Trevor, Marilene and Craig

July

2010-08-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

June

2010-08-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

May

2010-08-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

May there was a teacher appreciation week.

April

2010-08-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

Also during my spring break, we went to the Natural history museum (Anita got an annual pass and was thoughtful to put my name on it so I could use it too). I loved seeing things that Craig was always telling me about from his visits with Nini.

We dyed some eggs for a hunt with my mom and cousins.

Gavin got another haircut. His hair grows really fast. And then Anita was dog sitting for some of her friends and we were able to go over for a swim. A little cold outside, but the hot tub was warm.

March

2010-08-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

In March, there was lots of fun!

Aunt Nini won some tickets to Walk with Dionosaurs and took Craig, Trevor and I along with her. Craig loved it!! It was pretty neat to see how they did it.

Then, our ward had a little Easter egg hunt for the play group, so Anita dyed some eggs with the boys and took them!

Craig was so mad when he saw that they were taking his eggs with candy out and placing them on the grass. It was hilarious!

The last week in March, I had spring break and wow it was great!! I worked with Craig on going potty and he became quite the expert!! He and Gavin were having so much fun in the bathtub!!

February

2010-08-02T21:38:00.000-07:00

In February, Trevor had his birthday and we also went out to Bonnie Springs for President's Day. We took Heidi with us. It was pretty fun!

january

2010-02-17T20:32:00.000-08:00

December

2010-02-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

November

2010-02-17T20:19:00.000-08:00

Beginning of November, we had Gavin's blessing, NOV 1. So we had family in town. Then 2 weeks later, Luke's Court of Honor for his Eagle! We were so proud of him. So more family! It was fun!

November 3 i think, Gavin had his second and hop;efully last surgery!!!! He was so good. He couldn't nurse after midnight, so only got pedialyte from a bottle. we got there for his surgery around 7 am. He went in with the surgeons around 8 and was done and out the door around 10(i'll have to check the facts with Trevor, waited too long to write it down.). He did really well, they just went in and sewed up his two hernias that Dr. Fiore found during his first surgery to fix the Hirschsprung's (it was a dirty suergery involving the bowel system, so he didn't do both in the first surgery). He has two tiny scars down further , below his diaper from this and healed so quickly. It was wierd. They put him under and when i went back with him he was crying so strangely. It was very wierd. i could tell he wasn't himself at all. But about 30 minutes later he was acting more normal. i took the day off of work and was able to enjoy the day taking care of my baby and watching over him. The next day, i had to go back, but at least wonderful aunt Nini was there. she really is amazing for us.

October

2010-02-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

October was so very fun! We had Gavin at home, i had to go back to work in the middle, (cried every day for a couple weeks there on my way to work), we blessed Gavin the beginning of November, so family came down for Halloween! So much fun!!

Craig was so fun to carve with this year! He helpeed me pick it out and even poke the pumpkin. Trevor had fun dressing up as a boy scout (think of the little boy in the movie up) and was called to assistant boy scout leader over 11 year olds under my dad. Kinda difficult, but he has stuck with it and neither is dead.

Gavin was a lion and Craig was Anakin Skywalker. He even went to his first friend's biorthday party, dressed in halloween costume. super cute.

I even was able to carve a pumpkin and put Gavin in it. It worked a little better with Craig becasue he was older, could actually sit up, but for an almost 2 month old, Gavin did really well.

what have we been up to?

2009-09-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

Nothing much. Here are some pictures, I will try and write later.

Craig is really really good with Gavin. He even 'borrowed' a doll from Aunt Heidi and has been changing baby's diaper when I change Gavin's. They are both really cute.

Gavin's doing pretty good. We see the surgeon every week and last week he said he looks good. He just has a really bad sore bum. I have been trying everything. hopefully it will get better.

He's home!

2009-09-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

He's home! We had to push the dr a little to motivate him, but he was off everything today anyway and done with the antibiotics. Hooray! Thank you everyone for your prayers!

Eating

2009-09-18T22:21:00.001-07:00

Today they started giving him pedialyte in a bottle, and then a little bit of (milk) colostrum at 6 and then again at 9!! He had several BMs and seems to be doing really well! I was able to feed him twice (the second time he didn’t want the pedialyte) and Trevor fed him the milk.

HOORAY!! This might speed up his recovery process to a little before next Wednesday coming home, but this is just our speculations.

The PGI doctor came and talked to us a little before we left tonight and said maybe we could try breastfeeding him tomorrow. But we will see what the other drs say. (I’m still not sure who makes all the decisions now, the surgeon or the pediatricians?)

He is still sleeping a lot and doing well.

Recovery

2009-09-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

Gavin’s surgery went smoothly on Wednesday. However, they did find that he has two hernias (yay, another surgery!). This can be an outpatient procedure, and we will hold off on it until he is fully recovered from this one. It is not life threatening right now. If we didn’t have the surgery though, his intestines could fall into the holes and cause issues (and they would have noticed by about 4 months along if he hadn’t of had his intestine surgery).

He has been sleeping a lot, which is good. Yesterday he was only on Tylenol (they have a prescription for morphine for him if he needs it) and the surgeon was feeling around his tummy and he didn’t cry, so he seems to be handling the pain well.
Last night he did have a bowel movement, but it sounds like it will still be a little while before he gets to eat.

Craig has been so good for us! He was able to go play at a friend’s house on Tuesday and hang out with Aunt Nini (who he has missed a little) on Wednesday during the surgery. Then yesterday, it was just me and him again. He was a little restless at the hospital, so we didn’t stay too long yesterday morning.

But he is so funny and goofy! I think it’s a really good thing we have him already because laughing helps things not be as stressful for us. He does this shoulder thing. Sometimes it’s to start dancing, other times, he just does it! It’s like a shrug, but he really gets into it! It always makes me at least smile, if not laugh.
Craig is talking and learning so many new words. He is really getting his colors down better.

Trevor is back to work this week, except for Wednesday. It stinks, but I think it helps a little to get back to somewhat of a routine.

I’m doing pretty good. Getting a little better most days, emotionally. Laughing does really help. I feel like I should be back to normal, but my back just kills me. I think I am really straining those muscles( really shouldn’t be picking up Craig sometimes; but what do you do when he falls asleep and really, really needs his nap, but I want to at least go in and see Gavin. I pick him up and carry him in).

