and a million times funnier than normal. It was wonderful. I was so happy to be with my family, I'm sure I was beaming.

Christmas program: t minus 1 day

SP Day 57

Oh, tonight was awesome.

Aunt Julie (my friend who keeps William from time-to-time) asked if William could stay the night. So, I met my husband for an early dinner before he went to work. (I'm talkin 4:30, old people early, I felt like we should have been at Luby's.) After dinner I went to get a hair cut. I went to the same place I went last time but a different woman did my hair. I told her I wanted it slightly shorter than just a trim because it grew out so fast last time. That girl took me at my word and I've got some SHORT hair. But, oh well, it will grow back out and it should be a couple of months before I need a hair cut.

Then went to the home depot and picked up some hard ware for scenery for tomorrow night's program. Then to Kohl's to get some jewelery to go with the outfit I plan to wear to the program Thursday night. I found a super cute sweater and shirt that were on sale for 50% off while I was there so I got those too.

Then, I went to ULTA to get some more of my bare minerals make up that I had run out of. It's not cheap, but it's not super, like estee-lauder expensive either. I really like it so, it's my one splurge on myself.

So, I had a great "me" evening. Now it's time to go see what the damage is to my bank account.

Christmas program: t minus 2 days

SP Day 56

Okay, I missed blogging on Monday. I'm learning that it's blog it, or lose it. Because now, I can't remember anything outstanding about yesterday.

Work was definitely a Monday. I accomplished to keep my head above water and get most of my ducks in a row for the Christmas program.

Christmas program t minus 3 days

SP Day 55

I made home made chicken and dumplings for the very first time. It was mm.mm.good.

Yea me!!!

SP Day 54

Today was a mom-n-William day. Ben was sleeping so it was just William and I with a whole Saturday in front of us. When I keep this kid couped up in the house all day, he gets in lots of trouble because he gets bored or I feel terribly guilty because he sits and watches TV all day. So, after he took a 3 hour plus some nap, we had some lunch and headed out to the park nearest our house. We stayed for about an hour and a half before heading home.

After Ben left for work this afternoon we bundled up and headed into downtown Weatherford to meet a friend of mine and her daughter for "Christmas on the Square". As far as vendors go, the whole thing was a bust but William rode on a Christmas train and went on a pony ride. I spent a grand total of $7 (which was for the pony ride) and we got in the car and headed home. We got home just in time to chug some milk, put on his jammies and go to bed.

So, we had a pretty darn good day.

SP Day 53

I have two exciting things to blog about today.

1. While searching for a job that I had been told was going to be coming open I found an awesome job opportunity. An elementary in Weatherford has a counselor position available immediately. If I were able to get a counseling job, I would have enough of a pay increase that Ben could take a lesser paying job and we would still be okay. This would be the biggest blessing our family could ask for.

There is one potential snafu. It could be a good thing, or a bad thing. I interviewed for a music teacher position at this same school this summer. I was offered the job and turned it down. So either the principal could hold it against me that I turned down a job she offered me, or she could look at it like I was a good teacher and a good fit for her campus, maybe the same will hold true in the counselor position. (I know that's a huge run on sentence, I apologize sincerely Dr. Miller.)

2. The most awesome thing happened at work today. I have a 4th grade student with multiple disabilities. Some of them genetic, some of them due to neglect as an infant, and some of them unexplained. He has severe musculoskeletal problems. He's not much taller than William. He has no muscle tone to speak of. He's also, for the most part, non-verbal. When he came to my school in the 2nd grade, he was completely wheelchair bound. His therapists last year got him walking with a walker. The special needs teacher brought him in my room today and said she had something to show me. He walked all the way across my room completely unassisted. He's 10 years old and walked for the first time today. I picked him up and hugged him and told him how proud I was of him with tears running down my face. What a special guy. Now, if that's not a good day at work, I just can't imagine what would be.

SP Day 52

Tonight, I'm way thankful that my momma taught me how to cook. I was late getting to mom's tonight so I had to get dinner on the table in a hurry. Luckily, I'd brought salmon, black eyed peas and mac-n-cheese and a quick salad. Well, I forgot to take the groceries in when I left William this morning so the salad sat in my car all day. Even though it was cold out and probably didn't get too warm in my car, I didn't feel good about putting out on the table.

So, I was able to mix up some salmon patties with mom being kind enough to chop some onions and throw them in the mix. I threw water on to boil for the mac-n-cheese, fried up the salmon patties and tossed the black-eyed-peas in the microwave.

I made dinner for my family and my folks in about 25 minutes. Thanks mom!

SP Day 51

Okay, many of my blogging friends have embarked upon this task, so I feel compelled to do the same.

101 Things I am Thankful For
1. God
2. Ben
3. William
4. Mom
5. Dad
6. The rest of my big crazy family
7. Babies
8. My in laws
9. Liberty and Justice (both the canines and the principles)
10. Employment
11. Friends
12. Cell phones
13. Internet
14. A House
15. A Car
16. America
17.Freedom
18. Diet Coke
19. Deer Hunting
20. Venison
21. Tennis shoes
22. make-up
23. doctors
24. insurance
25. kicks from unborn babies
26. children's laughter
27. dinner with friends
28. my co-workers
29. reality TV
30. a husband that pays the bills
31. my husband's wonderful family
32. cat purring in my lap
33. head on my shoulder
34. shoulder to put my head on
35. good books
36. clothes shopping
37. apple cinnamon candles
38. flannel pj pants
39. baking
40. music
41. performing
42. sleepy William
43. pj Saturdays
44. hugs
45. kisses
46. movies
47. scrapbooking
48. crocheting
49. the loudness of my family
50. snooze button
51. summer
52. my husband's job
53. a big back yard
54. old friends
55. memories
56. once-in-a-lifetime events
57. marriage
58. parenthood
59. big feet
60. bath time
61. "Hi momma"
62. chemo therapy
63. prayer
64. hope
65. TiVo
66. e-mail
67. jean days at work
68. the smell of a clean house
69. a husband that does dishes
70. pedicures
71. new hair cut
72. the sound of my husband's car in the driveway
73. unexpected gifts
74. safety
75. comfort
76. security
77. play grounds
78. chocolate
79. horses
80. the smell of leather and horses
81. mountains
82. hot showers
83. the excitement of the first day of school
84. the excitement of the last day of school
85. packages in the mail
86. kindness
87. compassion
88. snuggles
89. love
90. holidays
91. military
92. dates with my husband
93. Texas
94. education
95. shooting stars
96. many of my teachers
97. Jackson Elementary
98. 2926 South 28th Street
99. childhood (my own and my sons especially)
100. sleep
101. thankful to have 101 things to be thankful for

