A Good Day

Happy Anniversary to Us!  We have made it to this lucky number!

 It's hard to believe that we have been married for 13 years!  Sometimes it feels like we were getting married yesterday and othertimes it feels like we have been married forever!  This year for our anniversary we decided to spend the day together, just us, no kid!  YEAH!!!  Been quite awhile since we have done that.  Janea and Jaron are busy with Summer School and Jayden already goes to the sitter's everyday so it was a no brainer...Dan and I each took the day off and we just hung out!  I love getting to do that!  We decided it made more since to celebrate on the day before our anniversary since it's a Tuesday this year and it would be weird to work a day, take off a day and then work the rest of the week.  So we enjoyed a 3 day weekend.

Our day was full of delightful things like going to...

 If you have kids you know that a bookstore is not a fun place to be with children who do not read for longer than 15-20 minutes.  Dan and I enjoyed looking at books in a wide variety of sections, wishing we had more money to spend on books, and actually being able to read backs and covers without fear of what the kids might do.  We were in the store for over an hour and had a delightful time!  We only spent 15 dollars but we had a nice relaxing time in the bookstore...I love bookstores!

We then went and saw a movie.  Yes we saw a movie that was probably kid appropriate but so much more enjoyable without children.  Plus, I had a gift card from a student, it was an early morning matinee so it was FREE!!!!  I love FREE!!!  We enjoyed seeing Men in Black III and would recommend it to others.

After the movie we went and enjoyed fajitas at one of our favorite restaurants.

 YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I am super happy and blessed to be married to a great guy and looking forward to many more years and fun times together!

My Quirky Kids

As the kids are getting older, maturing their personalities are so different from each other.  I'm getting to know these guys as they mature and change and develop and it's fun and exhausting all at the same time.

Janea is her own person.  At times she is sweet and loving, at other times she is smart and sassy most of the time lately she seems to be grumpy.  She is growing into her teen age self and struggling with being 12.  She's excited about being in 7th grade and yet at the same time I feel like her defensiveness is just a way of keeping her guard up.  We are working on helping her to grow into lady full of grace and beauty but it is a hard and challenging process.

Jaron is full of energy and VOLUME!  Seriously, I don't think he understands the meaning of be quiet.  He is the one who we are constantly reminding to turn down his volume and calm down.  He does everything full of gusto.  He is a great big brother to Jayden, an annoying little brother to Janea and we are working on having him be more of Dan's helper on things.

Jayden is quite the charmer when he wants to, a screamer when he wants something, a give me what I want or I will throw a fit kid, he's either happy or sad...there really isn't a middle ground with him.  It's challenging to be starting over with the toddler phase but we are enjoying it too.  I won't lie, I will not be sad when he is potty trained!  I don't enjoy diapers.

So that's some of what I have been thinking about lately!  Love my kiddos!

Peaceful

Bennett Spring....one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  The kids took their annual camping trip with Grandma and Grandpa last week.  Jaron was successful in casting, hooking, and reeling in 2 fish all by himself!  First time that has ever happened!  Janea wasn't as successful but she learned how to prepare the fish for cooking this year with Grandma and they set up their own tent!

Dan and I came down on Janea's birthday(Friday) to celebrate and enjoy God's great creation.  We didn't camp but stayed in a nearby hotel with Jayden and let me tell you he thought that was so much fun!  It was good to get away even for just a night as we are weekend people this summer.

All in all a peaceful and relaxing time!

Hello? Anyone still here?

I have been away from the old blog for over a month.  Wow!  I have always posted at least once a month and I didn't post at all in the month of May.   And I realized I do miss blogging.  My life has changed though I don't find myself with the time I used to have to both read the blogs of others and update mine the way I once did.  I blame the addition of another child, a full time job, a husband who works the same shift as me and just the busyness of life. 
I've been thinking about what I want to blog about and I think I will use it now for pictures and other things that are important in our life and leave the mundane stuff for awhile.  I'm also not going to be as whiny...you don't need to read about my ups and downs...I may also address topics that are important to me and post fun projects that I do in my preschool class as a tool to one help me remember and help other teachers who may need help.

So here's what is up with us:

SUMMER...but not a break from school. I am working Monday-Thursday while the kids are in summer school and we get 3 day weekends.  So we will get to swim and have fun at the pool on the weekends and be busy with school during the week.

WALKING...Jayden is full on walking, almost running and getting into EVERYTHING! 

TODDLERDOM...boy I forgot what life with a toddler is like.  WOW! It's crazy at our house...Jayden is a busy boy, a screamy boy, a give me what I want or I will throw a fit boy, a fun boy, needs his routine boy and I am working on adapting life to fit around his routine rather than the other way around....otherwise we are all frustrated at the end of the day.

VACATION...we are not taking a true vacation but the big kids are going camping with their grandparents and Dan and I are going to hang out with them and get away for an overnight.  It will be good!

So that's a brief update...will post pictures soon.