Pumping is going good. It just is tiring (every two-three hours sure does sneak up on ya). But feeding will be about the same when Gavin finally gets home. Just maybe our freezer won’t be overflowing. Or maybe it still will be, since I’ll need some storage for when I go back to work. It’s amazing how much nicer the hospital grade pumps are. I rented one for at home and they have one available at the hospital to use.

Poor Gavin has been getting these little bumps/rash on his skin. One nurse guessed he just has really sensitive skin because it is worse usually on the side he is laying down on. Trevor noticed last night he has some on his legs too. And it’s getting better, but when he tore his tube off his face, that of course made lots and lots of bumps on his little face. These were from before the surgery and then the three incisions for part of his surgery.

all is good

2009-09-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

The surgery went smoothly and he is back in the nicu recovering. I will write more tomorrow. Soo tired.

Surgery is happening!

2009-09-16T00:32:00.000-07:00

Gavin's results came in and there were none of the "relaxing" nerves in the biopsy (which is the results we wanted so we knew that he has Hirschsprung's disease). He goes for surgery at 8 am today (Wednesday) and it will take about 3 hours. Please keep him in your prayers.

For the surgery, they will be cutting 3 small holes in his tummy. Two in his lower abdomen and one a little above his belly button. Then, they will stick in a scope and take a biopsy of the upper intestines to make sure the nerves are all in there (we are guessing because it would've been too high for the other biopsy to reach). The pathologist will be on hand to look at the samples and make sure that this part of his intestines are fine. Then, the surgeon will go in and remove almost all of the part without all of the necessary nerves (missing the relaxing nerves). He will be leaving a small part to sew the normal part back together. Then, they will sew him back together and he starts his recovery. The surgeon said that he can begin eating again after his first bowel movement, but we will wait and see what the PGI doctor says (pediatric gastro-intestinal). Then, about a week to recover. . . hopefully :).

Today was pretty nice. . . in a not normal way. Craig was able to go play at a friend's house and had so much fun! I went in and Gavin had a pretty good day. The nurse said he was sleeping most of the day! and almost the entire time I was there, he was pretty calm. Then, tonight, he was pretty fussy and the nurse was about to give him some "sweeties" (very simple sucrose that feels like a morphine shot), but he did calm back down.

We ended up having a Mormon nurse today! which was perfect since we ended up having my dad come down and give him a blessing. She let us have 4 people in for the couple of minutes. It was nice.

no results yet

2009-09-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

No results yet. Bummer. So we’re not sure if the surgery is still going to happen tomorrow or if it will be delayed until next Monday.

Yesterday, the nurse was finally able to put the pick line in (will be helpful during surgery and they cannot have things below or at his waist during the surgery for obvious reasons). She got it okayed by the doctor to give him some sedation. This put him out for a little while and she also gave him a really good enema and the PGI said the bowel movement was really good and it was great that the enema was able to be put in a little further. Plus, I’m sure it helped Gavin not feel hungry for a while longer.

I have so many things to be thankful for! So many people have sent their love and prayers and we know that we are loved.

All weekend I was kind of stressing about school and not having things organized for my substitute. Yesterday I went in to try and get things together and this other wonderful teacher, had made copies for my class and homework packets and is just so sweet! I really do have great teachers to work with and so many family members and church members looking out for us. It is nice to remember.

Not too much new

2009-09-12T10:17:00.001-07:00

First off, Craig is being such a goofball recently! It has been fun having a little more time with him (since we both have this week off). He likes to go visit Gavin also. We were driving home one day for lunch and he asked me if we were going to see Gavin and I told him we needed to go eat and then we would. He started crying and whining a little and saying Gavin’s name. Then last night we asked him if he wanted to stay at home or go see Gavin and of course he wanted to go. But then in the car, he fell asleep, so I asked if he wanted to go home and sleep or go see Gavin and even in a groggy state, he still said Gavin. He really is such a sweetie!

Some Funnies:
Craig was riding his bike on the back porch last night and totally went up to the post and pretended to order like from sonic. It was hilarious!!!
Then at dinner, Uncle Luke was hanging out with us and Craig decided to call everyone someone else. So I was Craig, Luke was Momma, Daddy was Luke and Craig was Daddy. I couldn’t believe it, but he also had it moved over. So Craig was sitting next to Trevor, then Luke, and me and that’s how he switched our names. He made us laugh… which is very good right now.
He did something else; I’ll have to keep thinking.

Gavin Updates
Short updates: Gavin is now on the nutrients (has lipids in it and is yellow, like mountain dew) and is pulling out his tubes very often. Luckily, he hasn’t pulled his iv out of the umbilical cord (his cord is too short and they can’t sew it in); they will be changing the iv to a pick line and it will be placed in his lower arm up through his arm to an even bigger vein by his heart. This one can stay in for 20 days, whereas the one in his umbilical cord only 10 days before changing. No results back from biopsy. Gavin is about 8 lbs now but his stomach size is going down (a good sign that his intestines are not as enlarged and bloated)! He is having an irrigation every 12 hours and he is able to have bowel movements with this, so it helps keep his intestines clear and him healthier. (An enema basically) WE talked to the surgeon this morning and he said it might be Wednesday that we have the surgery! No results back yet, but at least now we have an idea!

What we have been up to:
A little later on Thursday (after they took his biopsy) we went in and finally got to hold Gavin again!! It was so wonderful. Of course I’m bawling half the time. Then that night, Grandma Kady and Aunt Nini came in and held him a little too, and I did again also. It is so wonderful! Poor boy is just getting so hungry. They did start him on Thursday night on the more nutrients through his IV, but it doesn’t help his stomach not feel empty. It makes me wonder how it will be once we are able to feed him if he’ll quickly realize that now when he shows me he’s hungry he’ll trust that he will actually get fed or not. We’ll cross that bridge when we finally get there.