SP Day 50

I am, believe it or not, looking forward to this year's Christmas program. (Just in case you're reading this and don't know already, I teach elementary music to 300+ children in grades K-5.) Normally, the closer these programs get, the more I dread them, the longer my t0-do list gets and the higher my anxiety level goes. However, after 10 years of doing this I was finally smart enough to ask for parent help and delegate tasks.

So, all I have to do is make sure the kids are ready to go. Since the last two days of rehearsal have gone really well, I'm getting excited about seeing them perform and watching them do a great job. I'm actually afraid I'm going to jinx myself. I've never had a program go horribly wrong but I've always been so worried that they would. If I relax, and don't get all stresses, I'm afraid I'll let my guard down and something will go horribly wrong.

The only major tasks left for me are next Tuesday and Thursday. I'm loading all 300 of my little darlings up on school buses and carting them over to the High School where our program will take place for dress rehearsal. No matter how much I think I've got my ducks in a row, the classroom teachers are always happy to tell me how I could do it better. While it's always offered in the sweetest of spirits, I always cringe knowing that I've put countless hours of work and tons of thought in executing this and now they think they have a better way to do it. However, I must admit, on several occasions, they have been right and I've taken their advice and things have gone better because of it.

So, I say all of that to say, I think the "All-American Christmas" program is going to go great and I'm anxious to see it all come together.

SP Day 49

Today is one of those days where I feel like I'm really having to stretch to find something to blog about. There was one particular stand out event today but it was not at all positive so I'll save it for the end of my post.

Mom and William and I made it to church today. That was great. It's something that I should do much more often. I dread it though because my pastor does not believe in having child care during the church service so I don't like going by myself with William. He can get pretty out of hand if he's being asked to sit still and be quiet. Mom doesn't make it very often because she often over does things on Saturday and doesn't feel well enough to get up and go to church on Sunday. So, two of the three Stennetts made it to church today.

Our one stand out event of the day today: Slightly more than 48 hours after Blackee came to live with the Gaston family, Blackee left this life. Poor thing just got worse and worse from the time we brought her home. Mom called the vet today and he agreed to meet her at the clinic on his day off. She said the moment she laid kitty on the table, she took three breaths and died. The vet speculates that she just had too much done at once being spayed, vaccinated, wormed, and re-homed in 3 days time. His diagnosis was liver failure.

When I told William tonight that Blackee had died he fussed and put his head on my shoulder and said "Maw Maw, Pa Paw". I think he was worried that his grandparents were sad. It was really sweet but made me tear up at the same time.

Last but not least, back to work tomorrow. Yuck.

Many thanks for reading my somewhat pointless and completley rambling post.

SP Day 48

Shopping Diva!

That's me today. This morning over a very meager little breakfast ('cause I was too lazy to fix a real one) my hubby noticed two Lane Bryant flyers on the kitchen table. One was for $15 off a purchase and the other was Buy One Get One Free. He suggested that since I'd bombed on my shopping trip last week, I should go, since this is my favorite place to shop and it looked like some pretty good deals.

Pretty good deals was an understatement. I left with,

• One pair dress slacks
• One pair trouser jeans
• One black sweater with jewel embellished neck line
• One cute sleeveless top with rosettes all round the top
• One black shrug to go w/sleeveless top
• One silver long sleeve jersey knit shirt
• One red/black/silver beaded necklace
• One pair red earrings
• One red/black/silver beaded bracelet

Total before sale $291.49

Enough to choke a horse right? Well, I did not use my $15 off offer because while I was there a very nice lady gave me a $50 off one that she didn't use. How nice. Then I got an additional 15% off because I used my credit card that I already had for this store(which I will pay off when the bill comes in). Wanna know what I ended up paying, total, with tax, the whole nine yards?

$87.10

That's right, I'm the shopping diva. A savings of $211.03. That's 73% off. I must say, damn, I'm good.

I would have bought more, but really, that's all I found that I loved. Just in case anyone reading this is a size 14 or up, the buy one get one sale goes on through tomorrow at Lane Bryant and it is WELL worth your time.

SP Day 47

What was I thinking?

Tell me again why I was out of bed at 3:30 this morning and getting my poor child up at 3:45?

Why in the WORLD was I at Wal-Mart at 4:15?

These are questions I always ask myself after the feeding frenzy of black Friday. But each and every year with a slightly nauseous stomach from eating too much the day before there I am out in front of some store just waiting for the little hand to be on the 5 and the big hand on the 12 so I can get my deals.

My goal this year was the $88 power wheels jeep at Wal-Mart. I did not procure said jeep. Instead I took a step back from the mass of people, that just 15 seconds before had seemed perfectly normal while I was standing with them huddled around a pallet with only 8 of these things. These people went berserk. It was the black Friday hysteria that you often hear about but believe it's just some exaggerated blown up tale. Oh, no, people, this was an all out mob. People were tackled, shoved, scratched, and stood yanking boxes from each others hands. My decision: my kid does NOT need a power wheels jeep that badly.

So, I went and found him and his maw-maw (my mother) they had found many smaller and much less dramatic deals and had a full basket while I came wheeling up with my empty one. We checked out and got the heck outta dodge. William fell asleep in the car during the 4 minute trip across the interstate to Target. I left him and maw-maw in the car while I hit Target and Kohls. There were many more of the advertised items at these stores with much less drama. I found almost everything I went after and was done with my black friday shopping (or as William said all morning "kim-us choppin") by 8:00am. Which is a good thing because that's when it started pouring down rain.

