This Week

I have been SOOOOOOO BUSY!!  I can't even breathe.  I don't have time!!! 

Tuesday night was Jillian's art fair.  Her class did a family theme. 

Here is Jillian's family.  From left to right - me, Bryan, Hadleigh, Jillian, Rocco

You can tell that it is me because I have boobs.  Lovely!!!  See how H and J have triangle dresses and I have boobs on top. 

In other news, Hadleigh fell again.  This time, she was in the street and tore up her nose.  It is painful to look at it!! 

Jillian has taken a serious interest in cooking.  This is her cooking us pancakes!!!

I'm out of time.  Bye!!!!

Tail, Zoo, Show and Tell, Rain

Hi!!  Life is having its way with me right now.  School and kids are keeping me very busy!!  I used to have some alone time before or after school and now with Jillian with me that equals NO ALONE TIME!!! 

When I try and describe the difficulty of dealing with Hadleigh's hair, people don't quite get it.  The girl has NO hair on top and this strand of curl in the back.  It is sooooo ridiculous.  This is how much longer the curly tail is compared to the rest of her hair.... (I apologize for the blurriness but it is the best I got).  I really can't do much with what she is giving me??  Not sure if I should cut it or leave it??

We did go to the zoo last Saturday with my parents, Summer, KK and Roy.  Gavin and Bill met us after Gavin's soccer game.

The HIGHLIGHT was the hippos.  Look at how massive they are.  We have NEVER seen them out of the water.  So cool!!!!

Jillian and her favorite toad. 

Rocco and the croc!!!

The croc was not happy about having its picture taken. 

The zoo had several nice booths/exhibits set up and the kids got to have a lot of hands-on demonstrations with animal skins, tusks, bones, etc.

This is what Rocco wanted to take to show and tell - his scissor collection.

This is what we comprised on - his new USA lanyard with his new photo ID (made by Grammy) and his favorite book, Moo Baa La La La.  Rocco is really obsessed with all things teacher.  He wears a lanyard with photo ID because I wear one.  He carries around a notebook because Jillian has a notebook.  He has all of his supplies in his zipper pouch.  He has a clipboard that he walks around with and he lists the "bad" kids in timeout and the "good" kids who get treats.  This is ALL he does everyday all day. 

This is the kids on Sunday before church.  Can I just say how much I love Hanna Andersson clothes???  QUALITY!!!!  I got these beautiful clothes on clearance last winter and I LOVE them!!!!  If you want clothes that are well-made, soft and wash beautfully, this is your store.  (They also provide me with matching sibling gear which I appreciate!!  Ha!!)

Can I just tell you how awesome my gardens are doing right now??  A couple of weeks ago we had this awesome rain and everything looks sooooooo wonderful!!! 

This bush has never bloomed and now with a little yummy rain, it is beautiful!!!

My lantana just looks so vibrant!!! 

There is a lot of useless information in this post for you!!!!

Happy birthday Allison!!!

The kids did their first video message!!  I hope you have a great day Allison!!!  (I apologize in advance because the video is out of focus at times.  I think it was the dim lighting.)

Nappy, nap, kisses, crazy and sweetness

Seriously, EVERY afternoon after school, Jillian falls asleep on the way home.  It is hilarious!!!!  Most of the time, head back, mouth open, drool dripping!!  If you ask her, she will say, "kindergarten is a lot of work!!!"

I thought these pictures were soooooooooo sweet!!  My two girls sitting side by side!!

I love this picture because this shows EXACTLY how Hadleigh kisses - mouth wide open!!!  Ha!!!

You might know this crazy boy???  He would not smile but gave me this instead. 

The other night, this melted my heart.   I went to check on the kids and this is what I found.  Rocco told me in the morning that he wanted sister to hold him.  Ahhhhhhh!!!  He can be sweet occasionally!!! 

Show and Tell #3 - Things are getting Ridiculous!!!

Here is what my darlin' son brought for show and tell today. 

What is that you ask?  Pomegranates!!!  Again, just what every 3 year old wants to learn about!!!  The other night Jillian and Rocco picked several pomegranates from Grandma Strawberry's tree.  Of course, Mr. Show and Tell instantly knew what he would take for show and tell. 

Ahhh!!  Rocco don't drop them!!!!

Hadleigh thought that was hysterical!!!

Then she went back to her bread because Missy Moo is obsessed with bread!!

This Missy Moo was NOT in a good mood this morning.  She did not like the socks I picked to go with this outfit.  Bryan was home for just a few minutes before he had to leave this morning and got a glimpse of what I have to go through to get them dressed, fed and off to daycare in the morning.  Let's just say he took one look and ran for the hills!!  Ha!! 

