Update 1-Spring Catch Up, Another Announcement, and a Nomination

Post written 5/2/2013

The second half of the school year is always coco puffs crazy busy.  This year it is super busy.  The kids have grown leaps and bounds physically and mentally.  They have both maintained straight As through this year so far.  Both are so much more independent and most of the time that is wonderful, but not always.  We have also re-entered the, "I will argue with you about everything under the sun, just because I can" phase.  It's happening not only between the two of them, but with us as well.  It's a learning experience and most definitely has been testing our tolerance level.

Physically, well, let's just say that probably in a year or two, I will be the short member of the family.  I mean, the shortest member of the family. They are both growing like crazy.  I can't seem to keep these two full for more than a few hours.  Even after a well rounded home cooked meal, I hear, "Mom, I'm still hungry."  Some nights I feel like I've fed a small army with the amount of food they eat.  I know it will continue.  We will be clothes and shoe shopping again soon because there is no way Emma will make it through Summer with what she has in her closet and dresser.  And Henry will need some new things as well.

Daddy has been busy with a lot of work projects and deadlines.  Luckily, these have not required him to travel, but that will change in August for a brief time.  And Summer vacation is being planned around release dates at work.  They keep him busy and we are happy for the job security. He has also been busy heading up the Dallas Personal Robotics Group.  We've attended and competed in several events.  And he is also currently wrapping up plans for Science Day the last week of school.  He'll be showing the kids several experiments and then doing some hands on experiments with them.  And who knows, some of the robots may just make an appearance too!

I have been busy too.  With the help of 3 other moms, I've been working on memory books(scrap books) for 2 of the 3 first grade classes.  27 books total.  I've also been up monitoring classes during end of year testing, doing Kinder-1st grade library, art class with the 1st graders, photographing events at school, and planning Art Day the last week of school.  Lots of volunteer hours that I love.  Spending time with our kiddos and enjoying my time with my Kinder kids and other First grade kids has been a great source of happiness for me.

We are now in the final stretch of the school year.  I know we will all make it and man has the time flown by.  We have been blessed again with outstanding teachers and staff at school.  We've made new friends and more lasting memories.  Things and worries that have weighed heavy on our shoulders have been lifted and I am so thankful for that.

So now we are caught up with the exception of two things.  Both have happened within the last three weeks and both are good.

1)I have been asked and accepted an offer to substitute teach(paid position) one of the 1st Grade classes for the first 1-3 months.  Ms. J(Emma's teacher) will be out on maternity leave with her first child.  I was chosen and asked because I know her room, her procedures and teaching methods, I know most of the Kindergarten kids that are coming up, and school procedures and guidelines. And Ms. J says that I was her number 1 pick.  She feels comfortable with me there covering for her and knows that I will get the job done.  I'm happy to do it.  She has been a FANTASTIC teacher with Emma and her other kids and I have really enjoyed helping in her class and getting to know her.  We are so excited for her and her family.

2)I received a surprise email from Ms. J informing me that she is nominating me for the TEA Heroes for Children Award!  It was meant to be a surprise, but the nominee has to write a short essay that is included in the nomination paperwork.  What an honor!  I was floored!  I volunteer because I like to help out and I can since I am a stay at home mom.  It's easy work and in my opinion, I can't volunteer enough and pay back our amazing teachers and staff at school for all that they do in educating our children and caring for them.

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=4140

9+ Years Happy Anniversary!!!

Happy 9th Anniversary!!!

Married 9 years, together 13 and 1/2 yrs:)

Reading with Daddy

Daddy has taken on the job of reading bedtime stories for the last few days since I haven't had a voice. He doesn't think that he does a good job, but I do:) And the kids loved the time with him too!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!