Later today maw-maw, William and I went to the vet in Millsap and procured a new kitty for William. "Kee-Kee" his former pet had to be put to sleep a week or so before because she had a huge tumor in her tummy. The very kind vet in Millsap also does spay and neuters at the animal shelter. He was there this week and found an acceptable replacement for "Kee-Kee" who has been named, by William, "Blackee". She's very pretty and already very attached to my Dad who pretends to be against any pets in his house but is secretly the worlds biggest softie.

It was a great, if somewhat crazy, day. William fell asleep in my lap at 6:30 this evening and didn't bat an eye while I changed him into his pj's. I'm not far behind him. The great news is I got 4 people marked off of my "kim-us choppin" list today. YEA!!!

SP Day 46

Happy Turkey Day

Today was a great day of friends, family, and food. There were 3 toddlers, a tiny baby, and a puppy in all the ruckus so everyone stayed busy keeping at least one eye on a young 'un of some sort at all times. It was a fabulous day. I always LOVE being together with my family, even if they are crazy.

I hope all of you had a wonderful day and got to feel the love and warmth of the Holiday.

SP Day 45

Whew! What a day. I got a TON of stuff accomplished today.

1. Had breakfast with hubby. (He did the dishes this morning!!)
2. Went to Mom's to help clean for Thanksgiving.
3. Cleaned out garage.
4. Swept garage.
5. Cleaned items going back into the garage.
6. Vacuumed the whole house.
7. Re-vacuumed the whole house when I realized the belt wasn't attached and I hadn't really been doing much good.
8. Shampooed the carpets.
9. Made dinner for everyone.
10. Had dinner w/hubby, kid and parents.
11. Went to Wal-Mart and faced day-before-Thanksgiving crowds.
12. Came home, unloaded groceries and kid.
13. Played with kid.
14. Put kid to bed.
15. Made pumpkin brownies, green salad (the pudding cool-whip kind not the healthy kind), and sweet okra salad.
16. Put dogs to bed.
17. Blogged.

Now, I think I got quite a bit accomplished today and I'm hoping I won't be too tired to enjoy tomorrow. It was a good day spent with my folks and even though I worked my tail off, I enjoyed helping them and getting something accomplished.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

SP Day 44

Tonight, there was great potential. We failed to reach our potential. This is disappointing.

So, I got us a baby sitter and we had great plans to go out just the two of us. I came home showered and dressed. Ben got up when I got out of the shower and got ready and we were out the door by 6. We had a few errands to run then we were off to dinner and what ever other wonderful things the evening might hold.

Well, we ended up getting pretty ticked off running one of our errands which kind of, as Ben put it, "took the bloom off the flower" for us. We were no longer really in the mood for an evening of fun and frolic. Then there were babysitter snafus so we had dinner, went and got our kid, and came home. By the time we got here, Ben's tummy was not feeling well which kind of kibosh-ed any real exciting plans we might have had for the remainder of our evening at home. Overall, not the evening we had in mind.

So, I gave up, am currently enjoying an adult beverage and have plans for flannel pjs and winnie-the-pooh house shoes in my VERY near future.

Here though is the silver lining to an evening of lost potential. I got to spend some time with my husband, just the two of us. Even when Ben didn't have a screwy job, that didn't happen very often at all. The price we pay for the cuteness that is William and one we're very willing to pay. So, though it may not have been the romantic evening of dreams, it was still enough to make me very happy. I have an AWESOME husband, and I'll take time with him all to myself when ever I can get it.

SP Day 43

Monday was a good day. I got off work, came home, made tacos for dinner and sat down and had a meal with my whole family. I felt like a real live wife and mommy. It was awesome.

After dinner, I left William with Ben (it was his day off) and I went to town to go clothes shopping for me. (This is something I very rarely do.) I was soooo excited!

Yeah, well, I got to town, tried on a million things, NONE of them looked good. I stood in the dressing room of Belk, looked at myself in the mirror and cried. Left all of my clothes in the dressing room floor and went home. The heck with it!

Here's the great part though, I came home, my kid was bathed and in bed and my husband had a huge smile on his face. He'd gotten to spend some great time with his son and that is worth any amount of dressing room misery there is!

SP Day 42

All though today was rather cloudy and overcast most of the day the temperature outside was very nice. It wasn't too windy, it was actually a very nice day outdoors. I say this to say, I took William outside A LOT today. Yesterday, it was a bit too chilly and the wind made it to where going outside was just not reasonable. So, I was glad to get my little stinker outside and let him run off some of his bound up energy that usually winds up getting him into trouble inside. The other plus to this situation is if he's outside having a good time, he isn't inside waking daddy up and that's a good thing for everyone. Daddy gets his rest, which makes daddy happy. Daddy isn't grumpy which makes Mommy happy! When Mommy and Daddy are both happy, William should be happy. (Notice I said should!!)

On a side note, and not a positive one, my Grandma Gaston, who has had Alzheimer's disease for well over 10 years, isn't doing well. She's with the people who care for her and hospice care is on call. It is very likely that in the next few days, she'll be reunited with her husband of over 50 years and a son she lost to cancer in the 60's. I just want to say that I love her very much and I hope she'll find peace and be herself once again. I love you Grandma.

SP Day 41

Well Saturday came and went with out much to mention. William was very much a 2 year old from the time he got up until the time he went to bed.

Ben got off work late yesterday morning so when he came home he was ready to go to bed and William was ready to take a nap. So, Ben put William in bed with him and I got to go to town ALL BY MYSELF! I took some clothes to the dry cleaners and got an oil change. William slept for nearly 3 hours with his daddy so even after I got home I had time to pick up the living room, sweep, and sit down for a few minutes. It was very nice.

What worried me though was that Ben slept right through William waking up and walking out of the bedroom all by himself. I thought, what if my oil change had taken longer, what if he'd woken up while I was gone and Ben had kept on sleeping? I can only imagine what state my house, and my child would have been in when I got back.

But the good news is, that didn't happen. William got a good nap. Ben got to spend some time with his kid and I had a little time to myself. And all of those are great things!

