How Much?

DO YOU SPEND on a birthday gift for someone in Jackson's class that he met LESS THAN THREE WEEKS AGO????

DO YOU SPEND ON A GOOD FRIEND'S birthday present?

Does it make a difference!? I am struggling! HELP A SISTA OUT!

Ten on Tuesday

1. This is the third week of school, and my eyes still fill with tears when Jackson hops out of my car and scampers to class without ever looking back! Surely this will end soon-I don't know how much more I can take!

2. We went to a BBQ the other night, and a mom friend of mine was complimenting my kids and the way they just stop and do what I say when I speak! I am so thankful for this, and I was flattered when she asked if her daughter could come to my "Boot Camp", but I don't know what I do that makes them the way they are! I think they are scared I might start yelling and freaking out in public, the way I do at home, so rather than risk embarrassment, they just go with the flow when we are out and about! HA!

3. My very best friend, Karissa, and I had baby boys 6 days apart. There is NOTHING better in the world than being pregnant at the same time as your best friend. While I don't think Jackson and Malakai could be any different, I am quite convinced they would be the best of friends if we lived closer together. Malakai holds a special place in my heart! Today, it is with a very heavy heart that I tell my readers Malakai lost his very best friend, Connor, to cancer today. He was diagnosed about a month ago and was responding well to treatment, the word remission was thrown around. This is very shocking! The pain that I am feeling for the Malakai, Karissa, Connor's family, etc is OVERWHELMING! I feel terrible that a 5 year old must deal with the death of another 5 year old. I feel terrible that the parents must bury their 5 year old. I just can't wrap my head around it enough to keep crying, but please keep them ALL in your prayers. I don't know what to say or do to my best friend. I am not sure there have ever been so many moments of silence on a phone call with her. We both just kept crying.

4. Today we went to story time at Bomberos. Not only was story time awesome, but the omelette and potatoes I had were AMAZING!!!! I highly recommend this activity!

5. Did you know they have lunch detention for KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS????? I am all about discipline, we all know that, but OMG! Every day Jackson comes home and talks about how so and so had lunch detention or time out or whatever else! He of course NEVER gets in trouble, or so he says, but likes to give me his police report of the day!

6. Currently, Jackson wants to be a police man when he grows up. I am trying to convince him to be in the CIA, due to my obsession with the show, Covert Affairs. OMG, do you think it is too late for me to join the CIA? Maybe the two of us could be a team.

7. What is with the plaid shirts making a come back-UGH!

8. Have any of you been to Smeeks??? It is this darling candy shop with lots of things, but most importantly cheap candy that makes kids happy!

9. My DVR died yesterday morning. Of course, it died when Pat tried to turn it on because he apparently has the KISS OF DEATH when it comes to electronics around here. I seriously cried, thinking about all the stuff that was saved and recorded on there. It was like a part of my family. It was a constant. It was with me when Pat became a workaholic, and it is ALWAYS there for me with little goodies and treats. I know I am getting another one in 3 business days, but I was SAD. I have recovered and grown up a little since yesterday!

10. Going to PhoenixCooks! again this year-CAN'T WAIT! LOVE IT! Anyone else going?

Foto Friday!

Tyler and Simon at the birthday party last week! They are so cute together!

Someone Should Write a BOOK!

OK, so in all honesty, someone probably has. I just NEVER in my life thought I would need a book to direct me in the art of having a Kindergartner. Jackson, in my opinion, has attended some of the BEST schools in Phoenix. SERIOUSLY! He has gone to school with the grandchild of a Vice President (how many people can say that?). He is only 5! He ADORES going to school, and is a sponge! He enjoys all the playing AND learning that goes on. SO, I thought, new school, no big deal. We are ALL struggling a bit around here.

