avoidance behavior random thoughts.

i have no reason for posting tonight. call it classic "avoidance behavior".  what i need to do is finish putting grades together for parent teacher conferences next week. i also have a meeting with the principal tomorrow to pass off stuff from my year. perhaps i should gather that stuff. oh ya, and the laundry. always the laundry.

instead i just ate three delicious chocolate chip cookies, and read a couple blogs. i wish someone else hid the cookies in the cookie jar besides me. i know they are in there. and i can't help it. they are so so good.

i just can't believe it is the end of march already. really, where has this year gone? hands down, its been a tough year in my little world. busy, busy, busy. lots of adjusting to new normals. but good too. i looked at my little 4th graders today and i got a bit sad that i have to say goodbye to them in a few months. they are cute little souls.

don't get me wrong. i am also so excited to have summertime. flip flops, the pool, my kids all the time. ya know.  its all bittersweet.

lately i just feel really grateful for all the good people that surround me. grateful for the good family that i have, and their willingness to help with everything. so humbling. we are so lucky. and grateful for my friends. there are so many that i wish i saw or talked to more. i need to make more time in my life for that.

we have powered through season 1 and season 2 of friday night lights. love. i told john we can't start season three until after my test. i have to devote all of april to studying. but after april 30 i will welcome tim riggins, coach, his cute wife, lyla gheritty and the crew back into my life again. im currently trying to decide if FNL trumps the OC in my favs or not. TBD. maybe we can watch all the rest of the seasons when school gets out. hmmm. that will be fun.

my mom called tonight to get my garlic turkey burger recipe. its been on my mind ever since. time to start grilling. the sun was shining today and whooooo weeee, it is nice. i love me some spring. i cant wait for the blossoms to come out. my favorite time of year for sure.

sky high is on the disney channel right now. mercy, i cant pass up a really awesome disney channel original movie. they are so delightful. soooooo delightful indeed. this one especially is not to be missed. a topic for another day. another entire post.

well, that is a lot of random thoughts for the night. perhaps i will go eat another cookie while i get to work.

seven is heaven

Sophie turned seven last month and I am just really, really enjoying her. She is such a good kid. It is so weird to me that my first little baby is now that old. Sheesh. I get extremely sentimental every year on her birthday when I think about how that little girl with the biggest brown eyes I'd even seen on a baby, made her dramatic entrance into the world. I just love the darling, grown up girl she is becoming.

This year has for sure been an adjustment for our little family around here. Not a day goes by that there isn't a lot of chaos, scheduling, scrambling, and screaming (thank you Ruby). Sophie has weathered it all so well. She is so willing to help with Parker and Ruby and is such a kind, good sibling. She is such a beautiful peace maker.  It has been so fun to watch her learn and grow so much this year. She loves to read and man, she reads like a champ! It makes a mama proud.

Last night John and I took her on a date to get frozen yogurt and to get new shoes. We laughed and laughed. It was so fun to be with just her. I love her spunk, and yet she has the most tender heart. I am so excited to watch this little one continue to grow up. What a pleasure it is to be her mom.

ramblings

today i shall ramble. just cause it is late and when it is late and i am tired, i like to talk, talk, talk. i lay down in bed and i just start talk, talk, talking. john, bless his heart, always tries for a minute and then he is snoring. ah.

i feel like some days are emotional roller coasters. today was one of them. i cried a bit, and i laughed a lot. so i guess that is good.

i've been trying to figure out what my 20 year old self did with my praxis  (test you have to take to be a teacher) test scores. the national test place purged their records after ten years, byu doesn't have them, jordan school district doesn't have them and the utah state office of education doesn't have them. hence... the tears. looks like i am taking the test again. boo.

upon searching for the missing test scores in all the files in my basement i found a whole lot of awesome crap that i managed to keep... BUT NOT MY STUPID TEST SCORES!!! i found an actual file folder (that was empty) that the title was "hot guys".  i think it was from jr. high. i found my jr. high transcripts, my ACT score, water polo plays, letters from water polo coaches in california, my wedding planner, a huge box of cassette tapes, all 700 files of 2nd grade teaching material, jerusalem trinkets, elementary school projects, a whole folder of stuff i hung on the walls of my first college dorm room, senior summaries and letters from people i love. and lots more. lots. i know. i am pretty sure all of this would make my mother in law very proud, in a "i hold onto things because they are meaningful" way, but seriously? how did i not hold onto my test scores.

insert me banging my head on the keyboard.

okay. this quickly went from me rambling to me ranting. maybe i should go to bed now. three good things before i do:

john sensed my stress and cleaned the kitchen for me. forget the flowers, the gifts, the anything. clean for me and it just warms my little heart. love him.

ruby told me she loved me today, totally unsolicited. "i yuv you mommy" i may have cried over that too.

rummaging through all that crap, was frustrating, no lie. but kinda happy and fun too. a roller coaster day.

now i guess i just buck up, quit my crying and re-take the test.

bliss

Bliss indeed. I had the most glorious weekend, last weekend. Newport beach for a few short days, celebrating Adi's 30th birthday. Such a fun little girls weekend. Love all the girlies and love Adi. So glad we have been friends for all 30 of those years!!! How I wish I could fly to California every other weekend... for the company and for that AMAZING weather. :) Thanks J for taking over while I was away.

some of the stuff i missed....

Clearly, I haven't got the hang of this "working mom"thing yet.  Things seem to slip. Stuff gets forgotten. Life is just kinda crazy. My blog is sooooo neglected.  BUT... we are happy, and here and plugging away at the things we think are important. I love a new year. I like the chance to start over. I also like the way I have set the same dang New Years Resolutions for the past five odd years. Good grief. Is it really that hard to drink more water and less diet coke? Apparently for me, it is! Will I ever lose these last 10+ pounds? Who knows? Will I actually stay up on my blog? I hope so!! 

Here is a little catch up:

The snowman John and the kids made.

Cute kiddos.

John's mom gave John a vintage Santa suit. Hilarious.

My kids reading their email from Santa. It was so cute!

The note Sophie left for Santa, next to the cookies. 

Christmas morning. :)

John and Parker building his new house out in the playroom.

Ruby in her dress ups.

Mine and John's self portrait. Love him!

happy birthday ruby!

Happy birthday to the craziest little two year old. Last night Ruby woke up around midnight and did not want to go back to bed. After climbing out of her crib for like the tenth time I found her in her room with the lights on, her pajama bottoms off and in the hamper, and she was trying on skirts out of her bottom drawer. She is a crack up. Seriously, not a dull moment. My favorite thing about Ruby is that she has a sense of humor. AND she thinks she is funny. Which in her defense, she usually is. 

Happy Birthday Ruby Lou. We adore you. You are crazy, darling, fun, happy, wild, particular, and wonderful. And I wouldn't change a thing about you.

Love you!! 

The Morning Person

There are few things that Parker loves more than waking up very early Saturday morning and watching Holmes on Homes with his family of dogs.

I hear Parker's little feet bouncing up the stairs each morning between 6:30 and 7:00 am. He shuffles around in the living room for a few minutes, making sure all the stuffed dogs he carried up from his bedroom are comfortable, then heads into our room. He sings "good morning," in an unnaturally happy voice. Then asks one of us to make him a toast and turn on the tv.

He is a strange and delightful little man, especially in the morning.