SP Day 40

Today was, for the most part a much better day at work. What's great about today? I got a TON of stuff accomplished. I called what seemed like a million parents, (I think it was more like 25 or so) all of whom volunteered to help out with my Christmas program. After 10 years of teaching elementary music, I've FINALLY learned how to delegate. 25 parent phone calls or a hundred hours of my time? From now on, I'll be doing the phone calls.

So, with my volunteers neatly divided into 3 groups, the decoration crew, the backdrop crew, and the cake auction crew (we're having an auction to raise funds to buy new instruments), now all I have to do is get my kiddos prepared and hope everything goes off with out a hitch. It always has in the past, so here's hoping, no, praying, that it will happen that way again this time!

SP Day 39

Today, in general, was not a great day. So, I'll go with a few small, obvious, but good things.

1) I did NOT kill my 2 year old for behaving like a 2 year old even when I got pegged in the back of the head with shoes while driving.

2) My 2 year old went to bed with out a fuss.

3) Though it is not certain, the dishes MAY get done before bed.

Looking forward to a better day tomorrow.

SP Day 38

The gift of time. My sweet boy, even after taking 2 hour nap today was obviously exhausted during dinner time at mom's house this evening. I was seriously considering putting him to bed early tonight after a bath. Well, he fell asleep in the car on the way home. So, I took him to his room and thought that I would attempt to change his diaper and put his pj's on him and if he woke up I'd give him a bath. He never so much as blinked an eye. He even snored during part of it. So, my kiddo was in bed at 6:30 and now I have an extra hour and a half of William free time to get some things done around here.

On a side note, I'm a little bummed though that I didn't get to hang out with him much tonight.

SP Day 37

What goes around comes around. Yesterday, I took a friend of mine home from work because her car was in the shop. Today, my co-worker and good friend, volunteered his time and his pick-up to take me into town to buy lumber for a project the ag department is doing for me. So, once again, I must say, having good friends is a great thing.

SP Day 36

Two great things about today. Daddy and William got to spend some quality time. The yard got mowed. YEA!!!!

SP Day 35

As I mentioned previously having an awesome best friend is awesome. I happen to be the lucky recipient of several great friends. However, snarfle and I have been friends for many years as well as college room mates and sorrority sisters. For the last several weeks she has sent me one of her beautiful handmade cards about once a week and I can't even begin to tell you how much they make me smile.






This is the latest of her creations that I received in the mail. It's such a happy, cheerful thing! She's so creative and talented. I'm so grateful that she thinks of me, that I'm so lucky that she loves me, and just thinking of her makes a bright spot in my day. Thanks Snarfle, I love you honey!

SP Day 35

TGFM!

Thank God For Mom that is. I asked mom to come over today and hang out with William so I could get some house cleaning done. She showed up just as he went down for his nap and dug right in helping me clean. By the time she left today she'd done much more cleaning than hanging out with William and I am SO grateful that she came and helped me.

Next weekend is my turn to return the favor and start helping her get her house ready for Thanksgiving. Having an awesome mom is the best.

Preview for tomorrow's post...having an awesome best friend is well. . . awesome.

SP Day 34

Friday was my niece and her fiance's couples shower. They got some great gifts and William and I got to spend some time with family. Going to "Shahn's" (Sharon's) house is one of Williams favorite things to do. He was a really good boy all though the poor guy had some awful diaper rash for the second weekend in a row. Don't know what's up with that. But, all in all we had a great time.

SP Day 33

Turkey and dressing for lunch. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

Today is the second day in a row that I've over indulged for lunch. While this is not something I'm proud of, boy was it worth it today. Once a year, the school cafeteria makes turkey and gravy with dressing, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans, cranberry sauce, and your choice of pecan or pumpkin pie and, oh-my-goodness, it is soo tasty. I ate every single bite of what those lovely women put on my plate. (Well, I did restrict myself to only 1/2 a slice of pecan pie.)

You know it's good when you open the refrigerator in the teacher's lounge and it is stacked a mile high with boxes of cafeteria take home. Believe me, that doesn't happen very often. One teacher even went and got a tray for her co-worker who was absent today and put it in the fridge for her to have tomorrow.

I paid for it dearly in calories, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Thank you cafeteria ladies. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Happy Birthday Ben

Happy Birthday Honey!

I love you!

SP Day 32

The bad news: It costs the same to rent a tuxedo for a toddler as it does for a grown man. $115 to be exact. You gotta be kidding me? Right?

The good news: It only costs $69 to buy a toddler tuxedo. I opted to purchase. Now, what in the world am I going to do with a 2T-3T tuxedo after he wears it ONE TIME in my nieces wedding?

I got quite a bit accomplished today. YEA! I had a 9:30am eye appointment which was fun. No, I don't mean that sarcastically. One of my best friends was my optometrist today and I hadn't seen her in quite some time so it was fun. (Hi Jen!)

Then we headed to the mall for the a fore mentioned tuxedo fitting. Mom was able to pick up an anniversary gift for my grandparents while we were there. Then we went to Academy to pick up a birthday gift for my brother in law. From there we had a wonderful lunch. (If you're ever in Fort Worth and looking for a great Tex-Mex place, Rio Mambo on Bryant Irvin is AWESOME!!)

After lunch we headed back to Weatherford. I went to Lowes and picked up a gift card for my niece's wedding shower. Then I ran into Best Buy to get Ben a birthday gift. Came home, made dinner for Ben's birthday, spent some time with my husband, wished him happy birthday and sent him off to work. Played with William, gave him a bath, put him to bed early because he didn't get much of a nap today, and now it's ten after seven and I've got all kinds of time that I could get some stuff done but there's only ONE problem. I'M EXHAUSTED!!!

I think I will pick up a little and throw some dishes in the dishwasher then I think I'm putting me to bed early tonight too.

To sum it all up. It was a good day. The fact that someone else kept an eye on my 300 little darlings at school today makes it even better!

Hope you had a great one!

SP Day 31

Let's see, great things about today. Homemade pizza for dinner. Mmm.

William actually ate the pizza. YEA!

William was an angel for mom all day and an angel for me all evening and went to bed with out a fuss. WOW!