1. THERE SHOULD BE SOME SORT OF NEW PARENT ORIENTATION! Anyone who reads this that MAY OR MAY NOT run a school, should know that new parents NEED DIRECTION. I think new parents are like children, give me the tools to succeed, and I will succeed. If you give me nothing, I will be a HUGE FAILURE, and you will have to spend your time reprimanding me because I don't have a Visitor's Badge on. I took the time to sign in, no one gave me a Visitor's Badge, how would I know I need one? NOW, I have wasted your time, and I feel like an idiot. It is a LOSE-LOSE situation. The playground aide, should not have to be the one to reassure me that he will be fine if I drop him off, he will make it to class ok, it will all be ok! SERIOUSLY, the playground aide!

2. DROP OFF/PICK UP CHAOS should come with some sort of training period. Having my child stand on a fence waiting for me to pick him up maybe 400 other students, K-6, in the one hundred degree temperature, is enough to make me park my car a mile away, walk to the school with Tyler in tow, whining and crying along the way for some reason or another, get Jackson, and walk BACK to my car with TWO kids. It is a complete disaster, and it makes me cry thinking about it.

3. NAP TIME-you can say what you will about my almost six year old still taking a nap, but the kid needs a nap. By the time he gets home, just about anything can set him into a complete meltdown, the amount of tears that have been shed in this house this week is INSANE!

4. I am so thankful I HAVE A PSYCHOLOGY degree because I am constantly having to play the role of counselor or use reverse psychology to make Kindergarten seem like it is the most AMAZING THING ever. Even if I am not sure I believe it myself. It breaks my heart to see him cry about his other friends not being in the class, but he has already made some other friends, who share the ONE COMMON INTEREST: MARIO! One of them has a Mario backpack, the other has the same Mario lunchbox as Jackson-it is really a match made in heaven!

5. There is so much stuff I still don't understand. I am HOPEFUL that the curriculum night next week will provide me the MUCH NEEDED information I DESERVE as a parent of a 5 year old! Suddenly this 5 year old doesn't seem quite so big, and I am struggling with this more than I thought! I am no expert, and I am VERY hopeful that it will be so much better for anyone else who is going through it, BUT I just want to be the voice that says, "You are NOT alone!" I know some of you start next week or the following week, and I just want you to know that if you need someone to cry to because you feel a little overwhelmed, it is NORMAL, and you are NOT alone!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Here is the video I promised of Tyler talking about getting to sleep in her princess bed! I think it is hysterical that she seriously has NO IDEA where we are going still!



2. Jackson slept on a rollaway! The rollaway overlooked tennis courts, the pool and the river. The two kids would sit on that rollaway FOREVER screaming, "There's a jet ski!", "Look at how fast that boat is!", etc! They LOVED IT!




3. They have quickly learned this is the only way to get Pat out of bed in the morning. . .



4. The arcades in Laughlin were amazing.

5. The breakfast buffet at the hotel was TERRIBLE. Last time, I thought it was amazing! This time, I was beating the crap out of my eggs benedict, wondering why the egg was well done! UGH, nothing irritates me more! Maybe it is because Pat and I make such AMAZING Eggs Benedict, I can't eat them anywhere else now!

6. The dinner buffet did not disappoint. I ate my WEIGHT in prime rib and crab legs. It was amazing. Only thing that bugged me was that I had to pay FULL PRICE for Jackson. There was no kid price, and there is no way he got his money's worth at a prime rib and crab leg buffet!

7. Jackson FINALLY got his strawberry waffle that we had been talking about FOREVER! The amount of whipped cream is RIDICULOUS!





8. I got to eat my Perkins potato pancakes!

9. This picture was taken as we were waiting to load our car. TWO SECONDS LATER, they both had to go to the bathroom! At what age can they start going to the bathroom by themselves? I think changing diapers was easier :-)!



10. People may think we are NUTS for taking our kids to Laughlin, but they have so many things for kids to do on a short weekend. I wouldn't recommend going for any length of time, but according to Jackson, "It is better than Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm!" So, it couldn't have been very bad!

Kindergarten for Jackson!

HOW DID HE GET SO BIG!????? Tyler and I missed him all day long!

