Aaaaaannnndd...

Look! More pics! And more and more pics!

Emma just wouldn't give me happy for these. But they're still cute. Alex really does like his little sister.






When a boy meets a girl...
1. Emma/Matsen: "If I just sit here, maybe he/she won't notice me."


2. Emma: "Ah, what the heck. This kid's stealing all my frames. Maybe if I push him out of the way or take a chunk out of his hair..."


3. Matsen: "I can't believe she just did that to me! Here, maybe if I eat her shoe she'll go away."


4. In unison: "Seriously, Mom - WHY are we doing this again? We all know I'M the cute one!"


Sweetness and light (right before the "No!"s and defiance).

You want pictures?

'Cause holy crap, do I have PICTURES. Take a gander. And try not to puke at the overwhelming amount of cuteness that is my kiddos.

These first two are of Alex, Emma, and their cousins, Jazlyn and Matsen. I had just pulled my camera out of the cold car so the lens was foggy. We'll just call that "soft focus." And you should have heard me and Kristy trying to get these pictures - I think our voices at one point got so high dogs couldn't hear us. But these kids sure are precious.




How perfectly adorable are THESE? I can't believe I have such beautiful kids. And they look like such little angels here, don't they?




Look! It's me! (And Alex and Jazlyn, but this is a rare treat to get a picture of me that I don't hate...)


Grandpa, Emma and Matsen. BTW, Matsen is a month and a half younger than Emma but 2 pounds heavier and 2 inches longer. Which is so weird - I don't make small babies, how did I get a small baby?


My son, the model.


Grandma, Grandpa and all 4 grandkids (so far). Check out Alex's face in the second one. SO typical. :-)




And OMG, how sweet is this? Emma in her exersaucer. Don't you just want to die? :-)


I have more! Can't wait, can you?

Oh yeah...

I talked to Elron today. His new teacher called me last week and I made sure to call her while they were still in school so my kids could tell him Happy Thanksgiving and he would know we're thinking about him. His teacher seems really nice, but I'm not sure she bought my whole, "there's a soft spot deep down somewhere, you just have to know how to find it" spiel. He apparently already had to chat with the principal because he was arguing. Elron? Arguing? NOOOO. Seriously? Really? (Are you detecting my sarcasm here?) Anyway, he seemed really happy to hear from me. I think I'll check up on him periodically.

GLITTER!

Just sayin'.

*giggle*

Civic Duty

So I did my civic duty today - I postponed my jury duty. :-) Hehehe...I wonder how long they let you put it off? I got called first in September, which, come on, I'm a teacher. 'Cause THAT is a fabulous time to take two weeks off of school. So I postponed it until December which was as far back as I could push it. I got the reminder notice today and promptly postponed it again - so now I have to show right after school gets out. I'm actually interested in it - the whole process and such. And who's to say I wouldn't get an interesting case? (I've watched way too many crime dramas. I can totally see myself yelling "Objection!" in the middle of a trial.) Anyway, I will be officially performing that duty in the summer. And I won't postpone it again. I promise. ;-)

Tomorrow's turkey day. A friend of mine asked if I was cooking.

...

(Forgive me, I'm still convulsing with laughter.)

...

Ahh, that's better. Actually, my response was, "That's what family is for!" That and I don't need a case of mass poisoning on my record. I don't think I would ACTUALLY poison anyone, but since I can't seem to multitask to save my life when it comes to the kitchen (I can't ever seem to keep the macaroni and cheese noodles from boiling over onto my stovetop, especially if I'm working on something else too) I think it's safer for everyone that I put off spending all day in the kitchen as long as possible. That and I'd probably leave the giblets in the turkey.

But Emma gets to wear her ADORABLE new outfit that I bought especially for the holidays - a beautiful aqua blue sweater with matching tulle skirt (WITH GLITTER!). This is the whole reason I wanted a girl. For the GLITTER!