I found a new bible verse that I love. "It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." Psalm 18:32

If God makes my way perfect then there must be a purpose to my chaos. WHEW!

I'm off work tomorrow and get to spend the day with my mom and William and get to be home in time to make a great birthday dinner for my hubby. HOORAY!

SP Day 30

Ya know what's great about today? Neither myself nor anyone that I know was sucked up into a swirling vortex of destruction! Tornadoes all over my part of the world today. Our kiddos spent the last hour of school in the hall in "duck-and-cover" position. Our normal release time of 3:30 was backed up to 4:15 waiting for the tornado warning to expire. That was not fun because I spent that time in the school office trying to entertain William. We couldn't hang out in my classroom because it's a portable building. Not a great place to be in the event of a tornado.

Other great things about today? Potch-kit. What, you may ask, is "potch-kit"? Well, below is a picture of my little "potch-kit" face.
Yep, potch-kit = ketchup. It took me forever to figure out what he was saying but I about cracked up when I did. My other current favorites are "poot nak" which is fruit snacks. He loves thoes things. And "WES do---!" which is "Lets go!" He's amazing and frequently amazingly hilarious.

SP Day 29

It occurred to me as I got in the shower this morning that there were several things I neglected to do yesterday; post grades, do lesson plans, and blog! Yikes.

I amended the first two while at work today. And now I'll make up for the third. Yesterday was awesome. Ben, instead of sleeping all day, because his schedule was a little messed up, was up quite a bit yesterday and we got to see a lot of him. He and William even got to lay down together and take a nap. It was GREAT!

Last night my whole big ol' crazy family got together at a restaurant and had dinner to celebrate Ben's birthday which will be Wednesday. It was awesome. I have such a great family and it means a great deal to me that they love Ben and want to come and celebrate with him. Is it crazy that when we're all together there are 19 of us??? Regardless, we made a lot of noise and had a ton of fun just being together.

SP Day 28

Well, I was informed today that a "great" blog post was expected tonight, so, I hope I do not disappoint those individuals expecting this post.

Today was an awesome day. We visited with Ben's mom's side of the family. They are such fun people to be around (especially since many of them who shall remain nameless (Joe) have the same crude sense of humor as myself). It was a great time, I was so glad to see all of them and since I know what is really needed here are pictures of this wonderful day, I'll quit blabbing and get to the pictures.

Poor William, so much family, so much food, so much fun. He just couldn't take it any more.

William and cousin Shelbi having WAY too much fun.

Daddy and William playing on Uncle Tom's "tractor".

Grandmother and her crew.

William having fun at Uncle Tom's fort.

P.S. There were a few WONDERFUL people who couldn't make it and they were greatly missed. Hope to see you very soon!

SP Day 27

Today is a hard one. I'm really having a hard time with our current situation with Ben working nights and working long hours. See, it just so happens, I have this GREAT husband who I adore. I see him for less than 2 hours on most days, less than one hour on others. I can't understand why it is that I have this great husband and this great marriage but I can't enjoy them. So, I'm a little bitter tonight.

But, none the less, I pledged to find at least one positive thing in each and every day for 365 days, so I will do that again today all though it's not really where I'm at right now.

My son was very well behaved this evening. He minded me. We had no temper tantrums. He ate (well only fruit snacks, but he ate.) It was a really awesome evening. Just before bed, he crawled up in my lap, laid his head on my chest and said "Hi momma". It was just the sweetest darn thing ever.

SP Day 26

There is something deeply gratifying about cooking a meal that is enjoyed by others. Mom and I split dinner duty on nights that Ben works. Last night and tonight were my nights for this week. Last night was a quick and easy chicken/stovetop stuffing dish that was a recipe on the back of the box. It was good and everyone liked it.

However tonight, I did breakfast for dinner and we had a casserole made of frozen hashbrowns, bacon, eggs, milk and cheese. It was really easy to make and it got RAVE reviews. Everyone* really loved it and I got lots and lots of compliments. It just feels good to make other people happy and judging from the general shape (being round) of my family, good food makes us happy.

*Unfortunately tonight, everyone did not include my husband. Having never made this particular dish before, it took longer to cook than I expected. He got leftover "Chicken Express" before dashing out the door to work. Good news is, even after my dad requested that enough leftovers be kept for him to have breakfast in the morning, there is plenty of it waiting in the fridge for Ben when he gets home. Enjoy honey!

SP Day 25

Tonight, for a moment, my husband and I switched roles. Usually, when Ben is around, if William is in trouble, it's Ben who scolds him and takes care of any necessary punishment. William then runs to me, throws himself into my lap and says "mo-ma-a-a" in the most pathetic voice possible.

Well, it just so happened tonight that I was the one who found him, sitting in his high chair (that he had climbed into) having drank an entire cup of juice. However, instead of swallowing it, he had let all of it dribble out of his mouth, down his chin, down his shirt, down his pants... you get the idea.

Needless to say, I was displeased. I pulled him out of the high chair, started ripping clothes off of him and telling him that he had done something wrong, very very wrong. So, this time, after momma chewed him out, he got to run and fling himself in daddy's lap and daddy got to be the hero, the saver of William.

It made me smile.

SP Day 24

I voted.

I got heart burn because of it but learned that I love cheetos.

Confused?

SP Day 23

Tonight I was giving William a bath and I noticed he has a bump on his head, a scrape on his arm, a scrape on his knee, and a cut on his leg. This is in addition to various other bumps and bruises. I was thinking, oh my gosh, this poor kid, he looks like he's been abused. But then, as I watched him splash, screech, play and generally have fun in the bathroom, I realized, every bump, bruise, and scab is a blessing.

First of all, they're a blessing because they're only bumps, bruises, and scrapes, and not something much worse.

Second of all, they are a sign that he is a healthy, happy little boy who gets to run and play. He has a dog and a cat to run and chase at moms. He has two dogs that love to chase him all over the back yard at home. He has three dogs and two or three cats at Julie's and TONS of toys to play with outside. He so loves to be outside, and he is blessed to be in places where he has lots of room to do that. Little accidents just happen when little guys run around outside. So, I came to the conclusion that those bumps and bruises are each a gift and I'll take them.

