Alexis's Letter to Santa

The girls wrote their letters to Santa today. Of course I wrote Alexis's, but she dictated. She really wanted to write her name at the bottom so I let her. We've been working on writing her letters, but individually, not together. This is the first time she wrote her name by herself! (She had a little help from Mom with the S, but otherwise, she did it all by herself!)

Halloween

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! We had a lot of fun here!!! Below you will see two slide shows of pictures from our fun filled Halloween festivities.

We actually got around to carving pumpkins this year! We had a blast! Although, we kind of cheated and used the pre-made designs, instead of using our creativity.... maybe I'll be able to convince them to do that next year! Alexis was so funny when it came to scraping the guts. At first she didn't want anything to do with getting her hands slimey and gross (which, knowing her aversion to having dirty hands, we all knew she wouldn't want to do it). But after seeing Natalie having so much fun with it, and after a lot of reassuring that she could wash her hands afterwards, she really got into it! Natalie had a blast, scraping, carving, and helping take pictures when Mom was busy!

Auntie Kathi got to come up for the weekend of Halloween! It was so great to see her! She made all of our costumes! She is so talented! She and the girls were fairies from the Tinkerbell movies. Alexis was Tinkerbell, Natalie was Silvermist, and Kathi was Rosetta. They turned out great!!! Thanks Auntie Kathi!!! She took the girls to Natalie's school for the fall festivle on Friday. They had a lot of fun!

On Saturday, my work had a Zumba Halloween party. If you're not familiar with Zumba, it's an extremely popular exercise class that involves a lot of dancing, it's quite fun! Anyway, I had to work it and was told "Stephanie, you don't have to dress up, but it would be great if you got into the spirit of things and were in costume!" Which I translated into, "You have to dress up" :-). So Kathi helped me make a zombie costume out of an old shirt from the health club and I went as the RHC (Riverside Health Club) Zombie. A friend of mine did my make up and it turned out awesome! Thanks Sarah!!! It was a lot of fun!

What do you do?

I have just been through one of the worst weeks of my life. In fact, only one week surpasses this one....

Two weeks ago was great! I had an excellent birthday, I successfully threw Peter a surprise birthday party with a lot of friends and family, I applied for 2 teaching positions at a school that I thought I had a HUGE chance of getting hired at. On Monday I got a call for an interview for those two positions, scheduled on Tuesday at 4! YAY YIPPEEEEE!!! That was the end of my good week.

On Tuesday I was scheduled to work the second half of the day at the school next door to the school that I had the interview for. No big deal, I'd just go accross the road for my interview. I thought I had the morning to get ready, so I was taking my time. At 9:00, Natalie was on the bus, Alexis was watching cartoons, and I was sitting in the chair in my pjs when I got a call from a school secretary, saying I was scheduled to be there teaching Kindergarten that morning. I said that I wasn't, but checked my schedule anyway, and sure enough, there it was. I was supposed to be there at 8:30. Fratically, I told the secretary that I was at least 30 min. away and ran upstairs to get ready. I called Peter, literally, while I was in the shower and apparently he had booked me the job a week ago, and forgot to tell me. I could have killed him, granted I should have checked my schedule closer, but I didn't know I needed to look for anything.... blah blah blah. Anyway, I take the world's fastest shower, and throw my interview outfit on in about 10 minutes. I grab my makeup bag, hoping that I'll have some time to put it on during the day. I'm also calling the babysitter, but she's not answering her phone, so I don't have anywhere for Alexis to go to. Thank God Charley was home and had the day off from school and work and could watch Alexis (who is still in her pjs, and only had a quick snack for breakfast, nothing substancial). So I show up at the school and rush into the classroom, that has started already, and I was just so off all morning because I didn't start the day with them and set the first impression kind of thing. The class was chaotic and just off. So I get through the morning, and get all the kids on the bus to go home (half day kindergarten) and leave 10 minutes before I was supposed to. I didn't eat breakfast, and I wasn't going to go without lunch too, not on that day. So I go through a drive through and get a quick lunch and eat it in the car on the way to the next school. I've got napkins draped all over me, so that if I drip, it doesn't get on me. I show up at the second school, sign in at the office and get told, by the secretary, "Oh you're in tech this afternoon? Good luck with that!" Not a good sign..... I get in the room, and there are minimal lesson plans. "Have students in tech do Math Facts and Type to Learn and in your library class, read the students some books or do an author study for 20 minutes and then let them check out." The only helpful thing she did leave me was a schedule of the times she has classes, but they don't have what grades they are. I only have five minutes between each class, so I couldn't even go in and prepare for that library and find some books, or find out what grade..... Oh well, it was a bit chaotic and on the fly, but nothing too bad. But by the end of that period, I'm exhausted, mentally and physically. Then I had to go to my interview..... and totally flopped it! At least I feel like I did. There were questions that took me off guard, and then there were questions that I feel like I should have answered very differently than I did but didn't think of a good answer until AFTER, and at their last question, "Why do you want to be a teacher" I teared up.... and then they didn't give me an opportunity to ask questions.... Why?????? I just wanted to curl up in bed and cry, but I didn't have time, because I had to rush home, get the girls and change for work that night.

