Sunday, February 27, 2011

Week'End' Literature

   After the sickness I caught this Friday evening, I was happy to get my throat back to 'reading voices' condition for my kids.  Because they have become quite adjusted to our Sunday evening reading time.  And they enjoy it immensely.  I have also noticed that, as I do for the characters in our books, my son has picked up the 'art' of doing character voices as well.  And the story he read to us tonight had us rolling on the floor with laughter.  Tonight's picks included:

Gavin's voices made this book a little more hilarious:

And a book that describes how I feel after the past weekend I endured:

And we only have 20 more pages until the end of our Origami Yoda journey.  We will end the book tomorrow evening and we will also try to create our own Origami Yoda.  So stay tuned for pics of how he actually comes out.

  

Friday, February 25, 2011

Another Week Bites the Dust!! Happy Friday♥

  Just a quick update.  Gavin and I are almost done with this book called THE STRANGE CASE OF THE ORIGAMI YODA.  It is hilarious!  And because my son is a 'Star Wars Freak' it has him cracking up at the little illustrations.  I would recommend it to anyone.  I just might end up buying the book this weekend, because it is a must have in our book collection.  Anyways, its Friday!  And I love looking at the calendar and marking off another week.  It just puts me closer to seeing my much missed other half.  As a family we'll probably just hit up the gym tonight, and Saturday we have a play date with some friends we haven't seen in a while.  As for this gloomy, cloudy, Friday...I'll be playing Barbies with my little girl in her new room.  I love how she makes these dolls talk to each other...and we always argue over which girl is going to prom with her Justin Bieber Barbie.  Anyways...Have a great weekend.  And enjoy this tune that probably has been playing a lot on your car stereo, but I enjoy the message it sends out.  And not to mention it sounds, to me, like an early version of Madonna's old hit "Express Yourself". <3 

Thursday, February 24, 2011

When I Get Going...

    I can't seem to stop.  Well since I've been pretty bored throughout my days, I've had the urge to redecorate!  And I love interior design (something I should of pursued a while ago).  And although I miss my hubby dearly, it seems that I can get away with redecorating without him bugging me, or rejecting my need to spend on lovely new items!  Any who, I was up all night on my computer last night, and I got to checking around on Craigslist.  My daughter has been needing an upgrade on a bed, and the bed I wanted for her was at the NEX for $300.00 not including the mattress and box spring.  But last night I found said bed for $175 including a brand new mattress and box spring!! Hallelujah!!  It was a sign...I was destined to redo my daughter's bedroom.  So that's how I spent my day.

BEFORE
She definitely needed an upgrade from a toddler bed.  *Her sheets are in the washer...do to an accident.  Oh and forgive the ugly mess, that's clean compared to the usual.
AFTER

Her bed is awesome, and she loves it.  It is pretty high, so she needs to use her little white step stool.  But all in all, it was worth every penny!  Oh and on a side note, thank you to Shelly, who also hooked us up with a box of free books that her kids were 'too old' for.
    As for her toddler bed...it was taken apart and put into the garage, but I found some good use of her toddler mattress...
It made for a great reading corner under my favorite IKEA leaf we bought a few years ago.  And, might I add, that all her canvas art was done by yours truly.

And while I was upstairs for 6 hours doing this wonderful redo.  I found that my daughter was having much fun decorating our little chihuahua, 'Papi'.


*Although, I don't think he seemed to be having much fun!<3
Now hurry fast payday...I've got a master bedroom ready for some new style.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Week End Literature

Missed the library last weekend.  But this week we are still in love with Mo Willems.  And Gavin gave us the pleasure of reading  these hilarious books.  They are so cute and funny.  And he does the voices so well.


  And this week both Gavin and I are excited to have finally got our hands on this book! He's been wanting it since before the holidays, and it looks very interesting.

A ttention: D ad H as D eployed!

   'Your mama is so fat...she thinks a quarter back is a refund.'

    At the beginning of this deployment, you might recall me having a run in with a child that did not seem to be my son.  I refer to him as his 'alter ego'.  I, personally, have still never met him, but I've heard that he is causing much havoc during school hours.  After his last incident, I had a long 'talk' with my son.  It included a rant on keeping his hands to himself, and lowering his chatter to a minimal, as well as some type of punishment.  I naturally assumed it was his way of coping with the departure of his father.  So be as it may, I was somewhat surprised to hear that the 'alter ego' had returned this past week.

