Parent Teacher Conference

Howdy, howdy, howdy! Hope today finds you all happy and well! It was kind of a whirl wind day for me, but then, aren't they all that way.... ha!

I woke up at 6:35, 6:45, and 6:55 am (ha!), got up, got kids dressed and ready and family prayered and everyone out the door at 7:30am. Captain America had to be out the door then too! And Jimmy! It was parent teacher conference day, so the preschoolers from both morning and afternoon sessions went from 8-12 ish. So Jim rode the bus with the big kids!

I walked to the bus stop with the kids, and waited around for the bus to come at 7:45am. And then headed back to the house. And yeah, Jake was still asleep, and Jim was at school, and Captain America was a work, so yeah, I totally went back to bed! ROFL! And I woke up around 9am. I said my prayers and read my scriptures, and went to check on Jake. Jake was up and dressed and fed and doing school. What a great kid!

Leslie was supposed to do my hair at 10am, but had to postpone till tomorrow. That's cool, more time for me to be lazy - ROFL! Anyway, I decided that today was the day to tackle my super messy bedroom. And I totally should have taken a before picture, because the different was HUGE. Piles of clothes and stuff everywhere. I know that I'd said I was gonna clean a few months ago, and made piles in laundry baskets.

All the electonics/movies/random crap in one pile, all the bills/paper type crap in another pile, clothes in a pile, donate stuff in a pile. And yeah, they got up in laundry baskets, then moved to the back of the closet. I think I have about 4 extra laundry baskets now that the room is all cleaned! ha!

I threw a bunch of stuff away, and put up some stuff, and hung up a TON of clothes. And it really did look a lot better. Wanna see? Here's some pics of my closet and my jewelry :)






My room seems a lot bigger now that it's clean. ROFL! Jake and I had lunch around noon, and around 12:30pm, the kids all got home from school. And Eme informed me at 12:35 that my parent teacher conference for her was at 1:00pm. Um, yeah, no shower for me! I threw on some better clothes and my hat and out the door I went.

And I decided to let Jake babysit, because there was no way I was taking 3-5 kids to school for a parent teacher conference if I didn't have to. I told them to do their chores while I was gone, and that they could play outside with their friends when I got home if the chores were done. Works for me.

So I drove up to the school for conferences. Here's me on the way.

And I met with Eme's teacher first. And she got straight A's on her report card, and her teachers said how wonderful she was doing in school, and how sweet she was. Awe, Eme, you ARE sweet!

Next, I went to Tom's teachers, because the 5th graders were doing "drop ins" not appointments. So I caught his English teacher first. And she said what a pleasure he was in class, and how good he was doing. Awe, that's what I like to hear. hehehe.

Next, it was his math teacher. She also said how good he was doing, and how he's improved so much from the beginning of the year. Way to go, Tom! He made 2 B's and the rest A's.

And by that point, it was almost time for Joe's conference at 1:30pm. So I went to the 1st grade hall, and waited outside for my turn. His teacher was running a bit behind.

She said what a very nice boy Joe was, and how she even used him as an example of how to be nice the other day in class. hehe. He needs to practice reading a bit more, but he's doing very good over all. Yeah Joe! Here's a pic of a paper he had hanging up in the hall :)

And then it was almost 2pm, and Jim's conference wasn't until 3:05pm. So I went down the PreK hall to see if there were any open time slots available so I didn't have to go home and come back. And yeah, there weren't. But I did see Maggie in the hall and got to visit with her for a little bit. She's a fun girl :) She didn't ever get assigned a time for parent teacher conference, so she was there asking for a time slot. And got the one one slot before mine!

So I drove home, got myself and the kids a snack, and had enough time to redirect them in their chores, and headed back up. And saw Maggie again! She was just getting out of her conference. And Elijah (from the bus stop)'s mom was there too. It's funny, they send a bus to pick up our 3 kids. So it's always us 3 moms there at the bus. And there we were at our 3 kids' parent teacher conferences, all waiting in the hall together. Too funny!

