Alive and Kickin'

Alive, busy, stressed, even hectic.... but happy (for the most part)! :)

Hope you all have a Happy Happy Halloween!!!!!

I am the smartest person EVER!

To prove this, ya wanna know what I went and did? I decided that, since I was incredibly overwhelmed with everything I have going on right now, the best thing to get Eva for her birthday last week would be 2 guinea pigs. Notice I haven't blogged since then (even though I had a 4 day weekend for UEA)? Hmmmm...
Some day I will download a photo of the newest members of our family. Their names are Milo and Otis. They are both girls. ;) They are both adorable. The girls love them. That alone makes it totally worth it.

My Personal Tornado

Life is hectic. Lately I feel like I have a little tornado following me everywhere I go. I run through the house picking things up, throwing in a load of laundry/dishes, preparing for our busy mornings... When I'm getting ready to leave in the morning, I am the tornado. Then as soon as I'm sitting still in the car, the tornado is in my head. I run through the check list of things that I was supposed to do or still need to do. It's never ending. Even weekends are a little (way) crazy. This weekend, for example, Jared has gone on his annual boys camping trip. He will be back Sunday afternoon. After school today the girls and I had a work party to go to. Then it was cleaning up and getting the girls to bed. Now I have to grade SAT booklets (which we do by hand) because tomorrow we have my food co-op in the morning (I signed up to do some volunteering before the camping trip came about), as well as the usual Saturday chores. I promised the girls a trip to the park to ride their bicycles and then we will go to Neema and Pa's house. I will put the girls to bed there tomorrow night and , after they are asleep, I will go to my friends house warming party. On Sunday I will be taking the girls to the Circus at 10:00 as part of Eva's birthday celebration. (She will turn 3 on Tuesday.) Jared should come home in the afternoon and then we are off to dinner up at the Chamberlain's. Somewhere in between there I need to get my regular lesson planning and prep done. Did I mention that since it is Eva's birthday she is in charge(I guess I'm really the one in charge) of am and pm snacks for her preschool on Monday and Tuesday (they have different kids on MWF and on T Th). I'm tellin' ya a tornado. Oh.. and tomorrow is our 6th wedding anniversary. My gift to Jared was to let him go on this camping trip. The other guys planned it, and I knew he really wanted to go. I thought maybe I'd start working on our wedding album while he was gone so that he could have a real gift... but maybe lucky number 7 will be the year that I get that done. Speaking of gifts.... what am I going to get Eva for her birthday... and when the crap am I going to go shopping for it??!! I sure do miss the "hectic" of yester-year. No time for "The 12 Days of Christmas" to run through my head any more. I've only been doing this for a month. I know moms (like mine) who have always worked full time. How do they do this month after month, year after year?!

Anatomically Incorrect

The girls drew family pictures in school today. Eva's looked like a bit of a snow storm. In Naiya's we were all naked.... and apparently we were all boys too. I'm sure you get where I'm going with this.

And He Ran...

Another weekend quickly slipped away from me! On Friday night we went camping up in Logan Canyon so that we could watch George run his first Marathon. It was sort of a whirl wind camping trip. By the time Jared got home and we got packed and up to Logan it was 10:30. Then we still had to find a spot and set up the tent! We were officially camping by 11:30 and stayed up until 1:30. (The girls slept in the car but woke up when we stopped to set up camp.) Around 4:30 in the morning I realized that we were about 150 feet from the highway (I woke up thinking we might get run over by a semi!). Fortunately the girls slept until at 7:00. They must have known that that was when George started running because they both just sat up at 6:59. :)
Daddy made eggs over the camp fire for breakfast and I packed up camp. We were out of there by 8:30. Still, Naiya said it was, "The best camp out ever!"
We made it down to see George run his 21st mile of the race and pass him a much needed can of Coke, some Vaseline, and stick of gum. (You'd have to run a marathon to know how good a Coke sounds around the 20th mile.) I got to run a block (or so) with him. That's about all I could have done at his sub 7-minute mile pace.
We also were able to see him finish in 3 hours and 6 minutes. He qualified for the Boston Marathon (which was his goal). He ran his first Marathon about an hour faster than I ran mine (many, many years ago). Way to go George! It must be in our blood though, because it wasn't 5 minutes after George's finish that my mom and I were scoping out the course for next years race. (Until I realized that I have barely enough time to eat and sleep let alone train for a marathon!) ;)
Last night we went to my parents house to watch the BYU game. Well, I didn't watch. I slept. Thank you to mom and dad for taking care of my girls so that I could take a nap and Jared could enjoy the game. You are awesome!
Today I had big aspirations of taking the girls to the last day of the Utah State Fair. It sooo did NOT happen. Some laundry happened. The grocery store happened. An hour long read-a-thon happened. A 2 hour nap for everyone happened. Honestly, the nap alone was better than the Fair could have ever been.
Now I'm getting ready for another week. Lunches are packed. Clothes are set out. Papers are corrected. Monday's lessons are planned and ready to go (minus a few copies that need to be made in the morning). I'm going over the SAT booklet after this.... and then back to my favorite activity of late... sleep. Hope you all had a great weekend!

A Marathon

This last week has been extra, extra busy! Wednesday was the preschool "Back-to-School Night" at our school. Of course I felt it was important to attend as a parent. Yesterday was our first class field trip (a Summer walk). Then, last night, was the elementary school "Back-t0-School Night." It is a time when we, as teachers, prepare 15-20 minute group presentations for the parents of our classes. Then, of course, we answer individual questions or concerns. We do one for our reading class, one for math and one for homeroom. I know that I am teaching all day, but for some reason I always feel extra nervous and intimidated when it's time to talk to a group of adults! It turned out okay, but I talked right up until the bell and didn't get everything covered ( or giving a chance for the social studies teacher to get a word in! ;) Then I always second guess everything. (Yeah... I can be a little insecure, can ya tell?) It was scheduled to run from 6:45 to 9ish. After finishing up, cleaning up, getting things ready for today..... I got home at 10:45. Seriously! Can someone invent a machine that momentarily stops time?!

I must say, however, that I am thankful that cute Jared got the girls to bed, packed lunches for everyone for today, and even did the dishes (that never happens!!). I am also thankful for the caffeine that will keep me going through today because the plan tonight is to go camping up in Logan so that we can be there to cheer for my brother, George's first marathon on Saturday! I feel like I've completed a week long marathon, and now it's his turn to cross the finish line (although I don't think he'll need caffeine to help him to get through his). I've very excited for him to have this experience. All that is left to say is... GO GEORGIE GO!!!!

Some Days

Some days when both girls are finally sleeping I hear a little voice in the back of my head sing. Today by 6:45 both girls were out. I swear the heavens opened up and I heard a whole angelic chorus. ;)