   So the 'mama joke' in my introduction may not have made any sense to an adult, but it was the cause to the inevitable return.  And also the reason my son punched his good friend in the eye!  Now this was really out of the ordinary to me, as well as the assistant principal.  And without going into an endless list of particulars we spoke about during this meeting, I'll just get to the gist of it.  The letters 'ADHD' came out of the principal's mouth.  And without diagnosing him, she suggested him to be tested.
    Avoiding the long debate, (and the stress those letters put me through), I'll just say that both my husband and I agree that we would NEVER put our child on the medication.  Not only that, but we never saw the need for it in our son.  In my opinion, that diagnosis seems to be tossed around commonly these days.  So I decided to go about the rest of the week a little differently, and decide for myself later.


    On Wednesday I, personally, spoke to his teacher.  She eased my stress immensely.  She said he shows no signs of ADHD and plenty of signs of common boyish behavior.  I also learned that my son is not a distraction during class, but only a contributor to the already talkative bunch.  And as he may have a great weakness in Math, he excels greatly in all his other subjects.  After that report, I decided to change up our daily routine.  On any other school day, we would get home, talk about his actions during school, and immediately begin his homework.  But I could see with the stress both he and I were going through...we needed some type of relief.
  And because the weather was so great...we hit the pavement!  What other way could we release the stress??!  As I ran around the track, both of my lovelies rode their bikes.  And after my third mile, I saw my son park his bike and begin to run as well.  After running, we stretched, and did our calisthenics as a family.  We left the track after two hours.  And as I started dinner at home, my son got through his homework at a record speed.  I continued this routine for the next couple of days, and with the change in temperature it seemed as though the weather was with me.

    By Friday I was keeping my fingers crossed for a great report.  And my prayers were answered when the teacher had reported that he had a great day, and he had finished his classwork with no problems.  And after some praise and a high five I walked my son (who seemed to be holding his head a little higher) to the truck, and drove him to the nearest department store a.k.a. Walmart.  There he picked out a new set of minis for less than 5 bucks to add to his collection.  It was the reward that I had promised if he had a good remainder of the week progress report.  As a parent I want to be as involved with my children as I can be.  I never want to turn to a type of medication to put myself at ease.  And since I, personally, have never seen my son act out of the ordinary. Or act any different than any other boy, stuck in a house full of women, and no male influence at the moment; I felt no need for a scheduled doctor's diagnosis.  I think it was time to change.  Time to do away with the negativity, punishments, and lectures after his bad days.  And time to reward the good behaviors that sometimes get pushed aside.  And, maybe, this time he will learn that with great change comes great rewards.<3 
   *As a matter of fact, after that week, I believe that I have learned from my previous quote as well. <3

Friday, February 18, 2011

Happy Friday!!

    In honor of my little Bieber fans.  (Including my son, who is too afraid to admit it.)  We are listening to the Bieber Remix CD this morning and the last couple of days.  And the kid's can't get enough of this song.  So for one last time before I begin to take the Bieber Fever Antibiotics...& Have a great weekend.<3

Monday, February 14, 2011

Just because♥

♥My SweetHearts ♥

    Well another Valentine's Day has come and almost gone.  This was the first year that I had to celebrate it without my other half, but  I always seem to make great with my other two lovelies.  And just when I thought that my husband didn't have a surprising bone in his body....he proved me wrong!!  Hope you all enjoyed your day, as I did.
Everything was done on a budget.  I skipped the gym to get the table looking great for a Valentine's Dinner with my kids.  Mostly everything was put together with some left over scrapbook paper/stickers.  Other items were bought at Target from the dollar isle.  And I got the cute Tree house centerpiece from Michaels.  It was on sale for $4.00 with a 20% coupon.  Adrianna decided that she will put it in her window when the night is over.

The 'Love Juice' idea came from a blog called TaterTotsandJello.  All it required was two bottles of juice.  I took the label off and made my own labels out of scrapbook paper.  It will be served with our dinner tonight.  And the mailboxes are filled with Valentine socks from the Target dollar bins.  The Mailbox was also a dollar in the same bins.  And I added my favorite....chocolate covered pretzels.

The kids loved the decor.  And each of them got a gift in their Valentine Bag.  Adrianna got Barbie and Ken reunited Valentine dolls, which came together for 5 bucks.  And Gavin got a pack of Mighty Beans which were also 5 bucks. (Target again!)
   And just when I thought I wasn't going to get anything this year...Adrianna shouted that the UPS guy was at the door.  And, low and behold, I got my love in the shape of roses and a card from across the great blue sea. <3
   



Sunday, February 13, 2011

R.I.P

    Goodbye to my favorite pair of running shoes.  Together we shared many miles and memories.  Without you, I would not be where I am today.