We like it when he sleeps!! This helps him not feel hungry, or at least not cry because he’s hungry.
Yesterday, we went in and after Trevor took Craig out into the hall, I got to hold him for quite a while!! It was so marvelous. I just wanted to stay there all day and just keep holding him. I sang some songs to him and he had hiccups for part of it. I lost track of time a little, but I think it was about 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile, Craig was outside in the lobby with Trevor. Craig does do pretty good back in the NICU with us, but sometimes it’s just a little stressful having him there. Gavin got really upset and crying a lot towards the end of Craig being in there and he ended up pulling out his tube that lets the air out of his stomach. So Trevor and Craig went out in the hall and the wonderful nurse fixed his tube and I was able to hold him.
It’s a little less crowded around Gavin’s bed now, for the past two days, so that helps. Craig is pretty good about playing with his train or cars, coloring, reading books and playing a little Nintendo DS. When there are fewer cribs around Gavin, Craig just plays on the floor! Of course he has to get washed up to touch Gavin again, but he’s so good. Even pretty quiet while he’s playing . . . considering how noisy and loud he LOVES to be. On Thursday night, Craig even wanted to give Gavin one of his teddy bears. (Craig not really attached to one thing but semi-attached to a couple of things, like blanket, two bears, doggy and dinosaur. He goes through phases.)
Then, last night my mom, Craig and I went back and visited for about an hour. Gavin was asleep the whole time and so we didn’t hold him, but I got to rub his arm because he was uncovered with the heat on. Craig had fallen asleep on the drive, but when I picked up my mom, I woke him a little and asked if he wanted to go home or go visit Gavin. In a sleepy little voice, he told me Gavin. The entire visit he was still pretty quiet since he was a little out of it. He just wanted to sit with Grandma Kady.
Another grandma was washing up and noticed Gavin. She commented that he was a big baby! It was funny!! She then told her daughter, “Look at that big baby!” They must have had a preemie. I told her he’s about 8 lbs and she saw the sign (his name, birth weight and birth date) and said wow, 8 lbs 10 oz! Although Gavin is still bigger than Craig was when he was born. He is a big boy and probably starving! He likes to eat. Oh well. Some day.

Random:
Our days go by too quickly! We are so tired in the morning, then I’m pumping every 2-3 hours for 15 minutes, then driving. It just flies by and before I know it, it’s midnight and I’m so tired.
I forgot how much time nursing takes. In one way, pumping takes less time. But I have to be home or at the hospital to do it, whereas nursing I could do it out in my car or other places on the go.
I have had a lot of running around to do, trying to get paperwork for maternity leave and insurance and such. It’s not fun, but has to be done. Yesterday I had a breakdown. I think I’m doing ok and then a lady tells me I need more forms from my doctor and I break down crying! She must have thought me pretty silly for crying over a paper.

Gavin David Ross

2009-09-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

We had our baby. . . finally. He came Sunday, at 6:58 pm. 8 lbs 10 oz of adorableness, Gavin David Ross. Dark brown hair, 20 inches long. Hooray!

Things looked good, I am feeling well and he was doing well. Monday just before noon we were planning on both of us being discharged and going home. However, Monday afternoon he was not eating at all or having any bowel movements. Nurses started getting worried, and so he was wheeled down to the nursery and had an x-ray taken. He had lots of air in his intestines.

The gastro-intestinal doctor looked at the x-rays and after having a tube stuck into his stomach, letting air and other fluids out, he was still not doing much better. Next day, Tuesday, he still was not passing all the air after some large bowel movements.

They decided that the level 3 NICU at another hospital would be better for him. There is a better infant radiologist and they can see more things in x-rays. Finally around 3, he was on his way to the other hospital.The next morning (Wednesday) he had an x-ray with a barium enema and things were better seen.

This is what they transfered him over in, in the back of the ambulence! Craig would be so jealous.

It appears to be Hirschsprung’s disease. For more details, look at these websites http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site1040/mainpageS1040P0.html or http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hirschsprungs-disease/DS00825 or http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/hirschsprungs_ez/index.htm

Basically, part of his intestines need to be cut out and it will solve the problem of him not being able to keep food down and better go to the bathroom. He has not eaten since 11 pm on Sunday. Poor boy. And it will probably be quite a while still (next week after the surgery).

Last night (wednesday), they put a catheter through the umbilical cord into him to provide nutrients. Today(Thursday) they took the sample of his skin from the area that the nerves are not working and test it to make sure the nerves are not working. This will take several business days and then after the results are back, we will plan the surgery. Then, it will be a couple more days before he can take food (let his intestines heal and re-introduce food). That is the plan for now.

just pretending to have a baby

2009-09-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

so, thrusday morning i woke up and had some contractions varying 5-10 minutes apart. i got ready for the day and they continuted. so i thought that things would be happening and we would be having our baby. but, i guess it was just pretending. oh well. we keep waiting. i have had some more serious contractions (2-3 minutes apart for 40 seconds each), but then they all just stop. so, we are STILL waiting.

we'll see if this baby ever comes.

four years

2009-09-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

oh yeah, happy fourth anniversary to trevor and i! i can't believe it's been four years! we usually do a little something, but this year fell right at the wrong time. all of my changes, being pregnant . . . . we ended up going out to dinner with craig the night before, then taking anita out for her belated birthday dinner and trevor's mom the next night. we are oh so romantic!! oh well. i don't mind. i did miss tuacahn and st. george trip (mmm pizza factory), but maybe next year.

wow, 4 years, time is flying by!

life goes on

2009-09-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

well, i have survived!! actually, we have. Still prego, and ok with it, besides the uncomfortable part.

I ended one year and started a brand new one! so many changes for me and they seem to be going pretty good. I am loving having only 15 students!!! the day is pretty long most of the time, but it could be worse. and of course, it still does not end just because I leave school. i have so much to do all the time and things never get done. but that's life.

last week, dr guessed the baby to already be 8 pounds. but things are looking good and I finally asked him questions and found out things should be ok labor wise with him.

craig is being watched by his aunt nini! she is great, it's just an adjustment for me. I drop him off around 7:15 and don't pick him up until 4:30. he is growing up and changing so much!! he is getting taller, heavier and learning so many words. his most recent giggle is saying the batman theme! na na na na na na na batman! tonight in the bathtub, he added batman shark! he's so goofy! we laugh so much because of him.

Trevor is keeping busy! he has a new calling that i will talk more about in our private blog. i'm not sure how he feels about it yet, but it seems to be going ok. he's working with my dad though and that can be tricky. they get along fine, it's just my dad is very spur of the moment and sometimes not as reliable.