Here's Jimmy's Halloween Artwork hanging in the hall. His was actually a face! ha!
The teacher said that Jimmy was doing great, and was right where he should be for his age. We should work a little more on letter recognition, but all in all, he was doing great academically and socially. Sounds good to me. He's a preschooler, after all! ROFL!

I came home, and the kids had done their chores, so they got free time. Some played with friends, some watched a movie, since homework was mostly done, some played on computer. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon at home.

At 5pm, I left Eme in charge of French Toast (I'd gotten it all set up for her) and went to take a shower. Because I was FREEZING! And I knew that a nice hot shower would warm me up. And put on my warm, compfy clothes! My favorite new hoodie :)
And just bummed around for the rest of the early evening. Captain America got home around 6:30pm, and we both had dinner, then put kids to bed. He went out to take out his carberator (cause it's broken) to take it back to the Auto Parts store for an exchange. And I was gonna come with him. I snuggled with Jimmy in his bed until he drifted off to sleep, and it was SOOO nice. I was supposed to be blogging while he was working on the truck, but I decided that snuggle time was better!

Once all the kids were in bed, Captain America was done, and we headed out to the store. Jake was left in charge, and we drove to O'Reilly's Auto Parts on Dyer. And they took back the carberator, but didn't have the new one that he needed. But they had it across town. So they got all the paperwork and junk taken care of, and we headed out.

Right next door was a Howdy's, so we popped in for a Diet Dr Pepper. And they had Sonic Ice! SaWEET! Got a quick refill in our 44 oz cups, and off we went.

The other O'Reilly's was about 15 minutes away, so we had some nice chats in the car. The therapist said that my homework this week was to "open my mouth" and express my thoughts and feelings and emotions. And I've been trying a lot harder to do that. And I think Captain America noticed. I just jumped right in, and shared what I was thinking and feeling. It felt pretty good! I'm liking this :)

So we get to the auto parts store, we get the new part, and he chats with the guys some more, and I played on my phone (good thing it didn't die or I may have been a bit bored...) and off we went, home. We listened to Scorpions on the way to the Auto Store, and Muse on the way home. I showed him a few of my favorite songs, and even told him why they were my favorite songs, and what about them I liked. More than just, I like this one... See, sharing feelings and thoughts. Aren't you proud of me?

So we get home, and he's now out in the garage trying to put the carberator in his truck. And I'm inside blogging and designing. On my 46 inch laptop. hehe. And it's 10:25pm. And yeah, he's gonna be really tired come 4:30am. Me? Well, I get to sleep in until 6:35/6:45/6:55 am. ROFL!

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Love of our Lost Ones

Hey there peeps! Wow, I must say, I'm glad that Sunday was yesterday. Because I got a lot of sleep and relaxing in, because today was TOTALLY opposite of that. Ha!!!

So I woke up at 6:35am, and hit snooze a few times, and finally, at 6:55am, read scriptures, said my prayer, threw on some clothes, and went out to help the kids get ready for school. I had them on the bus by 7:30am.

Captain America was home by then, and I hung with him for a little bit, then got my shopping list ready. And I was actually able to print it out this time. Thank goodness! I got dressed for real (well, if a hat counts as "for real") and headed out to the store.

Jake and Jim were gonna stay home so I could shop faster. Thank goodness! The grocery store is NOT a place you wanna bring little kids. Trust me, I know. I've spent years and years taking ALL of them with me every time I went, and now that I have an alternative, you'd better believe I'm taking advantage of it - ha!

I got all the food I needed for the week, minus soda and nectarines. I won't pay that much for soda, and they had no nectarines. Hmpf! I'll have to go to Walmart...

I headed back home, and Jake and Jimmy helped me unload the car. Here's me in my driveway. I just LOVE that hat. hehe.


So we put away all the groceries, got Jimmy ready for school, loaded back up in the truck, and headed to Savers. Because, you know, it's Monday. And Monday is one colored tag (blue) $0.99 day. And how could I pass that up?

We chatted and sang all the way to Savers, donated a bag of stuff, and got right to shopping. And yeah, there were NO blue tags. OK, so I found a few things, but really, nothing. I ended up with 3 shirts, and I found a corduroy red jacket that was NOT blue tagged. $10, but I had a 20% off coupon, so thats not too bad, right?