SP Day 22

*Fair warning, if you're an anti-hunting type of person you may not want to read any further.*


Meat in the freezer!
Well, not yet. Ben shot a 78lb doe this weekend so, when my dad heads to Abilene next weekend he'll pick up our meat and we'll have meat in the freezer again. This is a good thing. I am down to two packages of ground meat in the freezer. My grocery budget depends on not having to purchase a lot of meat. So, I'm very excited. My dad also got a doe this weekend so he and mom will have venison in the freezer for the first time in a couple of years. Dad's been waiting on "the big one" but finally decided he was going to make mom happy and just get some meat.

The bad news is that Ben didn't get any sleep while he was there because it was opening day and there were lots of guys there. He's decided it's probably in his best interest to hunt during the week from now on so that he'll be the only one out there and able to sleep during the day. I hate that he'll miss out on the camaraderie but I'm glad he'll still get to go hunting because he loves it so much.

I'm hoping this week goes by quickly since Ben is off, oh my goodness, get this, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY! I'm looking forward to having some family time this weekend. Here's to hoping this week goes quickly and smoothly.

Halloween Pictures

Well there aren't many of them and they aren't great but here they are. By the way, the little girl in the picture is my great niece Makhala.

New Hair

As requested, here are new hair pics.

SP Day 21

It feels good to do for others. That is something we all know but sometimes fail to exercise because of time or stress or whatever. One of my good friends at work it out of town for the weekend and I agreed to feed her dogs for her. Do I have time to do that? Heck no. But, it feels good to do for others and I'm glad I took the time to do it.

SP Day 20

Twenty days and what a great day it was. The three of us went to the small community where my brother, sister, and their families live and we went trick-or-treating. It was a wonderful time. William was so well behaved and once he caught on that if he took his bucket up to these strangers, they'd give him candy, he was all about it. My little pirate even learned to say argggh! I have many pictures that I will post tomorrow. But now, I'm tired and my hubby is home so. . . I'm outta here!

SP Day 19

I went over to mom's house this evening to help with Halloween costumes. Mom is making costumes for William and his cousins Kaden, Makhala, and Alexis. Kaden and William are getting pirate costumes. Makhala and Alexis are getting poodle skirts. They're going to be so cute.

Anyway, when I got to Mom's my niece Felicia and her two little ones Kaden and Alexis were there. We all had a nice visit. It was a very loud visit due to there being a two year old, an almost two year old, and a two month old. But, it was family, and I always love being with my family.

I still haven't decided on a haircut or a book but I'll get there. I'm going to see about taking care of both on Saturday. I'll let you know what I come up with.

Hope everyone has a great Friday.

SP Day 18

I'm sitting here in front of the keyboard staring blankly into space wondering, what am I going to post about today and frankly, I'm having a hard time coming up with something.

It would be very easy right now to burst into a list of things that aren't good. Unfortunately, that's where my mind is at right now.

But, since I pledged to come up with something positive for 365 days and I'm only on day 18 I know there must be something positive I can write about.

I'm positive doing something for myself would be good.I need two things right now (aside from a new job for my husband). A new hair cut and a good book. Any suggestions? Seriously, I need suggestions.

BTW. . . I did get around to doing some dishes tonight. Hauling the trash must get done before bed. However laundry and cleaning out the fridge must wait for another day.

SP Day 17

Me time! What? What's that? Well, I got to remember what that is this evening. William (who by the way, was very good again today) fell asleep on the way home and when we got home I asked him if he wanted a bath. He said "yes". We went to the bedroom to take off his clothes and I had him down to his diaper and crawled up in my lap and just started hugging and snuggling me. (It was WONDERFUL!) He fell asleep right there in my lap. So, after mommy filled up on cuddles, sweet little boy snores, and just the wonderful feeling of his warm little body laying on me, I changed his diaper and put on his pjs while he wavered between awake and asleep. I put him in his bed and by the time he was done yawning, he was out. At 7pm. Yep, 7pm.

From 7pm until my bed time at 10pm it was just me. Three hours so I decided, the heck with house work. I'm going to kick back, enjoy biggest loser, and just, for once, RELAX!

SP Day 16

OMG! I can't believe I forgot to post last night. Well, the good news is, I know exactly what was great about yesterday and so, I can make up for my oversight.

William was considerably better behaved yesterday evening than he had been on Sunday. We still had a few incidents, nothing perfect, but it was SOO much better than the day before. He even crawled up in my lap and hung out with me for 20 minutes or so.

And, here's the best part, for the first time since Ben starting working nights, he went to bed with out fighting me. At about 10 'til 8pm I asked him "Are you ready to go night night?" He said "No." I said "Well, it's night night time." He slid down off my lap and grabbed my finger and off we went down the hall to get into his pj's and get him in bed. He said his "Amen" at the end of his prayers, gave me a big sweet kiss and got in bed, no trouble.

Just as I was walking out the door I heard a very sweet little "night-night". It's amazing how 1/2 an hour of sweetness can erase an entire day of holy terror.

SP Day 15

I possessed very little grace in how I handled my day today. So, I'll spare you the gory details, get to the positive part and call it done.

My niece had her wedding shower this afternoon at 2pm. Since I was helping to host, I figured I would need to stay around help clean up, load up gifts, etc. Because of all of that I didn't think I'd get home in time for William and I to see Ben before he had to leave for work.

Well, my son was such a holy terror during the entire shower that no one was interested in having us hang around to help. They all gladly (a little too gladly) told me they'd take care of it and not to worry about it. So, we got home at 4pm and were able to see Ben for a little over an hour before he had to leave to go to work.

*side note
William's attitude, demeanor, behavior did not improve once we got home. It still hasn't improved. He's in his bed crying right now because he doesn't want to go to sleep. *sigh*

SP Day 14

Today definitely had it's ups and downs. The biggest down being that I had to leave before Ben got up to drop William off at mom and dad's before heading out for the fall festival at my school. Another big downer for me was that today was my college homecoming and my 10 year reunion. Because of the fall festival and everything else going on this weekend I couldn't make it.