No Pictures = No Good

I hate when I do not have any pictures to go with my post.  I am seriously in the worst mood.  I will try not to take it out on ya'll my faithful readers but....... 

My class was rough today.  I have a little boy that needs to be on meds.  Mom is aware of this fact but has no job (because she just moved here from another state because she and Daddy divorced) and no insurance and has applied for state aid and they said it will take several months.  Sooooo in the mean time, I have a boy that will do NOTHING that I ask.  If I say sit, he wants to stand.  If I say line up, then he will throw himself on the floor and roll around.  He screams, he hits, he throws things.  He doesn't understand consequences.  He ususally smiles or laughs if I try to direct him or instruct him.  Very frustrating as you can imagine!!!  Mom came to eat lunch with him today and asked him how he was doing.  I was honest about his behavior and she started crying.  Sooo now I feel guilty for making her cry.  Awful situation!!!!

Anyways, let's talk about the names in this year's class.  I seriously have rhyming names of Kayden and Brayden followed with a slightly different Jaylen (I also have a Jay not to be confused with Jaylen).  I have a Chris and a Christian.  I have an Emmy and Emily.  I have 100 names that start with K - Kayden, Kaylee, Katelyn (so sick of this name) and Kaleb.  5 weeks into the semester and I seriously sound like my Grandma, "Katelyn, no Kayden, I meant Kaleb, please line up."   Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!

Anyways, let me say one good thing about my class.  Although I am having ALL KINDS OF ISSUES with my 14 boys, my 7 girls are pretty darn good.  Well, they have to be in this class or we would all lose our minds!!!  And yes I did say 7 not 6 as I have gotten a new student and she is a GIRL!!!  Hooray!!!  Only 7  more and it will be equal!! 

OK, I actually feel better writing all of that down.  So I will add one more thing about my sweet Hadleigh.  I think I told ya'll how much she was worrying me because she is not speaking.  For a while, there was nothing coming out of her mouth.  Well except Mommy.  BUT.......I think and I hope we are turning a corner.  The other day after we left my parents, she clearly said "Ammie, bye bye.  Oppy, bye bye."  It was so awesome!!!

AND THEN yesterday, she started humming.  She will hum to Itsy Bitsy spider but does not say any of the words.  But yesterday in the car after day care she was humming something else.  By George it was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  She almost hummed the whole song. 

That it was she has started doing.  She doesn't actually say the word but she will hum or inflect my sounds.  She likes looking at some frames at our house and she will point and I will say Jillian, or Rocco or whoever she is pointing at.  When it is her turn, she kind of hums the syllables.  I don't know if that makes any sense??

But I think she is heading in the right direction!!

Tantrums, Teeth and Art

Hadleigh is at a stage that I hate.  It is the stage where she thinks she is Miss Independent but she really isn't.  She wants to climb on EVERYTHING and when I get her down, massive tantrums to follow.  Last night, she was fighting me as I was putting her in her high chair.  I tried several times but huge massive fits were thrown.  So I went to the garage and got out the booster seat that fits in a regular chair and she seemed OK with that.  Welllllllll, for a moment.  I took pictures of the ENORMOUS fit that followed.....

She did NOT want to be in that chair.  We had fajitas last night and we had grated cheese in a bag on the table.  She wanted that bag of cheese and I would not give it to her and she did NOT like that either.  She was VERY cranky last night.  I also think she is having a lot of frusteration that she cannot communicate what she wants so I think the amount of tantrums is going to get worse before it gets better.  Isn't that a happy thought??

Seriously people, this is what I see in the rearview mirror everytime we drive home.

Kindergarten is kicking Jillian's you know what.  She works soooo hard to stay on purple each day.  (Purple is the best, then blue, then green, then yellow and then red.  If you don't behave in school, you have to move down the color chart.)   Last week, Jillian slipped down to green (Mrs. V said she was being really silly in class) so Mommy and Daddy had to have a big talk with her about taking school seriously and showing her best behavior.  Since then, all purples!!!

Yesterday after lunch, she lost tooth #4.  Mommy and Daddy are going to have to get a 2nd job to keep the tooth fairy stocked with dollars and ready to go for this girl!!!!!

Finally, open house is tonight.  Jillian saw what my class was making and insisted she make it too.  Her class is the monkeys.  My class, we are the penguins.  I saw this idea on pinterest and let's just say it was ALOT of work to paint all 21 (well, 22 counting Jillian) of my kids' feet but they turned out really cute!!!