Wednesday was actually a good day. I taught in Natalie's class, which was a lot of fun.

Thursday, I taught in 2nd grade, and it was the worst 2nd grade class I've ever been in. 2nd grade is my absolute FAVORITE grade to teach. I was looking forward to this day, but there was so much drama and issues in this class, I felt like I was teaching middle school. I had a couple of girls get in a loud argument over 75 cents. It was unbelievable! They didn't listen to directions at all; it's surprising we got anything accomplished at all that day.

Then Friday came.... I still hadn't heard anything about the jobs, whether I got them or not. I was teaching 5th grade at the school that the positions are open and I figured, I'd probably find out that day. It was the absolute worst day of subbing I've ever had. Long story short, the principal had to come up to the room 3 different times; twice to remove the same student out of the room who was absolutely disrespectful and refused to do anything I asked; the second time he had to remove another student out as well. And the third time he had to come back up shortly after removing the students the second time to regain control of the room, because I could not. At that time, he saw that I was about to lose it from frustration so he sent me out of the room to regain composure. That's not a good thing for a principal who is looking to hire you.

I still haven't heard anything about the jobs. I'm assuming I didn't get either of them though.

I've been spiraling ever since! I'm tired! I'm tired of subbing! I'm tired of not knowing what to expect every day! I'm tired of working from 8 am to 10 pm 4 nights a week! I'm tired of missing my family! I'm tired of not having dinner with my family! I'm tired of only seeing Natalie 2 hours a day (1 hour before school and 1 hour after) 4 days a week! I'm tired of working two jobs! I'm tired of working my ass off and having nothing to show for it!! I'm tired of making too much for some programs but not making enough (or not having my subbing count as income) for other things! I'm... Just... TIRED!!!

What do you do when you want your dream so very badly, but you're not willing/can't afford to fight for it anymore?

I'VE BEEN...