I have great teachers that I am working with at my new school and everyone sure is helping me out great! i think i might finally have a substitute lined up for when i go on maternity leave (seeing as it could happen at anytime!!!!). i'm kinda hoping i make it to open house next week, but trevor mentioned that unless i am still in the hospital or in labor, i could probably figure out a way to go anyway. it's kinda tricky not knowing when this thing is going to happen. oh well.

last time, i lucked out and was just focusing on getting my finals finished and the night i was done, i went into labor. so i didn't really have to guess... not that i remember.

i'm having contractions, but nothing serious. i have another appointment tomorrow, so i will see how much more things are doing.

well, i'm supposed to be recording grades, not blogging, so i will stop. or go to sleep. i'm not sure. ha ha ha :)

that time in the school year

2009-08-05T03:40:00.000-07:00

so it is report card time again. and once again, i am stressed. there's just a lot to do. and now, i can't even sleep. oh well.

it is 3 in the morning and I am thinking about the kindergarten promotion ceremony and the last day of school and how i am going to get everything ready in time. maybe i'll be able to get back to sleep sometime tonight.

good news! there's a teacher exchange program and I went yesterday and got a lot of posters for my new room! so at least now ihave some free things i can hang in my room. we'll see what else I am now in need of, since this year I was able to share my room with someone who already had everything.

more family time

2009-07-25T23:49:00.003-07:00

our trip

2009-07-25T23:49:00.001-07:00

For all the fun details, see my private blog! but here are some fun photos.

contacts!

2009-07-25T23:33:00.001-07:00

Back to normal life, I am having a big baby! Doctor is guessing an 8 or 9 pound unlike Craig who was 7 lb 14 oz. we will see.

Also, I am trying out contacts! I have an astigmatism now. So my left eye is always blurry, but i still think i love having the contacts! I love being able to see when swimming, getting my hair cut and so forth!! my prescription is at least -5 so when I had to take off my glasses, it really did leave things very blurry.

Plus, I am getting very pregnant! I have had a lady ask me if I was ready to have the baby and I told her i still had 2 more months. what is my response supposed to be when people comment on how big I am getting. hooray. thanks for also noticing. o-well.

I no longer sleep through the night but have to wake up in the middle to go to the bathroom. Plus, I drink about 3 liters of water every day in a 5 hour time span! i get so hot during school, that I down it afterwards too. i feel a little silly carrying 3 liters with me into school, but so far, no swollen feet! hooray!

Trevor is staying busy enough at work. There is continual talk/gossip/guessing around him about what is going to happen and lay-offs and mandatory furlough; but he tries to ignore it since there is no point in worrying over nothing he has control of. It is all just gossip for right now and people worrying... at least in his department.

Craig is growing and talking more and more! He is now counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 most days and sometimes says more numbers between 4 and 10. We had one of the babysitting group families over last week at our house and he played pretty well with them considering he does not like to share his toys. Then, last night he played wonderfully with another one of the families for babysitting group. He didn't want to leave at all at the end.

He is understanding lots more that we are having a baby! he kisses baby Gavin every once in a while and understands that there is a baby in mommy's tummy we have to be careful of.

for me, my first year of teaching is almost over! AAHHH! I have lots of things to do still (and should be doing now instead of blogging). Plus, I am a little nervous about next school year! i will be in a new grade level, new school (with a new principal observing me), have to set up my own classroom and not just share someone else's AND i will be leaving on maternity leave with a substitute. I just need to pray more about everything!

we pre-registered to have the baby today and it's sinking in more to me that this is all coming to an end very soon and really, I'm not ready. Mentally, I am ready for a second child. But his room is not together and with all of the things with school, i am not ready!

I also got my hair trimmed on Friday! hooray. i have been badly needing it. It is still straight (straight being a relative term for my hair that never like to NOT be curly) so we will see tomorrow how much I like it when it is all curly again.

back to regular life and a checkup

2009-07-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

Well, we had lots of fun on our trip visiting family and then back here with other family visiting, but I am still trying to catch up on sleep and get back in the swing of things. We also had our check-up today for baby and he is a big one!! So, hopefully, his growth will slow down a little. Because i don't really want him to come early (would make it harder with my class) and I don't need a 9 pound baby. we'll see.

I promise to try and get many more pictures and videos together and get some blogging done! if only for journal reasons. I need to keep track of things because I always forget things.

private blog

2009-06-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

I thought i would shoot a reminder that I am posting on our private blog and would love for others to still read, but will need you to email me. marilene.ross@gmail.com

I dislike the fact that on private blogs, you can never tell when they are updated, so I am updating this blog with that info, but there will not be much posting on it. i also dislike people being able to find me. I love being able to see what people know who and with private blogs you can't see a thing about the person.

life is moving along for us and things are going well.

visiting ducks and other adventures

2009-06-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

all in a day

2009-06-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

To check out this post with updates, pics and a video, view my private blog!

http://tandmross.blogspot.com/

some fun- repost

2009-05-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

somehow i deleted this post. oops.

I have a job next year. there are pros and cons.
I will be in a first grade classroom, working full-time, at a new school, just across jones from my school right now. I'm getting more excited thinking of things i will be doing next year, but it's a lot of work!! there a lot i don't have. o=well, that's for another time.

We have had some fun recently! we had some time this last week and walked around bass pro shop! it was ok. mainly just fish in tanks. we did see a duck too and sharks. it was free, so that was nice.
then, we went to king putt on Friday night! it was fun. i'm never one for taking the game too seriously and waiting much. there were a couple people in front of us going a little slow.... and stopping to take pictures with 2 other groups behind them. BUT, we jumped ahead of them all and got out of there pretty quickly. it was fun, but a really little place. each shot was about 10 feet. and the next one was right next to it. it was a blacklight place.

I have discovered that Craig really was pretty nice to me. When I was pregnant, he never really kicked too hard. this little guy, he is a kicker! he likes to prove how strong he is. on Saturday i had my last new teacher conference and one of the boring classes, i just watched my tummy and see when he kicked. it was fun. he really is getting stronger and stronger!

Trevor recently decided to buzz his hair off. it's been a couple of days, but I'm just barely posting about it. i didn't think I'd like it, but it's not completely gone and i do like it! it's a change and change is always nice.

Craig's favorite number is fourteen! he was 'reading' the airbag sign in my car on Friday and apparently it says 14 and then he proceeded to 'write' it down!! i love it! then on Saturday, hanging out with daddy, any number he saw was 14. it's at least a start.

no job

2009-05-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

First off, some fun things. then, you can read news below. I was driving the other day and out of the blue, he starts conducting to my song!! i loved it and had to get a video. of course, i was driving, so sorry if the video is not as good of quality as i was focusing on not crashing.

NEWS-
i went tonight- frantically! to a high school here and sat and sat. the meeting started at 4 and i got there at 4:15 ish. then, around 4:30 the ONE half-time job was taken by a teacher. around 4:45 the other h/t teacher from my school got called up and we found out you give them your slip and then get to leave. Then, i sat around until 5:30 when they called my number.

