A week in the life of ME....

O.k. my sis Danielle is doing this this week, and I have so much fun reading hers that I think I'll try it, too. Please forgive me if it bores you to tears.

I'm starting on Tuesday of this week. I have no pictures prior to 7:00 a.m.--I won't do that to you. I crawl myself out of bed, reluctantly, at 6:30 a.m. in order to get Tanner ready. I don't think you want to see that mess, so I'm sparing you. One morning I'll try to get a picture, but, like me, he is NOT a morning person. I'm afraid it'll just ruin his day, but I'll try to be sneaky.

Tues:

Tanner needs to be out the door at 7:00a.m. in order to catch the bus to his school. The bus meets at the high school, so Tanner has to walk up the hill to catch it. On this particular day, he thought it was too cold to walk, so I slipped my flip-flops on and drove him the 1 block to school. Yes, I know. I get back home to find that Ashley is mad at me because it's not 'fair' that I drive him and not her, so into the car I go. I finally get home to hop in the shower to get ready for work when Allison pouts that she wants a ride, too. See where I'm going with this?

Finally, after my shower, I wake up sleeping Mitchell. Yes, he gets to sleep until 8:00a.m. How unfair is THAT??!!

Every morning Mitch needs some cuddle time on the couch....watching the weather report.

After getting him fed, and in his room changing, I head back to the kitchen to mix up a gourmet breakfast for our dog Ruby. She has been sick off and on since we moved here--giardia from the creek....or elk droppings.....or both--and was getting better until I changed her food. Stupid...stupid me!! So these last few days have been terrible for her and us (mainly me... as I seem to be the only one that hears her during the night to go out). Poor Ruby! So, this morning she is having rice mixed with pumpkin. Everyone swears by it here, and has been working great.

Here's her pumpkin and giardia medicine....yum yum.

She doesn't mind it at all!

After that, I threw a chicken in the crock pot for supper......

....and packed Mitchell's snacks in his backpack.

"Mom, can you help me with my hair??"

"Of course, my handsome man!"

Off to the bus stop! I work late today, so I get to walk with him, and wait for the bus to come. He loves that. "Bye, my sweet...have a great day!"

Here's my daily water bottle on my way to work. It's sooooo dry here, I can't get enough water.

Here is some of the scenery I'm treated to on my way. It's a 15min. drive, but I love it. I crank the tunes and sing, and look at all the fall leaves changing on the mountains. Please don't ask how I got these pictures...

Here is the building where I work.

Something I learned today....Did you know that when the weather turns cold in higher altitudes, it makes the air pressure in your car tires decrease? I suppose it's simple science, but my car didn't know that....and neither did I before today. The light turned off as soon as the air warmed up. Interesting......

I left work a little early to take Tanner and Ashley to their doctor appointments. They needed check-ups and SHOTS. Here's Tanner being tough.....

.....while Ashley was getting hers done. Don't you love seeing me in the mirror? :) They had a total of 4 shots each...along with the flu-mist. Yuk!

We came home to find that poor Ruby couldn't hold it while we were gone. So, hence the drying kennel. Not a fun thing to return home to....especially when you have chicken cooking in the crock pot that smells delicious....and, well, you know....

After cleaning up, I monitor computer time,

and enforce trumpet practice and homework.

After supper it's shower time and bedtime snack time.

At this point, I'm trying to watch the debate, but....

this is so much more interesting...

While I was reading with Mitch, Chuck was doing the job I hate the most...washing dishes (especially crock pots with chicken cooking in them all day). Thank you, honey!

One more gourmet meal for Ruby. It's strictly rice tonight, baby. O.k. maybe a little chicken bouillon.

After scratching backs, and listening to all the super-hero names that Mitch has picked for his stuffed animals, it's lights out for the boys. Goodnight, 'blue-bear' (who can swim underwater without being noticed)...goodnight Freddie (who can disappear at any time), and goodnight Willy (who can disguise himself as a rock). O.k. maybe not too creative, but you gotta love 'em.

Finally, I'm off to the couch, exhausted, with a 'Mikes Hard Lemonade' and 'The Biggest Loser' on the tube. Sorry I hardly have any pictures of the girls today. Allison didn't get home from practice until after I was on the couch under two blankets. Hopefully tomorrow with be a little less chaotic.

What we've been up to.....

Yes, it's been a while. Once your life gets into a routine, time flies by....but here is some updates on our family.