BEAN BOOZLED!!!
This week the Jelly Belly jelly bean company has been on tour promoting their Bean Boozled variety of their jelly beans. Tuesday they were in Burlington, and thanks to Granma Kathy calling to let
us know, so we went in to try them out. There are 20 flavors, but only 10 colors, so each color has two different flavors; one good and one gross. Anyway, they had a spinner, and a wonderful gentleman who was absolutely
into the ordeal and sold you on anything! So you would spin the spinner, and it would land on one of the combinations: chocolate pudding or canned dog food, peach or barf, banana or pencil shavings, black licorice or skunk spray, caramel corn or moldy cheese, strawberry or centipede, coconut or baby wipes, juicy pear or booger,
buttered popcorn or rotten eggs, and (the better combo) berry blue or toothpaste. So Natalie spins the wheel and she lands on a space that she gets to choose her jelly bean out of three options, and she chose buttered popcorn or rotten egg and got the buttered popcorn. When Alexis spun, the guy stopped the wheel at the berry blue or
toothpaste (saved specially for little kids!) and she got the toothpaste. When I spun, it passed the chocolate pudding or canned food space onto something else, but my stinker of a daughter, Natalie, really wanted me to have that option, so she quickly pushed it back onto that space... stinker butt!!! So being the good sport I
am, I went ahead and did that. Guess what I got! You got it, the canned dog food…. GROSS!!!!!!!! Natalie asked if she could try again, and the guy said she could choose another option, anything but the berry blue or toothpaste option. So she chose to try the coconut or baby wipe option. Again, she got lucky and got the coconut option.
So we left and I looked at Wal-Mart and Safeway for these, but they didn’t have at all. They were having another stop in Stanwood on Wednesday, so I decided since we had so much fun, we’d drive down and do it again! (All these pictures are from Wednesday, because I didn’t think to bring the camera on Tuesday… Another reason I wanted
to go again on Wednesday!) This time, I brought my friend, and co-worker, Antony, who is from Kenya, and, which I learned Tuesday night, had never heard of jelly beans before, so I thought he might enjoy the experience as well. Natalie, again went first, and she got peach or barf. She got lucky, again, and got peach. Alexis went next, the guy stopped it at the berry blue or toothpaste again (again, I can’t tell you how awesome this guy was! He was having as much fun talking the wimps... mostly adults:)… into taking the chance and trying a Bean Boozled Bean!) This
time, we couldn’t get out of her what she had. I’m thinking it was the berry blue and she didn’t recognize the flavor and, therefore, couldn’t tell us. Lucky child! Antony went next and got the buttered popcorn or rotten egg. He too, got lucky. It was my turn again (no pictures….of this one). I was a bit apprehensive, but I spun the
wheel anyway. And can you guess what I landed on? Chocolate pudding or canned dog food, again (this time I actually landed on it so I guess it was a bit different...)! I went ahead and ate it and sure enough, I got the canned dog food…. GROOOOOSSSSSSS!!! Believe it or not, it’s worse the second time around :)! The guy let Natalie try
again, after a little bit of begging on my part, and again she got lucky! I teased Natalie that if it were legal, I would give her $10 to buy some lottery tickets! I was so happily frustrated…. I was the only one who got a yucky flavor both days. So I went into the Hagens, the store the tour bus was at, thinking that they should at least
be selling the product being promoted outside… Nope. I asked where we could get some, and he said the closest store selling them was in Tulalip. So down to the outlet mall in Tulalip we went. I was NOT going to be the only one to get a gross flavor!!!!!! It was totally worth the drive down to get the box. The box came with it’s own spinner so we
all played the game again, and again, and again right there in the parking lot! Finally, Natalie got a (few) yucky ones! The expression on her face was totally worth the drive. When we got back into Mount Vernon, we decided to stop by the health club and try it on a few people there. The owners were in their office, and Antony (who
knows them so much better than I do, otehrwise, I wouldn't have tried them) said we should try it out on them first. Much to my surprise, they were game and tried it. They all got yucky flavors, moldy cheese, baby wipes and rotten egg! We went into the club, and got so many people to try. I was a bit surprise at some people who I thought would never try it actually did, and then others, who I thought would be great sports with it, would not try it out at all! Just goes to show you... you can never know everything about everyone :)! But others, who I thought would be great sports with it, would not try it out at all! Just goes to show you, you can't tell everything about everyone... But
the experience was so much fun!!! If you are ever in a store that actually has these in stock, I totally recommend you pick up a box. It's been a long time since I've had so much nonsense fun! And even longer since I've laughed so freaking hard! The girls, and I think even Antony, had a lot of fun too! The girls ate so many of them, just for the
experience, or thrill, I'm not sure which,probably both, to get a yucky one! Some of the faces made by everyone have been PRICELESS!!!!











And finally, one last picture to prove that I don’t talk my friends and co-workers into this kind of thing without doing it myself! I believe I got the moldy cheese in this picture! Still gross, but nothing as bad as that canned dog food (which I had to do on a couple different occasions because Natalie loved my face that I made with it)!

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A couple months ago, I had set myself a goal... to lose 50 pounds in 6 months.... and failed miserably! The first few months I took a bootcamp class and I did OK with that and even went in a few times on my own to workout. I lost about 10 pounds. After the price of the class went up to a point that I couldn't afford it anymore, I totally lost motivation for many different reasons.

The title of this post, is the amount I weigh as of Friday, when I weighed myself for the first time in a long time. Ugh! I had been putting weighing myself off for a long time because I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. I have to do something about this, but I also know that I've struggled with things in the past. So this weekend I made myself analyze my history and figure out what worked and what got in my way of being successful in my past goals.

When I did the bootcamp, I put money towards it, and that was when I was doing my best. It held me accountable because I didn't want that money to go to waste. Once that ended, I didn't have that. Also, I was on my own, I didn't have a personal trainer telling me what to do. The few times I went in to the gym, or even doing things at home, I didn't know what to do, I was lost. Another reason I failed, is that the gym is so far away, and I'm there 5 nights a week and really I didn't want to be there any more than I had to. I also didn't have anywhere for the girls to go to, and the only time I could go in was Sunday and Monday evening after Peter got off of work. But that was a problem in itself because Sundays and Monday evenings are really the only times I get to spend with Peter, and I didn't want to give that up. My home workouts were a disaster, because I got too distracted with the girls, chores, TV, computer, etc.

