in-laws are NOT out-laws

Just have to brag about my in-laws.

Whatever the stereotypical IN LAWS are portrayed as being is SO not them.

REASONS WHY THEY ROCK:

• they love my kids as if they were their own (to them, they ARE their own)
  
• my mother in law is great for a little "REALITY" check now and then, and knows how to deliver it gently :D
  
• If we need a sitter for the day (for Aspen or Morgan) they drive up with no notice the night before to come help us out.
  
• If there is an event... they are there: Wade's and Brenden's basketball (IN TREMONTON!), Brenden's state cross country, Morgan's goalball, my officiating, and many others.
  
• They dish me plenty of dirt on Hayden that the kids and I can razz him about
  
• They love me... and I love them for it.
  

LOVE YOU GUYS! You're the best

the dreaded PTC

Parent teacher conferences, for me as a teacher, are PAINFUL!   My headache this morning is partially due to tomorrow's conferences.  

WHY?

• I have a never-ending line
  
• The parents who show are not the ones that need to be there
  
• Sitting for 6 hours... straight... is not on my list of things I enjoy
  
• gym + school + PTC = 14 hour day
  

the benefits??

well, there is only one.

I get to go home with my enlarged EGO.   Apparently kids like my class, which translates into happy parents.  

pawk

We have the misfortune (or good luck) of living across the street from a city park.  It's great for many reasons: get togethers with family, extra room to play and throw frisbees, and for a playground for Aspen without having to have our own.  The latter... is the battle of wills I have with Aspen lately.

Because you can see the park from our front door, she sits at the front door, wistfully looking at the kids out playing, and just sits there pointing at it saying "pawk, pawk, pawk".  Cute, but not cute enough to con me into taking her over for the fourth time in one day.  This summer is going to be a bugger.  Keeping her off the sidewalks in front of the house, let alone the street, is a power struggle.  She is mischievous enough that she tries to slowly inch herself toward the park thinking I won't notice.  YEAH RIGHT.  

Turn her loose at the park, and she would stay there all day (not kidding) if I let her.  

moooooooo!

I'm sure cow (or MOO) is every toddler's first words, but Aspen is obsessed with the poor things.  She has a little cow she carries around, is always looking for them as we drive, loves her books with them in it, and her version of entertainment is being pushed to the field where the cows are to sit and watch them. YAWN.  This is one easily entertained child!

open house

I was lucky enough to reserve some tickets to the Draper temple open house for Presidents' Day.  The boys had never been to one before so it was fun to explain all the things they were seeing. 

Aspen should have stayed home.   

baby - nap + lots of people in a quiet place = TANTRUM (and a very embarrassed mom).  

Is she almost 2?   UNDERSTATEMENT!

It was a long day, but it was definitely worth it!

making a list... checking it twice

Not sure why, but I am, and always have been a list maker.  I have never been able to keep track of things in my head, and always feel better once they are written down for me to see.  

LISTS for:

homework

things to do

jobs to be done each day of the week... and month

menus

goals

exercise

christmas gifts

home repairs

grocery lists

*you name it, I've probably put it on a list

With the wonderful technology provided by the internet, it makes my little habit much easier.

For cleaning house I love FLYLADY, which gives me a list of things to do each day.

For running and keeping track of miles, my two favorites are REAL RUNNERS and DAILY MILE.

For keeping track of food and water intake, and calories burned (and several other great resources), MY PLATE is what I use. 

If it is genetic, I have my parents both to thank (my mother is the queen of lists).  

If it is taught... once again, I thank my parents (but worry where the teaching gap is between me and my eldest, who can't make a list to save her life.  Literally)

furious

I have some major issues with coaches and the coaching idea in general.  I will freely admit that some of it is from my days in the gym... both in high school and college... but still, my issues reared their ugly head this past weekend.

I went to Brenden's last game of the season in Tremonton on Friday.  Took part of the day off work to get there, and Grandma Deb and Grandpa Frank drove up from Ephraim to watch him as well.  Well, it's a good thing we got pictures of him warming up, because that is the only time he was moving all game.  He didn't get in for 1 second.  HELLO?  LAST GAME?  Your starters blew a 19 point lead and you leave them in???  I was FURIOUS! (Still am, truth be told).  Why in the #($* does a coach keep 15+ kids on a team where he consistently plays the same 8 or 9?  It's not like Brenden doesn't have skills either.  When he goes in, he creates plays, causes turnovers, and draws the foul on his drives.  Still... no matter what happens this year or last year, Brenden has basketball on the brain and refuses to let it go.  He even brought up letting track slide next year and during the summer so he could work on his basketball.  I hope that doesn't happen.  He is a cross country/track star in the making.