Work for me is going great. I'm bonding more with the kids every day, and can actually be my goofy self and not worry so much about doing things 'right'...(though that is important, too). I love that these teachers/parents aren't so strict about fitting everything in. If we want to just get out the instruments and dance and march our morning away...we do just that! It's great, and most days I laugh so much (mostly at myself) that I carry that into the rest of the day.

A couple weeks ago we had our first fire in our basement fireplace. Yes, it was cold enough outside for it. It hasn't been since, though, but there are a few changes we will have to make before we have ANOTHER fire downstairs. We realized that the fireplace opening is too large and the smoke from the fire flows into the room before it's able to make it to the updraft thingy. The majority of it goes up, but quite a bit enters the room. We've had the smoke smell in our house for weeks now.

Last weekend we went to Golden, where they were having a festival. It was a beautiful day...one of those you just want to bottle up and save until mid-January.

While there we enjoyed a BBQ--ribs, chicken, potato salad, beans, and homemade pie. We toured some old buildings, including a one-room schoolhouse. We were amazed that it was used as a schoolhouse until the mid-'50's. Grandpa Merril attended school in a one-room classroom like this, and we were just imagining him sitting in the corner wearing a 'DUNCE' hat. :)

Some girls were in there playing school. It was so cute..I wanted to stay and play, too.

Tanner was able to make a hook with a blacksmith that day, too. It took a long time, and really made us appreciate how hard those blacksmiths worked...and how talented they were.

Tanner pumping the fire.

Showing Tanner how it's done.

Giving it a try....

So hard to twist that metal. See how red his face is?

Here are some more pictures of the day:

We really had a great day. Golden is a beautiful city, one you must visit if in Colorado. We walked along the river watching a father and son kayaking, and further down watching a group of college boys bath themselves in the FRIGID river. I shiver just thinking about it now.

We also attended a Farmer's Market and taste-tested a lot of yummy food.

On another note....We have found a church!! I'm so excited about this. We've felt comfortable since we stepped into the building. It is smaller than any other church we've attended, and at first we thought we would rather attend a larger church..mainly for the youth involvement. But, right away I felt at home. The pastor is a younger pastor and today was the first time we've heard him preach. All I can say is, "WOW". He just knew how to connect with us. So, yeah, that's exciting news to us.

The girls celebrated their Homecoming this past week. They've had a lot of fun....from a bonfire in the school parking lot, a carnival, the game, and last night had the dance. Here are a few pictures of my beautiful daughters.

One last thing. This is what I purchased at a garage sale this past Saturday:

This dresser doesn't fit in our bedroom, so we put it in our dining room where we'll use it as a hutch for now. It matches all our furniture. Did I mention that they have great garage sales up here in the mountains??!!

Mitchell's awesome weekend

What a popular boy he is this weekend! Today he's invited to a friends football-themed birthday party. They are all wearing their favorite jerseys (Mitch's of course is his Vikings jersey), playing a football game, then heading to the highschool football game tonight to cheer on the Cougars. Afterward, they are heading back home to have a sleepover! He's so excited...to say the least. We went shopping this morning, and the entire time he wanted to get home so that we weren't late for the party! :)
Then there's tomorrow!!! After we pick him up from one party he heads to another! At this party they (get this) get to go to a local gold mine and pan for gold! Isn't that cool? He keeps asking if he can keep the gold if he finds any. I sure hope so! :)

Good luck Mitch!

A little out of sorts...

That's how I'm feeling. Don't get me wrong, the new job is great. I've met a lot of Mom's this past week, along with their beautiful children. What fun my work day is.....
What's gotten me out of sorts? Maybe it's my health...I'm trying to kick something that kept me on the couch with aches from Friday last week until Monday. Tuesday was the first day I felt a little normal. Today, though, I'm in a funk....lack of sleep, terrible dreams last night, dehydration...it could be any one of those. But the real reason, I think, is how I'm feeling as a Mommy. A couple things that have been brought to my attention yesterday and today make me feel as if I'm failing, in a way. One of my beautiful daughter's is getting a 'D' in a class. Her other grades aren't great, either. She has NEVER had worse than a B- in all the years she's been in school. My first reaction was horror! I tried not to yell....that doesn't solve anything. My reaction went from anger ("How could you let it get this BAD??"), to faked indifference ("Well, this means you can't attend the next field trip. That's too bad.") to worry ("Is everything o.k.? Is there something you're not telling me?"). I don't think Chuck got a word in...poor guy. So, I went to bed feeling terrible, and angry at myself. I don't want her to feel bad about herself...there's no need to, she's an awesome and SMART person. Today I'm in 'fix it' mode. I'll be sending some emails out to see what we can do for her. Any other suggestions?