Yes those are all excuses, but they were the reasons that things weren't working. I had to figure out a way to overcome all those excuses. So I came up with a plan. I've decided, finally, to enroll the girls in my gym's Kids Club and I sat down with what I do know from the different programs the club offers, and their fitness class schedule and made myself a schedule of daily, Monday-Saturday, workout! I made it detailed so I know exactly what I'm doing each day. I'm also keeping a workout journal so I can reflect daily/weekly on my progress.

Today was my first day. The club has been pushing to our new members that they should know where they've started so later they can know their progress. So that is what I did today. A quick, short workout, that I recorded my starting point. I ran for 12 minutes and went 0.89 miles. I did 52 crunches in a minute and 13, VERY weak, push-ups from my knees. I still have to measure my waist, hips, thighs, chest, and biceps today.

My goals:
1. To weigh 140-150 pounds, by August 1, 2011.
2. To be able to run 2 miles in that 12 minutes, be able to do full sit-ups for that minute and do much better in my pushu-ps.
3. Stick with my schedule and not lose motivation.
4. Eat better!!

So wish me luck in my new journey. I feel very confident and motivated and commited to this journey! I know there will be days that I feel discouraged, and ready to give up, but I have the support of my family and, hopefully, my friends to get me through those times!

Natalie's Rollerskating Recital

Hopefully this works! Natalie has been taking rollerskating lessons this past year. She has been having so much fun and doing so well with them. They have done wonders for her self esteem and confidence! I'm so glad that Grandma Kathy decided to sign her up for those so many months ago! The lessons basically just go through the school year, and at the end of every year they put on a recital! (If what I'm trying to do works) Below is the video of her recital! She was a bit nervous and focusing more on us and other skaters than on herself that she wasn't fully up to par, but she was still wonderful and she had a GREAT time!

Go, Dog. Go!

Yes as in the book. Natalie just read that to me for the first time! She's been bringing home little books from school that are meant to help her learn to read. They are very simple but very effective as well: "This is Tim. Tim is a boy. Tim is sad. This is Sally. Sally is a girl. Sally cheers up Tim." That's about it but she has been doing very well with those. As well as she has been doing, she hasn't had the confidence to try a REAL book, yet. Until last night when I told her to go get Go, Dog. Go!, remembering how easy it is and that it's a great first attempt to really read book. She excitedly went and got it. I also forgot how long it was espcially with a beginning reader. We had to stop in the middle of it to go to bed as we were already 15 minutes past bed time. But she sat down with me this morning and finished it! She did great! I'm so very proud of her!

The Things Kids Say

This past weekend was beautiful! Sunny, warm, absolutely perfect weather! So of course we were outside most of the weekend playing. That included Friday, when Natalie and I had an interesting conversation; I just have to share with you.

Natalie and Alexis were outside playing and I was inside getting ready for work. They both come inside as I was making myself something to eat and the following is our conversation:

Mom(M): What are you guys doing inside?
Natalie(N): We saw a bear!
Alexis: Yeah we saw a bear!
M: No you didn't, now go back outside and play! It's gorgeous out!
N: But Mom, we did see a bear! It was in the forest and it was licking itself!
M: OK then what did it look like?
N: Ummmmm it was black and white. It was one of those panda bears!!

Haha, they ended up going back outside to play!

And what crazy silly things has Alexis been up to lately? If you watched the American Idol auditions this year, you are familiar General Larry Platt and his "Pants on the Ground" audition. Well, that song has been a daily occurance in our house ever since. Everytime Alexis gets dressed and takes off her pants she sings "Pants on the ground, pants on the ground. Lookin' fool with pants on the ground."

Goofy children! Gotta love 'em!

Nevermind

The house isn't going to work out. There's too much to repair and we won't have the funds to do it all. I knew this was probably going to be the case, but still.... I'm bummed!

My Olympian

I was watching the mens figure skating yesterday (it was recorded because I had to work and I love the figure skating!) and Alexis started "skating" around the living room! It was so funny! I especially loved it when she would stop for a second to watch the TV to see what to do and the guy on TV would fall out of a jump, so she'd jump and then fall too! Two year olds are so much fun! Well, so are six year olds! I tried to upload the video, but apparently the file is too big and I don't know how to make it smaller. Anyone know how?