But, downers aside, the bigger portion of my day was awesome. William was such a good boy today. He spent most of his day sitting here in the living room playing with all of his new toys. He got a Little People barn and a Little People tractor and trailer, and a Little People Nativity. He had SOO much fun playing with his Little People today. The only fit he had all day was when we'd been outside playing and he had to come inside. A one-fit-day is almost unheard of in this house. I had tons of fun with him today. He had me laughing most of the day and kept me laughing right up until the moment he fell asleep in the car on the ride home. He kept asking me "Sharon's house?" (Because that's where we had his party last night.) And I kept telling him "No, William's house." And he would just repeat himself in a louder/higher pitched voice "Sharon's house?" (Which comes out Sha-sh H-ow-se.) I would just laugh and repeat myself. We were both cracking up.

Just being William's mommy was the very best part of my day today.

SP Day 13

TRACTOR PARTY!!!

I have no pictures yet, because I ran off and left my memory card at home and had to use my sister's. She'll post them to shutterfly in the next few days and then I'll get some great pictures from tonight's much anticipated "Tractor"party.

All of my family and a few of our great friends gathered together tonight at my sister's house to celebrate William's 2nd birthday. We had a John Deere theme and it was so cute! We were even able to procure a John Deere cake from Wal-Mart. (I was SO glad since I made his cake last year. After about 2000 tiny stars squeezed from an icing bag, I swore I had much better things to do with my time. BTW 2000 is no exaggeration. There were ATLEAST that many!)

It was a very LOUD party. My family is big and loud to start with. Add in the fact that William is 2. His cousin Kaden will be 2 in about 8 weeks. His cousin Makahla is 18 months old and his cousin Alexis is 6 weeks old. That made for a VERY LOUD party. But the noise was, in this case, just a sign of people, even little people, enjoying themselves a great deal.

A great time was had by all. William got TONS of toys that I'm sure he'll be enjoying lots when he wakes up tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who was there. We love you very much and we are so happy you were able to make William's birthday so special.

Happy 2nd Birthday William!

I can't believe my kiddo is 2 today. He is such an awesome little person. He's super independent. Just this week he finally figured out how to operate a spoon and a fork and now can feed himself. He wants to dress himself, buckle himself in, and do just about everything else you can think of BY HIMSELF!

While this can be a bit frustrating when mommy is time crunched, I take every opportunity I can to slow down, be patient and let him do things on his own. He's always so happy when he does.

His favorite foods right now are hot dogs, german sausage, corn, green beans, fries, fried okra, and jelly biscuits. He loves his milk, but knows what "coke" is and tries to sneak a sip every time he can. He's a very picky eater and if he decides he's not going to eat, meal time can be quite a dramatic event. However, when he hits on something he likes he'll eat that one thing until he's full. Tonight it as 5 mini hot dogs.

His imagination is blooming and it's so fun watching him begin to "pretend". I love it. One of his favorite play things are animals. Cats, dogs, cows, horses, he doesn't care. He loves to boss them all around. Sit! Stay! Back! No, no, no, no! He's really good at doing puzzles and loves them. His favorite thing in the whole world right now is tractors. Anything yellow and green is a big hit at our house.

He's also figured out that he loves to watch TV. I'm not crazy about this, but seeing as how most evenings, it's just he and I, this little tid bit comes in handy. His favorite movie is "Cars". He knows the names of every character and can (in his own way) tell you what is about to happen in the movie. This movie is where he first discovered that he likes tractors. His other favorite movies include "Ratatouille", "Aristocats", "Jungle Book", "Bambi", and "Elmo's Potty Time".

Speaking of potty time, we've tried some potty training but nothing serious. He's gone "#2" in the potty a few times and gone "#1" only once. He's such a smart kid, I just feel like if I leave the potty where he can get to it, and showed him what it's for and how to use it, I think it's something he'll end up doing when he's ready and there's not much I can do to hurry the process along. I may change my mind when he's 5 and I'm taking him to kindergarten in his diapers.

I know I've already said it once but he is such a smart kid. When he gets or finds something new, he'll sit and mess with it for as long as it takes him to figure out how it works. He's very mechanically minded. The thing he wants so badly to master right now are buttons.

He's a very loving little boy. (When he's not throwing a 2 year old temper tantrum!) He adores his daddy and just beams every time he sees him. My mom, who he has begun to call Maw-Maw is hands down his favorite person. He is completely fascinated by my dad, his Paw Paw. He follows paw-paw everywhere he goes and watches everything he does. He warmed up very quickly to Ben's parents tonight. Sadly, he doesn't see them very often, but it didn't take long before he recognized that "grandparent" vibe and he was ready to be spoiled. He actually cried when they left.

I could ramble on about him all night but let's just say, I love this litttle guy so much and I'm so glad that I have him. I can imagine my life with out him, I just don't want to. He is such a blessing.

Happy Birthday William!

SP Day 12

William had a visit from his grandparents today. They came to help him celebrate his 2nd birthday. It was an awesome visit even if William did give Ruby (the dog) a million times more kisses than he gave grandmother and grandad. The three of us had a wonderful visit with the two of them and we hope they had a great time too.

William helping grandad put the cooler in the truck.

William opening his birthday gifts that grandmother and grandad gave him.

William getting hugs and kisses from grandmother.

SP Day 11

I am one of those people who has a real problem asking for help even when I really need it. I've always had the attitude that "well, I'm fat, so I must also be lazy". Right? Well, maybe not, but that's always been how I've felt. So, I work really hard to compensate for my own perception of laziness by trying to do EVERYTHING!

By EVERYTHING I mean, be a great teacher, be a model employee, be the best mom I can possibly be, be a good wife, take great care of my husband and my son, be sure my parents are okay, keep my house in decent shape, etc. etc. etc. Needless to say, occasionally I completely over load myself.

Well, I came to the conclusion today that I was so overloaded, there was no way it was all going to get done. In the next 4 days I've got family pictures, a much anticipated visit from my in-laws, a Dr. appointment for William, a birthday party for William, 8 fall festival donations to pick up from various places around town, fall festival at my school, and my niece's bridal shower which I am helping to host. All of that in addition to the normal responsibilities of work, home and family. When it dawned on me today that there was no POSSIBLE way I could get all of this done and remain sane I actually broke down and asked for help!