 Hello to my new pair of running shoes.  Please be aware that you will be used for at least an hour and a half each day for some type of concrete pounding.  As I lace you up ever so neatly in a double knot, I pray that you can keep me going each and everyday. <3


 

Saturday, February 12, 2011

♥Boogie Nights♥

    For a couple of weeks now, Gavin and I had a plan to take over the dance floor.  We were going to break it down like the famous Mother/son dance scene on the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie.  We practiced all of our dance moves every week.  And I thought we were ready...

    The evening started out pretty well.  Gavin was in a rush to get his new dressy outfit on, as I took my time getting myself dolled up.  He was anxious to get to the dance, and even ran ahead of me,to very courteously, hold open the doors.  He reminded me so much of his daddy, and it was obvious that he had been watching his dad's every move.  We signed in our names at the front door, and were directed to the cafeteria.  At that moment a very tall, blond, cute girl came up to Gavin to tell him that he looked very handsome.  I just turned my head to act as if I hadn't seen anything.  But inside I was smiling with glee.

   We took some seats against the wall, and waited for the music to start.  And when it did, he didn't move.  For a few moments we watched as mostly the little girls danced with their dads.  I put my hand on his shoulder and asked, "So you ready to show them what we got?"  He shyly replied, "Umm, not really."  I couldn't believe that my, very outgoing, son was struck with stage fright!  He didn't move an inch.  A few songs had played, and he still wouldn't budge.  The dance floor was already packed full of children getting down.  Then they played the Cupid Shuffle.  This was our jam!  I pulled him on the dance floor, and he just stood in place...frozen...like a miniature statue.  So I just danced around him.  When the song ended he quickly ran back to his chair.  It was then, that the cute, tall, blond girl came up to him and asked if he wanted to dance.  He said, "no thanks."  Ugh.  She just smiled and walked away. (I knew that in a few years he would regret that!)  He looked at me as if he was going to cry.  And he told me he was ready to go home.  We had only been there for a total of twenty minutes!

    I was shocked with how shy he was acting.  All the notes I get from the teacher clearly tell me that he is not a shy kid.  Not a week goes by that I don't get a note explaining how much of a class clown he is.  I told him that we could go home after we got our picture taken, and after we got a little bite to eat.  Even while we waited in the line for photos, he was holding back tears.  I had to beg him to show a little smile.
    After that we got our tickets for our meals.  While looking for a seat, he ran into a few of his 'talking buddies' from class.  Specifically a little blue eyed boy named Riley.  He seemed to come out of his shell a little more.  Riley and him shared some information about Lego Star Wars, and Riley ended the conversation with, "Well I'm done, and ready to dance!"  I had some hope that my son would join him.  When we headed back to the dance floor, Riley's mother and I were bummed that they had turned it into a mini carnival.  The music was not as loud as it was before.  But Gavin did get on the dance floor... to play some football with Riley.  I was just glad to see a smile on his face.

   Then Riley answered my prayers.  He challenged Gavin to a "dance off".  And my little guy broke it down.  He came out of his shell.  And for the remainder of the dance, he busted out moves that I had never seen before.  And it wasn't long before there were about eight boys dancing in a circle challenging each other.  Just like a man, all he needed was a little challenge to show what he had.  Before the night ended, I suggested to him to find Suzanna (the tall, cute, blondie).  And to my surprise, he walked up to her, as she sat in her pink polka dot dress, and asked her to dance.  She smiled and accepted. 
   By the time the dance ended, he was all sweaty, and dusty from doing break dancing on the floor.  And I was just happy that his first dance ended just as well as I hoped.  He walked me to the truck, and held my hand to make sure I didn't slip on the ice.  When we got into the truck, he said..."Mom, I had an awesome time."  And even though I didn't get the chance to break it down as we planned...that was the only thing I really wanted to hear. <3
 

Friday, February 11, 2011

Happy Friday!

  Can't believe that a month has come and gone!!  This is great news because it is one month closer to my other half coming home.  I've been pretty busy this whole week.  I'm sorry to my blog followers for not posting too much, but I will be posting this weekend.  I had to post up a song that we have been singing all week.  And a little tune to get my son and I ready for the "mother-son dance" at his school tonight.  It is from one of our favorite shows.  Have a great weekend! <3

Monday, February 7, 2011

What Have I Become??!

    My heart has always belonged to my beloved state of Texas!  Everything I have known and loved had always seemed to take me back home.  The alarm of roosters waking me in the daylight, long dirt roads, the sound of tejano and the smell of eggs with chorizo almost every Sunday morning seem to be some of my fondest memories.  I have always stuck by my good ol' roots!