I know, I know. I have always made a point of saying that I'm not all about the girly stuff. I'm such a lying piece of crap. hehehehe... Seriously? I played with My Little Ponies and Barbies growing up. I loved horses. I wore nothing but dresses until fourth grade. Can I help that I like THE GLITTER? It's GLITTER! It's SPARKLY!

...begin mini-rant...(Scott is always wondering what to get me for gifts and such and he usually doesn't end up getting me anything because I tell him not to or that I don't want him to spend the money. And he actually listens to me. Bastard. One word - diamonds. That's all. Seriously, he could take some initiative and ignore me one of these days. Don't ask, just do it. 'Cause if you ask I'll tell you not to spend the money. If you just do it I'll be so entranced by the GLITTER SPARKLY that you won't even get yelled at. And there might even be a little extra thrown in. Just sayin'.)...end mini rant...

So yeah. GLITTER! Just typing that makes me smile. Dude, that mini rant totally threw off my train of thought and now all I want to do is go in Emma's room and pull out her little aqua tulle skirt and stare at the GLITTER!

I am SO posting pictures tomorrow. Betcha can't wait - I can't!

GLITTER!

Go Hawks!

Took my kids to meet the Seahawks today. Goalsetting thing that they do every year. It was okay - I was hoping the kids would actually get to interact with the players, but they really only got to say hi to one while they were being rushed through the line to get things signed. It wasn't as cool as I had hoped.

What was cool was that our friend Nic got to come with me - I had a parent cancel and had a chaperone spot open, so I asked him and a couple other friends if they wanted to come along, and he happened to be available. He was great - the kids loved him and I think he was a good influence on them. I don't think he knew what he was in for with these kids though. :-)

I would post pics if it weren't for privacy and anonymity issues. I don't have any real cool ones, just my kids and me. The only time we got close to a player I was trying to make sure I had all of my kids ready to get lined up for the bus, so I didn't get a pic of the one player I got close to. Nic said it was worth it, though, so I'm glad he enjoyed himself. We'll see if we do this again next year.

Why do they always leave?

“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”

Elron is moving.

DammitshitsonofabitchI'mpissedoff. WhydoesitalwayshappenRIGHTwhenIactuallystarttoget
somewherewiththesefreakin'kids????

OK, now I feel better.

So Elron tells me this today. Mind you, his mom ended up in the hospital with some pretty serious issues. And apparently there was a shooting outside their apartment. And all kinds of unpleasantness that you have to deal with in that area. Mom told me that they would be moving away from this as soon as she could get them away. So I suspected this was coming. That still doesn't make it FAIR.

Now the poor kid has to go to another school in another town with another teacher who will probably NOT give him the kind of understanding that he needs to be successful. And the MOST frustrating part is that I can't tell you how many times this kind of thing has happened before. I pour my heart into teaching these kids and then their parents, for whatever reason (some are just rent hopping to avoid paying the next month, some are trying to avoid being shot, some are trying to avoid abusive relationships and just disappear...) take them away from a place where they are actually getting some structure and safety.

It just makes me so ANGRY. Not just because of this one kid, but because this has happened so many times in my 6+ years of teaching. And it's one of the main reasons I've got to get out of this environment. I can't do the kind of good for these kids that I want to do when, just when I've started to make some progress, the kid up and leaves for the next low-rent motel. (Oh, but because they were enrolled at our school as of October 1st, their failing WASL scores count toward OUR school. Don't get me started on THAT one.)

UGH. I love teaching. I love the look on a kid's face when she/he has that AHA! moment, I love the chance to get that kid that no one else likes to smile at you every single day (and actually turn in homework), I love actually getting kids to THINK and REASON and DEDUCE and ANALYZE... But I'm really tired of having to fight so hard for it. I really admire teachers who are able to work in buildings like mine (and worse - because there are so many worse situations I could be in) for their entire careers.

I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed. Wake me when somebody figures out how to make parents more accountable for their own kids - their lives AND their education.