SO it will be about 3 MORE WEEKS! uggh! someone will call within the next couple of days and then it will be a while. There will be a lot of moving people around (mostly in high school and middle school since those people are so exclusive on what they can and cannot teach. not a fun time to be a recently hired music teacher or something.

Craig is a grumpy little boy at times, but he is growing. he called me today when he and daddy were coming back to pick me up. He is becoming quite a talker. I could not understand everything he said, but he was saying a lot. and it was words, it's just over the phone, I couldn't figure it out. I really do love the boy, so thank goodness for precious moments like the video above.

Trevor is relieved to be done with school! ... as am I! He's still thinking about going back for his masters in the fall, and through county, they will help pay and make the process easier. but school is school. it all takes time and that's time he'd rather be relaxing or caring for his lovely wife... ha ha ha.

today was a hard day for me. I think it had to do with the frustration of tonight's meeting and Craig exerting his individualism. But i was on the verge of tears or had tears a lot today. luckily, my principal didn't come in and observe me and nothing drastic happened at school.

Here are some silly pics of Craig. He is allowed to eat in the living room on his towel, sometimes. also, him with a pillow, on the train or just to watch tv. he's silly.

Megan came over a little bit ago and somehow, Trevor ended up on the roof of the patio and then Craig wanted to too. so Megan got some shots of the two of them. that's one thing we miss a little. people just coming to visit. when living with my parents, of course we saw Luke and Megan all the time and we could just talk. now, no one ever comes over and we haven't really made any friends yet. we need to be more social, but life is so busy. anyway- here are my two wonderful boys.

happenings

2009-05-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

well, last week was crazy, but we survived! Trevor finished his project and is now DONE with his bachelor's degree!! hooray! his group and he did a very good job and now just have to wait for their report to be graded. He chose not to walk at the actual graduation ceremony, but i didn't last year and i don't regret it. so, less money, college is getting out of us. For his project, he created a small train track idea to run up and down a street and they wanted a train set to display. So, now Craig gets to play with it! and he loves it!

he sits on the pillow and controls the train and then when problems occur, he goes over and fixes them. He wakes up in the morning and plays with it. when we come home at night, he wanted to play with it. we finally put it away for a little bit last night because he was throwing pieces, but overall he has played very well with it and loved it. and of course Trevor loves it too. it's a very fun track!

Baby news- he is a kicker!!! Trevor hasn't been able to feel him yet, but i think he will be able to VERY soon. this boy kicks a lot more than Craig ever did. it makes me wonder about their personalities. But we are getting more and more excited every day for this baby. Craig still doesn't quite understand what is going on, but we try and remind him of little baby brother in mommy's tummy and that's why I can't pick him up as much.

me- well, i am doing good. glad last week was over. at the school carnival, it was a lot of bending down to pick up the balls they kids tossed and the next day, my legs were a little sore (i wore wedges and so it was even further to lean down.). but it was fun and I'm glad it's over. we split the money to buy supplies for our classrooms next year.

who knows what classroom i will be in. today the list comes out, i think, of all the surplus jobs and so hopefully i'll get some idea. we did hear last week that all of the elementary teachers should have a job, and that secondary teachers might not. but we will see. there are a lot of people higher up than me who have been out of the classroom, in specialists areas, like training teachers and such and now they are reducing those jobs and a lot more people are back in the classroom. and of course, all of those people have more seniority than me. but i have some hope. it just might be a full-time if not part-time positions are available. we will see.

no news and go with the flow

2009-04-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

well, i have gone to several interviews and no news yet. Thursday is the last day for principals to hire and then surplus! it goes by seniority and from what i've heard, i go to a meeting and tell them what job i want and find out if it's still available. so, we will see. it's a waiting game. and since i HAVE to get a part-time job, it decreases my openings. since i'm currently working half-time, i have to switch to half-time for next year, or wait till all the people with full time jobs get placed first. so it lowers my chances. there at least 6 of us, all going for like 2 or 3 positions!

This week is CRAZY!! this is Trevor's LAST WEEK of his bachelor's degree!! his last class and presentation is on Friday. then, i have my first year teacher class on Wednesday night, then a school carnival on Thursday night! aah. we really are missing a second car right now, trying to figure out how on earth we all are going to get where we need to be. Trevor has group meetings almost every night this week, trying to finalize their project. and then figuring out who will watch Craig while I have class and if Trevor has to meet. o-well. it'll all work out, but thank goodness for family.

it's just a waiting game. trying not to worry about things, but that's life. it's like a song i hear on the radio every once in a while. sounds like life to me!!

Craig is growing up so much!! he is talking more and more. yesterday, we picked him up from Anita and Grandma Ross. In the car, he was starting to fall asleep and we had to stop to grab some food to eat. Then, we get out to eat and he is HYPER!! he runs inside jumping jumping and doesn't stop until 10 minutes later. then, we get back in the car, and and is talking loudly and goofing around and a minute later he's quiet and fast asleep! i love that boy!

delete your comments

2009-04-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

If you leave me your email address, please go back and delete your comment after i have emailed you. I tried, but i couldn't stay on top of the comments. or, just email me at marilene.ross@gmail.com

I am still testing it out, but i'm thinking i will post simple updates on this blog and more details and private info on my private blog. so don't worry about checking both, but this way you can tell when i have updated my blog.... because that's one of the things i dislike about private blogs.

It's a Boy!!!!!!

2009-04-23T10:51:00.001-07:00

The doctor's appointment went well today! Craig is getting a little baby brother!! We are so very excited!! the doctor says he looks very good, head growth and weight and bones all look great! i am so happy to hear everything is looking good for our little guy and I'm so excited to now know what we are having!

my licensing test

2009-04-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

i have a new post on my private blog, but to read it, shoot me a reminder and i'll add your name!

guess what! i looked online yesterday and found out that I passed my licensing test!! so now i need to make sure the paperwork gets to the right people and fill out stuff to try and get reimbursed (hopefully with all the budget cuts, they won't mess me up and not reimburse me... $220 back would be nice!). HOORAY!! i was so glad.

this morning i had an interview with a school and it went ok, i like the principal and i even subbed there, so i know i like one of the other kinder teachers. but, i forgot to prepare myself for the interview. thinking of things that are good about me, my strengths and goals in teaching and specific areas. well, at least i'm more prepared for my interview tomorrow.

gotta run! but at least i passsed my test.

testing going private

2009-04-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

well, i'm going to try out having a private blog. there are pros and cons to both, but i know that especially my family members don't like pics of their kids up on my open blog. so, to protect everyone a little more, i'm testing it out! i'm gunna try and send out an email tonight, but if i miss you, feel free to shoot me an email or leave your email address for me and I will try and pass it on to you! we'll see.

but, i gotta get off to school!! back to school and i think we will have a great day!