   Something strange seems to be taking over me.   I think I'll blame it on me pining for my husband to be home.  Lately I feel as though I've gone from a sporty, tejano dancing queen to a tough, country line dancing, camo wearing, truck driving, football watching kinda girl.  What have I become?!  Normally, as a family, we will drive together and fight over what radio station to listen to.  Of course he lets me have my way almost ALL THE TIME.  And I would never put up to listening to honky tonk with the windows down. (Especially not where I live!)  And the sound of him cheering for the Green Bay Packers just always seemed to get under my skin.  Even my children are caught in the middle.  Some days I even need to fight with my son over which team to support on football Sunday.  But he always seems to side with his father.
   Thank God for my little girl...who always seems to take after her mama!!  She is always ready to sport her Dallas Cowboy jersey.  And she even tries to speak Spanish, even though it always seems to come out as some nicely accented gibberish. 

   Last night had me questioning my actions for the past week.  As I sat in front of our big screen TV, I found myself rooting for the other team!?  I was actually cheering for the GreenBay Packers.  And it got me thinking about the prior week.  And what I had been doing that was a little out of the ordinary. 

   Monday I hit the gym, as I always tend to do.  After the gym, I came home to shower, and saw that I had only 15 minutes until I needed to pick up my son at school.  So instead of spending 45 minutes drying and fixing my hair, I grabbed my husband's brown Carhart Trucker hat!  I should of known something was up, when my son didn't hesitate to ask me, "Mom.  Why are you wearing that hat?"  I told him it was because I had to put something on my head.  Then he replied, "Well, you look like Snooki!"....UGH!  Then Wednesday, I found myself riding in my husband's F-150.  Which is not that different...however, what I was listening to was.  I recall myself listening to Miranda Lambert, and knowing and singing along to all the words!!  And to top it off....I was doing all of this with the windows DOWN.  And of course, last night seemed to be the icing on the "honky Tonk" cake.  On a night that I should of been watching the Kardashians, or Real Housewives,  I found myself elbow deep in a bowl of popcorn and tuned into the Superbowl.  I have always been very sporty, but I never seemed interested in televised sports.  Especially those playing for the OTHER team!  All in all, it was one week that was a little off beat for me.  But probably my husband's one fantasy come true.  So here's to you my beloved camo wearing, country listening, football watching hubby.  Although we are apart, right now, it seems that there is a little bit of you that I unknowingly carry along with me. <3

Week'End' Literature

  Mo Willems has become apart of our home these past few weeks.  And we are enjoying all of these books that Adrianna continues to pick out.  Last night's picks were:


And Gavin and I have decided to finally start our second book of our favorite series:

 

Friday, February 4, 2011

Happy Friday! Another Week Bites the Dust♥

  So we are totally excited this morning! Not only because it is FRIDAY, but also because I got my tax return last night, and I'm dancing it up with happiness this morning.  I also woke up to a great EMAIL from my lovely hubby (who by the way is currently picking out a great Valentine Surprise for me!).  Can't wait to see what he gets!!  The song is another motivation song in the gym. The Words alone just get me running...yearning to become even more of a 'SEXY BITCH'!   And it is just getting us up and popping this morning.  Again, not a great recommendation song for the kiddies, but really I think they are only thinking about the bumping tunes, and not the words.  Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Operation Kid Comfort

    This past weekend I was just playing with my computer and checking out some new blogs, when I came across this  site.  It was a story about a group of women that get together and make quilts for children who have parents that are deployed.  When I called their number, the lady informed me of the phone number to the main company that would help me out.  The actual website was Armed Services YMCA.  And they referred to their quilt making as: Operation Kid Comfort.
    On the website   you will be directed to a OKC request form.  All you need to do from there is just follow the steps, and upload whatever pictures you would like to have on the quilt.  All the pictures must include your child or family together with the deployed parent, but they don't have to have him in uniform.  And each child 7 and under will get a quilt with 9 photos, and older children will get a pillow case with 7 photos. 
    And the best part is: IT IS ALL FREE!  These people do this out of their heart.  I didn't even have to pay for postage.  And I was able to send in 9 of my favorite photos with Adrianna and her daddy, and 9 DIFFERENT photos of Gavin with his daddy. 
    The lady did inform me that it would probably arrive in 2 months.  Which should be around the midway point of this deployment.  So I think it will be extra special for my kids.  Big THANK YOU to Operation Kid Comfort for all they do.  And I can't wait until my children receive their surprise! <3

   Here is the link: http://www.asymca.org/what-we-do-3/national-programs-services/operation-kid-comfort/

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