"If I ran a school, I'd give the average grade to the ones who gave me all the right answers, for being good parrots. I'd give the top grades to those who made a lot of mistakes and told me about them, and then told me what they learned from them."

6 months!

So last week marked a couple of milestones for us - Emma turned 6 months old and I have been nursing for 6 months! So while Scott is at the grocery store with Alex this morning (yeah, he actually made it, although he didn't get out of bed until 10 am) I'm taking pics of Emma and blogging to celebrate. Enjoy the cuteness.
She's trying to sit up...but I was really just lucky to get this pic before she fell over. :-)

Couldn't you just die? :-)

Cuteness

So I woke up early one morning and heard Alex talking to Emma in her room. I walk in there and see this. Apparently she was tickling his toes. And he was in there having a conversation with her like she could talk back. He ADORES his little sister. Except a couple of times lately I've been giving her a big happy smile and he's put his hand in front of her face so I can't see her. Can you say J-E-A-L-O-U-S? :-)

Happy as a clam.
So I finally have some Halloween pics to post. Here's Emma in her Ladybug costume. Which is kinda funny because I've been wanting to have a daughter in a ladybug costume since I could imagine having kids, and my mom even bought one back when I was pregnant with Alex, before we knew he was a boy. And here comes Emma, and that costume that my mom bought is too big. So we had to get her a pajama set. Which is still pretty darn cute.

And Alex, being Bumblebee. He's using one of his TaeKwonDo moves. He was so excited to have this costume - especially since he got to wear his Bumblebee tennis shoes with it.

Well, I'm off to bed. Scott says he's going to take Alex to the grocery store first thing in the morning so he can make omelets for breakfast. 10 bucks says it doesn't happen. :-)

Bits

Halloween:
My child does not belong to me. I am now convinced. He goes out trick-or-treating with Scott while I sit down to nurse Emma. I finish nursing Emma, and back in they come. Turns out they went to 4 houses. FOUR. And what does he do when he comes in the door? Starts GIVING AWAY HIS CANDY. He ate one piece and then started offering it to us. (While all of this is really cute and sweet and OMG HOW PRESHUS...seriously? No kid of mine turns down candy.) He was very cute - he went as Bumblebee (the Transformer, not the bug) and Emma wore a ladybug sleeper with a matching hat and bib. I'll post pics when I figure out how to get them off my camera.

Election:
Apparently my PRESHUS kiddo is convinced that Barack Obama is a bad guy. And I originally thought he got that idea from my parents, but when I asked him, he said, "The man on TV said he would send bad guys to kill us!" Honestly, I thought we had a pretty good handle on what the kid was watching, but apparently not. Here's our exchange from this morning:

Me: Alex, how do you feel about Barack Obama?
Alex: We don't want him to be our president. (Mind you, I have NEVER said this to him. THAT part was strictly my parents. And maybe my brother too.)
M: Well, honey, yesterday our country had an election where lots of people voted, and they decided that Barack Obama will be our next president.
A: But he's going to send bad guys to kill us!
M: No honey, he's not going to send bad guys to kill us. But he is going to be our next president.
A: But...John McCain...is a GOOD man...
M: Yes, honey, John McCain is a good man too, but Barack Obama will be our next president.
A: But we want John McCain to be our president.

At this point I decided a political discussion at 6 in the morning with my 4 year old wouldn't yield much more than a swift kick to my own head, so I let it go.

Honestly, I'm not exceptionally happy that a firm democrat will be in the White House, but the enormous sigh of relief that I just heard from a huge portion of our country was not only audible but palpable. I don't think there was much McCain could have done to win (aside from MAYBE picking a woman who was more moderate as opposed to hard-nosed Republican like Palin). As for me, I didn't vote for either of them. I won't tell you who I voted for, but I did write someone in. :-) A friend of mine said, "Aw, now your vote won't count." Yes it will - it will count by NOT going toward either of the candidates that I didn't want in office to begin with. So there ya go.