And Eme got a Columbia jacket for 20% off of $7. It's a nice warm one, too. Score!

The boys and I headed over to Dollar Tree next. I needed Bread and energy drinks for Captain America. Grabbed it real fast, swung by McDonalds drive thru to get Jake and Jim some lunch, and me a biggie soda, and headed back home.

And decided to just drop Jim off at school, since by the time we got home the bus would have been just pulling away. Works for me. Good thing I had him bring his Backpack, just in case. ha! I was prepared :P

Jake and I went back home, and I took a few pics of my new things.

So it was a little after 11am, and I knew I needed to leave the house at 12:30 to make it to my therapy appointment on time. BUT, I wanted to exercise. More even than needed to. Isn't that good! I actually wanted to. I debated back and forth between an exercise video and jogging. Jogging won out.

I walked for about 5 minutes to warm up, jogged for about 20, then cooled down for another 5. So a total of 30 minutes for a work out. Not too bad, right?

Here's me when I got home. I was NASTY sweaty. hehe.
I hopped in the shower real fast, got ready, grabbed lunch, got Jake settled, and headed out the door. And I decided to keep the hat on, because I LOVE my hat! ha! And yeah, I refilled my McDonalds cup with water, because I'm trying to be healthy.

My therapy session went really well today. I feel like I'm doing SO much better, and learning SO much more about myself. So my homework for this week is to open my mouth and start telling people how I feel. hehe. I'm kinda a chatter, but not really a talker, if that makes sense. Sometimes talking about feelings stresses me out, so I avoid it. But, I'm gonna try better this week. Tell people what I think and what I feel and what I want.

We talked about how I was taking negative behaviors and patterns, and switching them for positives. He said he was really pleased with the amount of progress I was making. *blushes* I was very happy to hear that, because I thought I was doing pretty good too! I know I sure FEEL a lot better :) And happy. I feel pretty happy too!

So I got done with my session, scheduled the next one (he was going out of town for a week or so to Hawaii......LUCKY!), and headed out. ANd, since I was RIGHT down the street from the West side Savers, I figured Id swing by and give it a look see. And yeah, there were NO blue tags here either. I managed to find a black knee length skirt for $0.99, a black Hawaiian shirt for Jake for $0.99, and a gray Purdue hoodie for $0.99. I think the small hoodie is my FAVORITE buy of today. hehe. Well, that or the Red coat. LOVE that one, too...

I swung by Walmart for Nectarines (yeah, they were out too, so I got peaches) and soda, and headed home. AQ was canceled, so all of the kids were just getting home when I got there.

And I got an email from my mom right around that time of the MOST ADORABLE cupcakes I've seen in a long time! And I TOTALLY wanted to make them for the Family Home Evening snack. So I got the kids situated, and Eme and I made a quick trip to the Commissary, just us girls, to get the supplies. I already had the cake, but I needed frosting and oreos and M&M's. And we headed right back home.

Eme and I made the cupcakes, and then started on dinner. I made Haystacks. I cooked rice in the rice cooker, and browned up some onions and ground turkey, then added a can of cream of mushroom soup and a few big scoops of sour cream. Then, I put the Chinese crunchy noodles (the correct name escapes me....) on a plate, with the rice, and then the sauce. The kids seemed to like it!

And Leslie's kids came over about that time, so I fed them too, because I had left overs. And then, just as I was about to call everyone in to dinner, a bunny rabbit was spotted in the back yard. And the kids cornered it under a pile of scrap wood. Hmmm. Now I was gonna have to compete with a rabbit....

So, against my better judgment, I let the kids take their food to the back patio table. And yeah, there it sat, while they messed with the rabbit. And of course, the El Paso wind did a number on their paper plates. I know that some of the kids were scraping food off of chairs, trying to salvage what they could. And I should have had more sympathy for them, but I DID try to get them to eat it right away. And had they listened to me..... I'm just saying...

And then Eme and I decorated the cupcakes, once they were cooled. Jim and Joe went to play in the backyard, and Tom and Jake went to the park with Hunter and Braxton.