There were some things I couldn't eliminate from my schedule and most of it I didn't want to eliminate like birthday parties and family visits so I had to figure out what could I live with letting go. So, one of the ladies I work with is going to go pick up all of my fall festival donations for me. HOORAY! While there's still a lot to be done, I'm just proud of myself for letting go of my need to do it all and be everything to everyone just this once.

SP Day 10

Ahhh! My mums are dying. I've watered them every evening so I'm confused. I'm going to "dead head" them and skip watering them tonight (too much water?) and see how they do. I'm sad. I love mums.

Something positive today? I GOT TO WEAR MY PAJAMAS TO WORK! That always makes for a good day. However, it does not do great things for motivating me to get a lot of work done.

It's red ribbon week and we're dressing up differently for every day. Yesterday was cammoflage "fight against drugs" day. Today was "dream it, believe it, achieve it". Tomorrow is something having to do with cowboys. Thursday is red, white and blue. Friday is spirit day. Can you say "jeans on Wednesday, jeans on Thursday, jeans on Friday". I LOVE it when I don't have to iron.

Ben got off work early this morning and I got to visit with him some before I had to leave for work. He got our son up and fed him his breakfast and loved on him for a little bit before I had to take him to grandmas. So, that was a great thing.

This is kind of a rambling post isn't it?

Sorry.

Doing this every day is just reinforcing what I already knew to be true, I am blessed to have some awesome people in my life. Not just everybody gets to say that and really mean it. God is good!

SP Day 9

Tonight my 4th and 5th graders sang in a concert with the High School choir. It was awesome! If you ask me my kiddos sounded AWESOME even standing beside high school kids. I was really, really proud of them.

My folks brought my son and dinner to my house so I didn't have to drive out to their house to get him and so Ben could see him for a few minutes before he left for work. It was so sweet of them. My mom worries about me (and I worry about her) and it's crazy how much she still takes care of her 33 year old daughter. She's worried about me wearing myself out with my new schedule so she does soooo much to help me. I don't know how I'd make it with out her. She even did the dishes while she was here! She rocks.

I got to visit with one of my very best friends tonight after the concert. Between her 3 kids and my crazy life we never get to talk to each other. (Even though she keeps William for me on a semi-regular basis.) It was great to get to chat with her. We have so much in common and feel the same way about so many things it's just awesome to be able to talk to someone who you know won't judge you and when they say they love you and they're sorry that things are sucking and they worry about you, you know they aren't just SAYING it, that they really mean it.

So, even though I only got to see my kiddo for about 30 minutes total today, and I missed him, and miss him right now. There were still lots of positive things going on in my world today.

SP Day 8

Today, I'm feeling pretty good about quite a few things.

1) I have some mums on the front porch that I've actually kept alive for a couple of weeks.

2) I got to have breakfast and dinner with my husband today. (When he got home from work and when he was leaving.)

3) I got 99.9% of the laundry done.

4) I got the bathroom clean with the "help" of a 2 year old. (That's something to brag about!)

5) I got all of my shopping done for lil' man's birthday.

6) I actually exercised at home this evening. (Haven't made it to the gym since Ben started his new job. Pounds have a funny way of finding their way back home if you don't do something to keep them at bay. I think a nice round 10 of them have returned to base; or hips, or butt, or thighs, or belly, what ever.)

7) Last, and most importantly, I got to spend a great day with my son. He was really good today (meaning less than 10 hissy fits) and even snuggled with me some this evening. It was great.

SP Day 7

Check me out, a whole 7 days of consistency. That might be a record. Today I got to have a girls day (kind of) and it was really enjoyable. I had an "update" class for the Level I Orff Certification I took this summer. Basically a bunch of music teachers got together and shared what we've been doing since school started. It's always great to get together and exchange ideas. Not only that but I've become good friends with a few of these women and it was great to see them.

Well, I'm keeping it short and sweet today. Hope you all had a great Saturday.

SP Day 6

My something positive today comes in the form of perspective. Sometimes, I get bogged down in my own personal muck and forget that, as bad as things may seem, it could always be worse.

I have a very dear friend and co-worker who is with out a doubt one of the most time-crunched, stressed, strung-out, busy, sleep-deprived person I know. This guy teaches PE at the school where I work. Quite well, I might add. He's also the youth minister at the Baptist church across the street from the school. (He's also quite good at this. The youth has doubled in size since he started.) On top of that he's married with three children and a fourth on the way.

He tries often to do great things for our kids at school and just gets met by one closed door after another. He met with another door being slammed shut in his face today. I was really sad for him. But, seeing him struggle today, helped me to realize that everyone has their humps that they must get over and that while my humps may not be easy to get over every day, others have humps just as big as and much bigger than mine. So, that, in it's self, is something to be grateful for.

SP Day 5

Today was a good day. Ben was here when I got up. He got to get our son up and talk to him and love on him for a few minutes before I had to take him to the babysitter's.

Other than a rather annoying traffic snafu on the way home, I had a pretty good day at work. My kiddos are well rehearsed for a concert on Monday. My kinders are FINALLY starting to grasp that high and low do NOT mean the same thing as loud and soft. One of my special needs students gets to start coming to my class with out an aide. I teach in a pretty laid back community so a few cute and fun "Halloween" songs are not out of the question. All, in all work was pretty good today.

My kiddo fell asleep on the way home. When I got here hubby was up, showered, dressed and wanted to go to town. So, he sat in the car with sleeping kiddo while I changed out of my work clothes into some jeans and tennis shoes and our whole little family went to town. Hubby got a hair cut and the nice ladies at the hair cutting place let William sweep for them. (He was overjoyed by this.) Then we went to Target, just 'cause we love Target. Then to Lowe's for Ben to get a few things for work. Finally, Ben bought us dinner at Taco Bueno and we came home. We had a nice dinner together, then we went and played in William's room. At 8:00 we put William to bed. About that time I got a nice phone call from my MIL and overall had a GREAT day.

And heck, tomorrow can't be too bad, it's FRIDAY!