When I got home from work today I had a number of different emails from a few teachers. I was informed that my son has two MAJOR assignments that he hasn't turned in yet. Of course I had no idea. His teacher said that normally the highest grade he can receive for late work is a 'C', but she's going to give him a 'teaching moment', accepting the work for full credit IF he agrees to not have any more late assignments for the rest of the year. So, the pressure is on!

Why is it that us parents take it personally when their kids get a bad grade, or assignments are late? I know that I'm not the only one! I guess it's because it's been my JOB to teach them responsibility. I know I can be hard on myself...this is THEIR lives...THEIR grades...not mine. But man, I feel as if I am being graded......and failing miserably.

A week of New Beginnings.....and old sicknesses

My first week on my new job! What a week it has been. We've been hard at work cleaning the classroom, cleaning the toys, and brainstorming on how to decorate this newly constructed room. The walls are bare--no color to them yet, unless you count the light tan that was freshly painted over the summer. My brain has been busy trying to recollect the ECFE rooms my kids attended. They were always so full of color, with a million activities filling up every inch of space. I want to turn this space into something like that, but the program here has hardly any funding to work with. I want to dig out my paintbrushes and paint a huge tree on one very bare wall. I have yet to summon up the courage to act on it. I guess I'm afraid that if I suggest it I'll actually have to DO it. :)
I really love the women of this program. It should be a very fun work atmosphere. They are all so kind and excited about their jobs and the kids. We've planned some holiday activities that will really help the community, and I'm anxious to get my kids involved.

As far as the rest of the family.....sickness has, once again, hit our house. From diarrhea, sore throats to ear infections. Ashley is finally going to the doc today. This has hung on too long. She woke up this morning not being able to taste anything or hear anything on her left side. So, the hunt for a new doctor is in the works.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I've been dying to decorate for Halloween and Fall, but my darling hubby says that it's too early for that! He still wants summer and all the beautiful weather. Fall is my favorite time......cooler weather (even though I hate dragging out warmer shoes. I'm such a sandal person), apple crisp, crock pot beef stew, fires in the fireplace, football Sundays (goooo Vikings), pumpkin pie spiced candles.......I could go on....and on......

Very busy lady...

I have been very busy this last week...but an exciting busy, to say the least.
First off....after 17 yrs. of being a stay-at-home Mom, I now am part of the working class! Yes, I got a job offer this week...and I snatched it up as fast as I could. This is my dream job, I tell ya! I've been so excited, and didn't think I had a chance, but after a quick description of myself and all of my volunteer work through the years she offered me an interview. My interview was 45 minutes long, went extremely well (I loved these women), and they offered me the job that afternoon. So...what will I be doing? I'm officially an ECFE teacher's aide. I only work a couple hours in the morning to start off, get to work with my favorite ages (babies and toddlers!!!), and I have the same vacation days as the kids. I went to an all-day training yesterday (which was exhausting--I haven't used my brain for that many consecutive hours in a long time) and everyone there said how excited they were that they found me! Yay ME!!! O.k....I'm done bragging on myself. :)

Today, Mitchell had his field day at school, and I was in charge of the refreshment table. It is 55 degrees out today and very misty....FREEZING to say the least. Not ready for this weather yet! I met some great women today, and had a blast. But now I'm home and trying to warm up my feet.

I've been knitting a ton. I'll spoil the surprise for some...but I've been making the CUTEST winter hats. I'll post a few pics and I want you to give me feedback. If you'd like to claim one as your own...let me know!

My favorite......toddler size 2--they stretch--made of soft wool.

Blue and oatmeal....toddler size 2

Cream with blue polka dots....size 12 months

Oatmeal...size 2 to 3

Large blue, cream and green stripes--size 10 to 12 (kids)

Cream colored--size 3 to 6 months

More colors are to come. I've been trying to use up my scrap yarn, but if any of you want a certain color, I can whip one out in a couple hours. They are so chunky and warm. I'm thinking of making myself one, too. :)