Eme and I took Oreo's, and split them in half, trying to keep all the white intact on one side. Yeah, better in theory. I had to use a knife to get it to stay on one side...

And you frost the chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting, then put on 2 Oreo halves, add brown M&Ms for the eyes, and an orange M&M for the nose, and voila! You have a cute little owl!








And I ran out of Oreos with white middles, so I used the other sides. And some frosting. And made Evil Owls. ROFL! Possessed Owls...

Captain America got home around 6pm, we had dinner, and around 6:30pm we gathered all the kids back up, and had Family Home Evening. Emeline picked a talk from the most recent General Conference, and gave us a little re-cap. She did a great job. We had a prayer and a song, a lesson, and a closing prayer. Short and sweet and very nice discussion :)

And then we had dessert. And it was OH SO GOOD! And yes, I ate one! OMHeavens, I forgot how much I like Oreos. hehe.

And Captain America and I and our cupcakes

And everyone else and their cupcakes. Aren't they cute!

We sent the kids to bed, helped Joe with his homework, I had a work project to get done, then blogged, Captain America did his slide show for work, and here we are, me blogging, him doing someone right next to me on the couch on his computer, and we're both almost done for the night. 8:50pm, and I'm tired and in sore need of a back/neck rub..... Oh sweetheart......

This WordArt is for Alma. She requested it for a card for her sister-in-law who just lost a baby. Sorry, hon :( We miscarried 2 little babies over the years too, and I know how NOT fun that is :(

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Family Portrait

Morning, girls :) Hope you have a very good Sunday! Mine was pretty good, I must say. I woke up around 9am, and went back to sleep till 10am. Yeah, I'm loving 12:30pm church. The kids got themselves breakfast and watched some church videos, and then we all got snack at 10am. And yeah, I got snack and breakfast. hehe.

We got ready for church, and were actually ready about 15 minutes early. So we all went outside and took new family pictures. I brought out a stool and a chair, and some playdo to make the camera stable, and set the timer, and here we go. I only had to Photoshop one child (ha!). Below is a few different "actions" from Pioneer Woman on the same photo.






So we loaded up and headed to church, after I put some food in a crock pot for after church. And we ended up being about 3 minutes late for church. And it was the Primary program, so the church was PACKED! They ended up opening up the gym and setting up more chairs. We sat in the back, but at least we got a seat. ha!

The kids all did very nicely on their parts. Joe was the first primary kid to talk, and seemed a bit nervous, but did a great job. Jimmy and Emeline did a very nice job too, and Tom gave an excellent talk.

Sunday School and Relief Society were very nice, then it was time to go home. We snapped a few more pictures before we finally got inside the house.





And this is what was waiting for the kids when we got home. I put 5 diced/peeled potatoes, 1 diced onion, 3 stalks of celery (diced), 1 packet of brown gravy mix, 1 package of turkey sausage (chopped), a few handfulls of white rice, and some Italian seasons with a lot of water in my crock pot on high, and it looked like this when I got home.

So we dished up food for the kids, set them up with a movie after eating, and Captain America and I took a nap. I slept for about an hour, then came out and joined the kids and their movie. And had dinner. I Photoshopped my family pictures, and worked on that for a while.

At around 6:30pm, Captain America was awake and we all did chores, had family prayer and scripture study, and sent kids off to bed. It's not 8:18pm, and I'm done for the night. Captain America and I need to work on the budget for a bit, and I need to clean my room.... We'll see how productive I end up being. ha!

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Eternal Life

So I didn't get a chance to blog about my date last night, so you get to see it today. hehe. When Captain America got home from work, we got the kids all situated and fed, and he and I headed out. We drove to the North East side and went to dinner at El Taco Tote. Mmmm, tasty :)

Here's Captain America and I on the way :)

CRAZY eyes! hehe

And after dinner, we headed to the Auto Parts store, because that's a very fun place, you know. hehe. Here's Captain America looking at switches or something...