Today is Daddy's 32nd Birthday!!! So Happy Birthday Daddy! We hope we've given you a wonderful day. We love you so very much:)

Staycation Day 2

Day 2 of staycation has been somewhat busy and somewhat slow. Most importantly it's a very important day for us because it's Daddy's 32bd Birthday!!! So guess what Mommy did, obviously not thinking at the time? She scheduled a doctor's appointment for Emma. Emma is fine by the way, we just needed to have something checked. After that we headed to Daddy's home away from home, Fry's Electronics and did some bday shopping. He picked up two items off his wish list and was a happy man. Then we headed to Grapevine Mills Mall for lunch. It being Daddy's special day, I was going to let him pick a place for lunch or dinner. Well, Jason being the super fabulous Daddy that he is, decided that today we would go to the Rainforest Cafe(an outing planned for sometime over vacation). The kids were thrilled, well at least until we got there. As we were parking we noticed two to three day school vans/small buses parked outside. That's right, we know how to pick em'. The cafe was pretty packed and we couldn't sit by the cheetah/jaguar and the little man had a meltdown. Big crocodile tears, mumbled sobs, clinging to Mommy followed for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, Emma was just fine taking in all the scenery and the kids. We played musical chairs for a minute and got everyone situated so that Henry could have a direct line of vision of the cheetah/jaguar. This made him a happy little guy. So we had lunch and the kids ate really well; so did Daddy and Mommy. And then they got to pick a new friend to take home. Henry went straight to the collection of stuffed animals and picked out a leopard and then he saw the snakes and asked very sweetly if he could have one of those too. Sure why not, we already have a small jungle in their room. Emma picked a baby giraffe and a bag of river stones that she got to hand pick. Since then we've been hanging out at home, playing with toys and watching some Scooby. There are rumors flying around that there may be an adventure tomorrow...!

Staycation Day 1

Daddy(Jason) is on vacation for the next week and we are SO HAPPY that we get him all to ourselves for one whole week! Daddy has more time off coming up so for this week's vacation we decided to do a staycation. So we'll do things this week around town and have a great time together. Today was day 1 of our staycation and it has been a relaxing day at home playing and yes, disagreeing with each other. The main reason for our at home day today is because one of our A/C units is not working correctly and we are expecting our repairman some time today. So we've been trying to make the best of it. Henry and Emma were up late last night and up early this morning so we are having a few meltdowns here and there, mainly from the little old man. They had an early dinner and will have a swim in the tub and then a story before bed. Mommy is going to make sure they go to sleep right away tonight so we don't have the same problem tomorrow. We'll keep you posted with each day's activities since that will be easier for me to remember and you know us, lots of pictures will be included.

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day!! Here's to all the great dads and daddys out there. Daddy's keep us safe, work hard so that we can have food, shelter, toys, and lots of love. They come home from a hard day at work and are still happy to play with us and listen to what we did during our day. Daddy's are full of hugs and kisses, fun and firm when needed, know all kinds of really cool stuff, let us have chocolate cake for breakfast(not), and love usmore than we know. We think our daddy is the bestest!!! We love you:)

Happy July:)

We're only a few days into he month of July, but so far it's been pretty good.I've got to make this fast because the kids should be up for the day very soon. I think we have finally succeeded(for the most part) with potty training both kids!!! Emma has been doing it for about a month now with only a few accidents along the way. Henry has gotten on the bandwagon and isn't scared of the big potty now. We're still working on every once in a while getting him there in time. Now if we cna get him to flush just once instead of three or four times in a row, it would be great! Also, if we could get them to settle down on the hand washing afterwards that would also be great. I'm all for washng the hands after using the bathroom, but when these two leave the sink it looks like a massive tidal wave has hit the bathroom! As for the whole poop factor, well they aren't painting their bedroom walls with it anymore. Daddy came up with a great idea and it has worked so far. We haven't painted in their room yet. So the other day on the way home from one of Mommy's doctor appointments we stopped at Hobby Lobby and picked up some watercolors and brushes. We've been painting on their walls for about two weeks now and they love it. Emma could spend hours on end painting. Henry likes to supervise and have Mommy or Daddy paint for him. I don't mind because it's one thing I like to do just haven't been able to.

No more highchairs!!! They have graduated to sitting at the "big table"-our dining room table. We've played musical chairs at dinnertime a few times. but otherwise they are doing really well. We've also started working on drinking from big girl and big boy glasses instead of sippy cups. Now if we can get them to stay still and not run around with those cups then life would be great!

Still working on sharing toys and other things and taking turns. Henry is into saying "pretty soon" and "in a minute" when it comes to those two things. Emma has gotten protective of her toys. But so far no one has suffered too much.