Easter happenings

2009-04-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

on saturday, we went over to the park and did our ward's little hunt and craig had fun! there was another ward there too before us and so craig had to watch all of those kids running and getting eggs and wanted to join them. so he got a little upset and crying because he couldn't go run and grab eggs. then, the men started setting out our eggs and once again, he just wanted to run and get them. started crying.. again. the pic on the top right is him crying. man it got cold!!

then, we went over to my mom's and got busy dying eggs!! my brother, abraham had car troubles, so we really missed him and all of his kids joining the events, but it was really fun!

after church on Sunday, we went over to my mom's again (ross side was up in reno) for dinner. after dinner, Grandpa got out his birds and was trimming their wings to keep them from flying away. the kids loved holding them, and making sure the cat didn't mess with them since they couldn't fly.

Fun times with pictures

2009-04-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

Here are lots more pics!! back from february

Before and after haircut

After church, he fell asleep while eating pineapple!!

we had NV reading week and one day we got to dress up as our favorite book character. craig's mattress on the floor, the week or two we didn't sleep!! he's back in his crib. wearing daddy's shoes, eating dinner at macayos.

long ago in February when cousins came and jumped!

one early morning after dropping daddy off at work, he was still in pjs and singing to inside out!

Random Happenings!

2009-04-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

Craig is growing up so much. He is talking more and more each day and just learning so much. Recently, he has been in love with stuffed animals. Instead of begging for a balloon at the store, now it's a dog, or a bear. I'm working on not spoiling him as much, but it's so hard for me to resist.

So, he has these doggies and Trevor will pretend that the doggie is licking him all over. well, Craig does it to himself now! It is hilarious! I hope to be able to catch it on video. But he holds the doggie and just laughing because the doggie is 'licking' him.

Tonight at dinner, Craig repeated some of what Trevor helped him say for the prayer. We have been trying to have him help pray, and about 6-8 months ago, he was saying some things with us, but then he stopped. It was so wonderful to hear him repeat things that his Daddy said while speaking to or Heavenly Father.

We are working a little with letters. We often will count while putting things away or just say the letters, but Craig only helps say a few. He has started to say that the foam shapes in the bath tub are letters, mostly A. And they are not only a. Some are letters and some are even numbers. But at least he’s starting to be interested. Not worried. He will get it.

Craig has been enjoying being a little less clothed recently! After changing his diaper, he’ll get up and I don’t want to fight him, so he runs around for a little while without pants on. Another day, he went without a shirt for a little bit. Then, Saturday morning, he woke up around 6:30 and I was still out of it, so I took him down stairs and let him watch cartoons for a little bit. When Trevor came down and was awake finally, Craig had taken off his FEETY pajamas! He put his little potty seat on the toilet and I think he wanted to go potty, but we caught him before he took his diaper off.

Trevor’s parents gave us some of his old stuff and in that stuff, were some of Trevor’s old toys!! Trevor has allowed Craig to play with them and he loves them!! There are like three different types in one box, but he loves them all! One set is a fun little train track! They have big puzzle like connectors and he can easily put them together. And of course he LOVES the train! He hooks the cars of the train together and puts them under the tunnel. Then, there are the more difficult ones that can make a truck, bus, or other fun little vehicle and has more complicated connections. HE loves to pull them out, put them back away, and sit with them. In all, he just LOVES them. Pretty much like Trevor does. (yes, he still does)

Trevor's test is coming up soon and he is stressing a little. He also has a lot going on with his last class and getting his project done with his group.

I still haven't heard back about my test, or from any schools. But, I feel somewhat calm! We had three wonderful people come in and help in our room at school and they helped me get just about ALL of my testing done for the report card grades. I feel relief. I know that was such a blessing!!

With all of the craziness with the school district, people have been asking me what I am planning on doing for next year. And I don't know. I'm praying and trusting that something will work out. However, I'm also doing my part. I stayed late Friday trying to make sure that the schools that do have a half-time position open at least have my info. Then, I have been thinking a little ad talking numbers with Trevor about if I did a little school at our house, or even an all day- daycare. But we just don't know if anyone would even be interested or willing to pay as much money as I would need in order to allow me to stay at home. PLUS, I will be having a baby in September and if I’m still with county, I have short term disability for maternity leave. Otherwise, I am out of money and that causes problems with bills!

I got flowers at the store the other day and Craig helped me organize them and wanted to carry them around! The small ones that were too little, he even wanted to take to Grandma Kady’s (mainly I was helping him be excited about leaving and get into the car. He doesn’t mind going to grandmas, in fact, most days he loves it; but sometimes, it’s a matter of getting into the car). Trevor mentioned that I got flowers to match our paint colors!! Ha ha ha on me! But I really do like yellow and red together I guess. They have made me feel cheerier.

Conference was wonderful! We missed the second session on Saturday, but have it recorded. But wow! There were some wonderful pieces of treasure for us. We had stake conference a little bit ago and that also had some wonderful speakers. It was a broadcast to Nevada. I wanted to mention that during our stake conference, one of the speakers mentioned that children are learning so much between the ages of 3-8 years old! And that at 3 years old, children are the most receptive! That really hit me. It helped me remember that children really do learn so much at a young age and that science can back up the church and that 8 is a good age and is correct to be the age of accountability. I loved hearing that!! I need to work to help Craig better learn, both academically and in the gospel.

During first session on Saturday, Trevor got out the laptop and showed Craig how to draw an art on the computer! He loved it!

Between conference sessions on Saturday, we went to the park and blew bubbles, kicked a ball and just had fun! It was a little cold at first, but with running around, we warmed up a little! It was so nice! We even saw a ladybug!!

Blessings!! We finally got a microwave from some wonderful people in our ward that moved to a house that already had a microwave! Plus, another wonderful person in our ward was giving away stuff to DI and let us come over real quick to see if we wanted any of it first. We ended up getting a couple of chairs for a dining table, some pics, Craig a toy and two COUCHES!!!! People are so wonderful to think of us!