And me - hehe

And then we stood around and chatted with the guys who work there about cars and trucks and parts and whatever else. Yeah, I didn't understand much of the conversation, but Captain America and the dudes seemed to be enjoying themselves :)

So, to balance out the Man store/Woman store ratio, we headed down the road to Fallas. hehe. I love me some Fallas, you know...

I found a few shirts for $2.50, and got fake Texas Longhorn shirts for Eme and I and Joe and Jim. UTEP colors with almost Texas logos on them. Works for me :)

We headed home, but not before I serenaded Captain America in the car with a loud rendition of Muse's, Feeling Good. One of my favorite feel good songs :)



So Saturday morning I was woken up at 7:30am ish to a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells AND Old MacDonald plucked on the cello. It was beautiful. hehe. But, I did manage to go back to sleep, and got up around 9am.

We were having a buddy of Captain Americas from work over for a BBQ around noon, and I had some cooking/baking to do. And a little cleaning. Very little. ha!

And guess what? You can put Rice A Roni in a rice cooker, and it cooks it! hehe. And I could just leave it and go make get the chicken ready.

I marinated the chicken in a Tomato, Basil, and Garlic marinade, with extra tomatoes, basil, and garlic. OMHeavens, it smelled SO good. Captain America helped me figure out how to get the grill started, and I put the chicken on to cook.

And I made the most DIVINE desserts ever. Seriously. And I made them in my new little baking dishes from the Dollar Tree. They were SO yummy :)

First off, I took a Jello No Bake Pumpkin dessert box, and took out the graham cracker part. And decided that it was definitely not enough for 8 little dishes. So I took a whole package of Graham Crackers (not box, but one package), and put them in the blender, and blended them into a powder. And mixed them with the No Bake graham crackers.

And added 4 Tbsp of sugar and 10 Tbsp of melted butter, and split it between the 8 dishes. Then, I prepared the pumpkin part according to the box. The pumpkin mix and 2 1/2 cups of milk. And put a layer in each of the dishes.

Then I took 2 boxes of pumpkin pudding mix (seasonal, too), 2 cups of milk, and 3/4 tub of cool whip, and blended it together for 2 minutes. And divided it between the 8 dishes. And topped it with the remaining cool whip. And chopped up a few walnuts and chocolate pieces and sprinkled that on top. OMGosh. DIVINE!
So we put them in the fridge to chill, and went about making the rest of the food. Corn and a veggie tray and rice and chicken and lemonade and fruit salad. And we had lunch at about 12:30pm. We sat on the back patio, and it was warm as long as the wind stopped. But it didn't, so I had to go and get a sweatshirt. hehe.

The guys went to work on the truck, and the kids went to play. Tom and Eme played at the park with friends, and Jake went to the pool with Leslies kids. Joe and Jim played in the backyard for quite a while, and watched a movie for a bit too.

I designed 3 WordArt packs, AND my part for the Impressions of.... for Scrapbook Graphics for November. Yeah, VERY productive, I was - hehe.

Here's Jimmy, being silly

And Captain America working on his truck

Joe and Jim watching a movie

And eventually, it was time for Laurie's little boy, Rowans, birthday party. So we loaded up, and headed over. Jake was super tired from playing at the pool for 2 hours, so eventually left the party and came back home.

But the other kids had a ton of fun playing and eating hot dogs and cake and stuff. I think I counted 20 kids and 6 families. hehe.

Here's some of the kids on the trampoline.

And signing to Rowan

And Tom and I in the kitchen

And we were home around 6pm. And Captain America's friend left, and we hurried and loaded up in the truck and headed to Old Fort Bliss to a pumpkin sale. But got there too late, and they were all gone, so just came back home. Good thing it's only 3 blocks away. hehe.

We let the kids get back to whatever it was they were doing before the party, and Captain America and I had dinner. We were going to go to the movies or the mall or something, but I wasn't really feeling too good. I wanted to just stay home and hang. So we popped in a movie, and watched it with all the kids. And then another one.

And here it is, 8:31pm, and we're 1/3 way through the 2nd movie. I like hanging with my family. They're a lot of fun, and I love them SO much :) So I'm gonna get off this laptop and go pay more attention to the movie - hehe

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