Laughlin Surprise

Some people would find it odd that we took our kids to Laughlin, but our kids are so interested in the things we do alone, and ask us a ZILLION questions about all our adventures as a couple, that we loaded up the car and headed to Laughlin for the weekend. I had two free nights, and the eating is CHEAP, so it was a great end to the summer! As Jackson said last night, "This is better than Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland!" UM, and a heck of a lot cheaper too buddy! HONESTLY. . .these kids love just about anything and are GREAT travelers! Here's a video of us surprising the kids when Pat came home from work early on Friday. . .eventually it just switched to Jackson because I don't think Tyler really understood what was going on! I'll have one of her later in the week talking about how she gets to sleep in her princess bed (the highlight of going on trips for her)! I wanted to have them dressed and ready to go, so I told them we were going to Target. That's why I ask them if they are ready to go to Target! SO CUTE!



More pictures to come later!

Whoopsy Daisy

1. Is it the movie Notting Hill where Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts are trying to climb the fence, he slips and says, "Whoopsy Daisy!" OOooooh, one of my FAVORITE Hugh Grant scenes EVER, and I have seen a lot seeing as how my husband seems to LOVE all movies he is in!

2. I am so excited for Jackson to start school next week. I contacted one of my friends who has kids in the school already, and she said that the teacher Jackson got is the most coveted Kindergarten teacher in the school. What did I do to luck out like that!

3. I am so NOT excited for Jackson to start school next week because it means that Tyler and I will be alone in the house again! Once they worked out all their kinks at the beginning of the summer, they started playing really well together, and I know she is going to miss him terribly, which leads to more whining, neediness and all around girl drama!

4. I had the most random interaction at Walmart yesterday! The cashier was telling me all about how she needed to wait for her husband's bonus check before she could do her son and daughter's back to school shopping, so they had to wait until September before they would have their supplies. In the same breath, she proceeded to say, "Before you know it, it will be Christmas! Just be happy your kids are still young, mine are 14 and 11!" I HATE WHEN PEOPLE SAY THIS BECAUSE I LIKE TO LIVE IN MY HAPPY PLACE WHERE THINGS GET EASIER AS MY KIDS GET OLDER! So I told her this, and she said, "Well my son wants a PS3 and flat screen TV for Christmas!" I swear I looked at her like she had five heads because she just continued. "Well, my daughter got a flat screen for Christmas last year, so now he wants/gets one!" I am pretty sure my jaw was on the floor at this point. I just couldn't get this conversation out of my head all day!? (1) How many flat screens do they have in their home? (2) I am THIRTY, and I don't have a flat screen in my house, and my sister has two, but I am still ALIVE and WELL! (3) Do they want to adopt me because apparently getting a flat screen is a rite of passage in their house, and I really want a flat screen!

5. Seriously, I don't understand how people wear colors here in the summer. I was so worried about sweating through my royal blue shirt yesterday, that I am sure sure sure it was causing me to sweat more while in the little shack of an area that JC Penney calls the shoe department! OMG, it was so hot, and they were rearranging! REALLY not smart the week before school starts. It was ridiculous in there!

6. I always think that laundry in the summer will be better because there is less of it, but then the pool towels seem to procreate before my eyes!

7. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Rachel from Big Brother. I just can't help but love her. When she speaks, I just think, "People really don't talk like this!" I keep waiting for her to stop putting on this big show and speak normally! I laugh when she bobs her head, I laugh when she speaks, I just keep laughing. AND what happens to these men when they enter the house relatively intelligent and fall for these totally moronic women (Jeff and Jordan, Howie (although he had his issues, I don't think he was as dumb as he was portrayed) and Janelle, and now Brenden and Rachel)! How do we survive all year without Big Brother!

8. I love Roberto (The Bachelorette)! Do you think Pat will learn how to speak Spanish and whisper sweet nothings in my ear!? YUM!

9. I have to go to Target today, and I am putting it off, but I know I shouldn't, it will just get hotter and hotter! YUCK!

10. I am LOVING the new show Covert Affairs!