2009-04-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

just wanted to write really quick this morning! we had a wonderful weekend, a little sick with sniffles and clogged noses, but it was great listening to the wonderful messages spoken by our inspired leaders.

This week is Spring BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!! seriously, i am so glad. I have been very overwhelmed and I'm hoping to be able to accomplish a good amount this week. plus, my brother is coming to town this weekend! hooray. i love visiting family.

gotta run! got to finish off emptying out my mom's house with our junk this week and lots to do. hopefully, i will get time to get pictures together and post lots!!

updates and finally a picture

2009-04-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

the baby's dr appointment went well. heartbeat is good and Craig and I even heard the baby kick! I been feeling a little not myself (but nothing I can really complain about... considering how lucky I am with no sickness). I've just been a little dizzy when standing for too long and people have been saying i look paler than normal. But the dr didn't say anything about low iron.

i have called all 5 of the schools in the valley that have a half-time job open, but no interviews scheduled yet. Most of them are asking for my evaluations (from my principal) and so that makes me doubt that they'd want me. When there are other available teachers who have worked longer and got better reviews. o-well. I gotta try.

Craig is growing up so fast and learning so much so fast!! I finally cut his hair again and wow he really needed it. two saturdays ago, it was so nice outside, Trevor was working on our semi-dead grass and Craig just rode his bike around out front and loved it!! then, this other pic, he likes to put toilet paper around his head. he's so silly.

We were able to go to the brandts baptism and it was very special. They are a family we know from the dad working with my dad. Megan, Luke, Dad and I were able to sing a song at their baptism and it reminds me how much i really enjoy singing with them. It was so easy!! we practiced the morning of and it was a hymn, but it really sounded pretty good and was so fun!! i love singing when there isn't very much pressure. and we are family so our voices blended very well.

Trevor is doing good, just tired of his last class and ready to be done with school. he's so great for Craig and I. Last night i was laying with Craig before putting him in his bed and I just thought how glad i am that I married such a wonderful man.

i'm still overwhelmed

2009-03-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

I know, i still have not gotten pictures together and still have not posted in forever. but for my own sanity (not really because pretty much i am crazy) i need to do some venting.

First off, job wise, (i am working part time in kindergarten) I HAVE to move schools next year and i am hoping that I can find a part time job. In order to help decrease layoffs, the district decided that all teachers working part-time right now, HAVE to work part time next year. which i wanted to anyway, but my odds of finding part-time jobs are decreasing. FUN FUN. so all 4 of the kinder teachers at my school have to move and have to find a new job. hip hip hooray.

Next-i got out of jury duty after one day! that was a hooray!! it took all day and i didn't get done until just before 5, but i didn't have to return the next day or get stuff for a sub to do with my class!!

*i hope this one makes someone laugh, because it didn't make me laugh* Yesterday, i was running a little late (as always) and was trying to get several things done before heading off to work. so on my out the door, i turn the alarm on and manually lock the bottom lock from the inside since my keys are already in the car with Craig. WRONG!!! They were NOT! they were still inside in my purse! with my car keys, my house keys, my wallet. I did have my phone and Craig. so i start flipping out! call Trevor and he looks up lock smiths. call my mom to check and see if we gave her a key. no of course not. why would i do something half way smart. we had given a key to Trevor's parents, but they cannot answer any phone calls at work. UGGH!! big uggh! meanwhile, i am flipping out about how on earth i'm gunna get back in the house and get my purse and get to work. I try calling a locksmith, but of course, they are busy and have NO one who can assist me. good one. Trevor has a key at work, but I drop him off at work every morning. that doesn't work.

FINALLY< (someone must have prayed to knock some sense back into me) Heavenly Father reminded me that I have a hide a key for my car and that Trevor does have a house key. i calm down a little, see if the key will actually start my car and then thankfully call my mom and Trevor and let them know I will be running to grab a key and back to my house! i even made it to work on time!

I am the person who locks myself out often. many times, i leave my keys in my car (it just happened about 3 weeks ago) and so i do keep an extra key for my car. well, now i know that i need the same for my house. fun.

BUT, the good news is, Craig was with me outside of the house and not in, AND, i did not grab a rock and throw it thru our back door, like I was very tempted to. SO HA HA HA HA. did anyone laugh? probably not. o-well, lesson learned.

On to other things, i still have my silly first year teacher classes and i went last night and learned very little, but was very bored. I still have a million things for work and our house is sadly in need of some work.

But, i love Craig, i love Trevor even more and I am grateful that we are a family. I'm grateful for the wonderful messages I get to hear at church each week. i'm grateful for the many wonderful examples in my life who help give me hope that i can do things. (family and at church) I was asked to get together musical numbers for a RS dinner and I was VERY overwhelmed with how many people i needed to help. but, surprising to me (not the Lord) many of the wonderful ladies I called were very willing to help, and those that weren't were not able to go.

My family is wonderful! i have great in-law family whom I consider to all be a part of our family. I have a wonderful family of my own. they all teach me things that I need to remember and I am very blessed. So, very soon, i will get my act somewhat together and do better and recording our lives. But for now, I need to run and get ready for the day because I get to go talk to the doctor about our precious baby #2!

overwhelmed

2009-03-12T10:05:00.000-07:00

I am ashamed a little at myself in one way, but in another way, there are a lot of reasons for my not posting. we have been so very busy! sorry, this is a little of complaining. BUT, on the bright side, it is THURSDAY! one more day closer to the weekend.

I "get" to take my licensing test, AGAIN. long story short, i took the wrong test because the right test was not create when I signed up and passed the general elementary test. now, i have to retake the early childhood test and I'm praying that i remember enough and can pass it the first time. UGGH!! so this is this saturday. one more saturday almost completely wasted.

then, i have my first year teacher classes so often, not to mention the homework for those. i still have things to do just for my kinder class above that!! i'm barely staying afloat here.

trevor has been so wonderful and understanding. he has been great. he always is.

craig is so fun! He's talking more and more every day! the other morning, when taking trevor to work, he saw the moon and he said moon!! i didn't even know where he learned that word! i don't think we've talked about it with him. he's picking up so many things and becoming less and less of a baby every day.

he jumped in his crib (we still haven't gotten his big boy bed yet, ugh) and it fell out from under him three times in one night. the last time, i just pulled the mattress out and put it on the floor. so two nights he has been on the floor. but last night, he woke up around 1 and started crying and walking downstairs. i called him (me still being out of it) and followed him, calling his name several times. finally i caught up to him on the landing of the stairs and carried him back up to bed. he slept the rest of the night with us. which meant i didn't sleep very well. so tonight, i need to make sure to put up a fence over his door in case he wakes up again.

off to school!