Thankfully not all people/instructors hold the same opinion of Brenden and his skills.  After his game I grudgingly attended the varsity game with him, but ended up very glad I did.  He played drums in the pep band the 1st half of the game, and he ROCKS!  He is great... and loves posing for his mother who is never without her camera.

Proud as punch of Brenden... regardless of what his "coach" thinks of his skills.

tradition

There aren't many traditions, other than Christmas, that we have for our family... but Valentine's Day traditions are easily created.  When I first started teaching at my current school, I bought one of these DELICIOUS AWESOME (very NON-healthy) cookies for each of the kids... and personally ate the 5 extras that students bought for me.  So each year, I get the kids their valentine cookie... and try to avoid eating so many cookies that I have to run 20 miles a day to work them all off.

my two babies

I really miss seeing Wade and his basketball games this time each year.  Having games on Saturday makes it hard to get to the games, home again, and back again at the end of the weekend... so we have had to pick and choose.  This was finally a time we were able to go see his game, and the only person more excited to see him was his baby sister.  (She loves basketball anyway, and with Wade on the floor, it was hard to keep her from trying to join the game).  Love you Wade... nice DEFENSE!

firsts

One of the best things about babies, toddlers and kids is being able to see them experience things for the first time.  Yesterday was a BIG day for firsts in Aspen's world.  Hayden got a big package delivered to the house that came complete with BUBBLE WRAP and a HUGE cardboard box.  We made windows in the box and a hole in the ceiling, and Aspen... reluctantly... climbed inside.  She still isn't convinced that it is safe in there, so I keep throwing things she loves in to make her go in and retrieve them.  Maybe the box is more fun for me than it is for her :)  The bubble wrap, on the other hand, was right up her alley.  She loved standing on it making it pop, and figured out that having shoes on helps make more bubbles pop.  Throwing yourself to the floor on top of the bubble wrap even is more productive, however, not the safest idea.

The final NEW adventure of the day was nothing more than a pin-wheel.  I had forgotten how fascinating something so simple can be to a 20 month old.  She has finally figured out how to hold it in front of the heater or walk with it and make it spin without having to keep blowing on it.  

The big package that came was a monster vacuum cleaner and I got to initiate it.  My entire house got vacuumed (all the hard floors, anyway), and I have officially decided to take over the vacuum.  IT ROCKS!  I might let Hayden use it occasionally... maybe.

Toilet Paper Recycling

Anyone who has ever had a toddler knows the inevitable decision must be made... throw the massive pile of unwound toilet paper away, or try to salvage it by rolling it back on.  Since it was at my in-laws, I decided to try to save it.  I think I have decided that inventing a "child-proof" toilet paper might make me rich someday.  Somehow, I have an inkling that this is only the tip of the mess of things to come.  I haven't had a baby powder, vaseline, lotion, paint, sugar, lipstick or other messy messes to clean up yet.

YET being the key word.

Wish list

If Aspen had a wish list, one thing would be at the top... a baby.  We had some friends drop by the other day and she couldn't keep away from their 4 month old.  Hugging, kissing, patting, and attemping to sit on him was what she was doing all night.

Yeah right.  Not sure how she would ever handle having another little one to roost with.

She is so used to having the run of the house and being the center of the universe!  She gets jealous when H and I kiss, or even hold hands.  Not so sure how that would translate into sharing toys, books, or ... heaven forbid... her farm toys with someone else.

{E I E I O}

Old MacDonald had a farm... but Aspen has taken over!  She had a gift card to spend at Barnes and Noble and as much as she LOVES books, she loves COWS (and farm animals in general) more.  We left the store with a farm puzzle, a tractor that holds farm animals and also makes animal noises.   NO ONE can touch them without her giving her "permission".

do not disturb

Our front door says WELCOME, but some days I think I would rather put a DO NOT DISTURB 

sign up instead.  I had visions of sewing a few outfits for Aspen this weekend and maybe getting a few pages in my scrapbook completed.  This was NOT how it turned out.  Saturday morning started with a church basketball game (man, I miss playing competitive ball). For the rest of the afternoon I got to "watch kids" while we had the kids' father fix our roof and put our gutters back up after the ice and snow brought 

them down this winter.  5 hours later, with not ONE stitch of sewing or pictures completed... but with repairs done, I was ready to reclaim my house and my SPACE.  Aspen was too.