As for whining, well...it's still happening and will continue to for a while. Usually all we have to say is, "stop whining or go to your room until your done" or start counting to three, which normally means a spank will follow if they continue.

You'll soon see a post that will say no more toddler beds as well. Toddler beds aren't built to last. And ours have taken several beatings. Ours have a lot of battle scars. So we've started looking around at twin beds. I'll post picks and an update once we get them.

As for our July 4th weekend, well, not how we originally planned. The kids will be wo different places this weekend starting later today. Aunt Amy(Yaya) will be here this afternoon to pick them up for an overnight slumber party at her house with cousin Elysabeth and then tomorrow she'll take them to Nana and Papa's for the rest of the weekend. Why, you ask. My neck/back/shoulder problems are still alive and kicking so I'm going in this afternoon to have an epidural injection and will not be able to do anything for the next few days. Hopefully this works-if not we may be looking at surgery to correct the herniated disk. I still may have to have some surgery anyway on my shoulder, but we are waiting until after this procedure to see if it also takes care of the shoulder problems.

We'll keep you posted. And I'll also post some picks sometime today before all of that, but right now I'm out of time. I hear two little sweet voices so I better go.

Happy July Pictures

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!!

The Number One BESTEST Daddy EVER!!!!






From left to right
Papa Martin(my dad), Uncle Philip(op row), Greatgranddaddy(my grandfather), Uncle Kevin, Henry, and part of Emma. Again some of the BEST daddies, grandpas, uncles in the world!!!







Grandpa Henriksen(Jason's dad)one of the BEST grandpas ever!!!!!







Uncle Brian-soon-to-be-daddy!!!!(Aunt Lisa is due in October yippee)

Working Together.....

Last night the kids decided to build their own choo-choo traintrack. This isn't a problem at all because we have a LOT of choo-choo track-Henry is a big Thomas the Tank Engine fan and we have inherited most of the tracks and buildings from one of Jason's coworkers kids and the rest we've purchased ourselves. They did rather well considering they were both really tired. We haven't been very social lately, but they also haven't been napping regularly either. Since they went into toddler beds naps have been almost nonexistant. So through sleepy, glazed eyes they worked together and created the masterpiece you see here. And of course, Daddy, got down with them and helped some too! Mom and the kiddos are headed to Richardson to hang with Nana, Papa, and Aunt Suza for a few days. We'll be getting haircuts and going to watch one of cousin Elysabeth's softball games. It's kind of a short break for daddy before giftcard season begins and I get a little help too. I'll post about a few other things that have been happening here when we get back. I haven't had as much "free" time since hey aren't napping well so the posts haven't been happening due to the fact that I've been busy doing things around the house in the evenings after they are down for the night. We'll get everyone caught up. Take care. More to come soon.

A Special Day with Daddy

Jason took some vacation time so he could be here when his parents came to visit and so he could have some special time with the kids(and me). So we took a day last week and had a day out with Daddy and did some special stuff with the kids. We went down to Fair Park and did a self guided tour of the Museum of the American Railroad. It's a collection of steam and early diesel era trains in the US. Henry was sooo excited!!! Emma was pretty excited about it too. It's one thing to look at play choo-choos and something totally different to see the real thing up close and be able to touch it.We spent a good two hours looking and then bought an engine for each of them. After the trains we headed for the aquarium. There is a small collection at the aquarium so we decided to check it out. Emma really enjoyed it and was pointing out the fish and plant life in the tanks. Henry wanted to go either outside or back to his trains. Once we finished there we went outside again for a walk and found The Old Mill Inn Restuarant and decided to have lunch there. This place has been there since 1936. The service was great and the food was pretty good too. They serve a full menu and had some items that sounded really good, but we decided on burgers for the big kids and split a hot dog and a grilled cheese sandwich and fries between the kids. Our last stop of the day was at the Texas Discovery Gardens which are also located inside Fair Park. This one was another self guided tour so we could take our time. The kids enjoyed being outside and Jason and I enjoyed the scenery. It's late in the season so not everything was in bloom, but we did see some color. It was a good day. We all had a great time. I'm including some pictures too many to post and if you haven't been able to tell based on my recent posts; we've taken loads of pictures the last few weeks! So I hope you can stand a few more! And get this-you even get to see me a couple of times:)