Classes

2009-02-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

As a new hire teacher, schooling is never done. I 'get' to take these classes and all day conferences. Well, on saturday was my first all day conference. I did actually learn things, but it took up my entire saturday. uggh. so much house work i could have been doing.

Well, a result of one of my classes I took, about internet safety, i am strongly thinking of going private. there are pros and cons to both. SO, we will see. but there are scary people out there and they are targeting SO MANY PEOPLE!!

over the 3 day weekend for presidents day, my brother and his family came to town! it was wonderful! i got to meet my 3 month old niece and she is adorable! tanner than i will ever be in my life. blessed girl. but it was so fun having cousins around for Craig! i am behind with all the moving on downloading my camera. SHOCKER!! and right now, i am too lazy to walk downstairs and get it out of my purse. but i will try and get some safe pics up. it really was a fun time.

Here's a fun pic of Craig. He was rocking on this ottoman and rocked himself to sleep!! it was so silly.

living in our new house

2009-02-20T08:23:00.000-08:00

This one may be long and boring. sorry. jump around.

yes we are living in our house, however, i will not say we are moved in. we still have no stove, microwave or fridge inside the house, so cooking is not much of an option yet. however, our beds are in and we are still working! we still having touch up painting to do.

It was so wierd the first night, thinking that we would actually be sleeping in our own house for the first time!!! we can do whatever we want to it, whenever. the downside, we also get to pay for everything! that's a little scary to me.

I feel the need to express my many blessings! we found a wonderfully huge washer and dryer on craigslist that seem to work well. we were able to get a cheap entertainment system and the tv was thrown in! a friend of family moved and didn't want to take it with them. family has helped so much!! we haven't had a clear schedule of when moving or painting and just going by ear, and so we couldn't ask people ahead of time if they would help, but family has stepped in and helped with plenty of painting and cleaning and moving!!

I am enjoying track break, but so sad that I only have one more week. i still have SO much I need to do!! the day before track break, we had a fun little valentine's day party with root beer floats!!!! i know... crazy with kindergarten!! but it actually went really well. i just wish everyday could be as easy going not worried about making sure we got things done. the kids just had to stay seated and we got everything for them. it was so sweet. when they got their bag full of cards from everyone, they were all yelling around the room tahnking each individual person the card was from. finally, we all just said one thank you together. it was sweet.

trevor is sick again. the poor guy!! but he is so great. he's still working so hard and getting things done even when he feels pretty bad. we know have some lights!!! it's wonderful! we had no lighting fixtures and so we had a lot to buy. but it could've been much worse.

craig is loving it! he has so much space to run, jump and THROW!! yes, we are working on things and places he can and cannot throw. but he rides his bike down to check the no mail we get and plays outside in the back yard a little. sleeping and getting to used to the new place is still a work in progress. but i think he'll get used to it soon.

i'll try and post pics soon! we had my brother come in town from reno and it was so fun!! we were trying to move and pack that weekend, but it still was nice.

pics

2009-02-17T12:12:00.000-08:00

this is the kitchen area that still has paitning stuff and tools all over the counters. but the red turned out to be a great color!

well, we have been very very busy! we still have touch ups to do of paint and i'm going to be running around trying to get more of our brown that silly walmart refuses to stock up on. but here are some pics of out colors and some updates on rooms! we had some great help and moved most of our big stuff, but i still have some of the littler things and out clothes to get packed and moved. and OH! all the unpacking!

This is the front room downstairs and the loft upstairs.

This is our rooma nd craigs and the baby's.

Class is Scheduled!

2009-02-11T10:30:00.000-08:00

We will be having the class on Tuesday, March 3rd @ 7:00 pm at my new house. i will try and send out an email to everyone with my personal info on it, address, number. If you would like to come, please let me know and i will give you all the info!! i don't want anyone to miss out.

PS- it is with Lindsey Futrell, who used to be in our ward!!

But PLEASE put this on your schedules!! It really is amazing how easy it is to save. Also, continue to check out these great websites

http://buyingsmart.blogspot.com/

http://shopsmartinvegas.blogspot.com/

Save money, spend little time and stock up on much needed food storage for less than you are probably spending on regular groceries now.

visiting with family

2009-02-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

Roger and his two older kids came down for a day! he works with airlines and so they just took a quick flight here saturday morning and left Sunday morning.

It was great to see them. we missed seeing Jessica and little Taylor, but it was so nice to see family. And then my brother, Abraham is coming to visit soon! i'm so glad. here's some fun pics!

we just hung out, went to in n out, peeked inside our house (no keys) and then jumped!! of course, saw the silly goats my dad has and then went to heather and curtis's and played wii and hung out. it was great. Craig and Cote were so cute together!! all the kids were so great and so cute!

We were all so tired, Trevor and mom both fell asleep on the couch.

Guess what!

2009-02-05T09:14:00.000-08:00

YES!!! we finally got our keys last night! i was pretty shocked when it actually worked out! welll, let me re-phrase. we got ONE key. since it's foreclosure, we only have the key from the realtor lockbox.

we went to walmart and home depot and got some things and trevor got to work a little last night! he replaced the doors, fixed the outside keypad for garage door opener and put a thermostat on. i will post more pics and things as things start pulling together.

We ar so blessed! craig loved running around our house last night!

No keys

2009-02-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

Last night we went out to celebrate NOT getting our keys. we were pretty bummed and just getting frustrated. People just need to stop giving us hope that it will actually happen.

MMMM yummy root beer float!

So, we stopped at Cheeburger Cheeburger and it was a great little night together. Then, we went and looked and PAINT! and i think we found some great colors. at least i hope.

After that, we came home and CHUCK was on!! yay! that made me so happy! it hasn't been on since before Christmas and i was a little saddened every Monday night. it is pretty hilarious to me and Trevor and we enjoy watching it together.

two weeks ago, I went to pick up Trevor from work and he was staying late, so i stopped off at the outlet mall up on Charleston. KB toys was going out of business and they had everything 60-80% off!! i got some games for CHEAPO for school and treasure box stuff and of course stuff for Craig. he saw this plane and we had to get it! the silly boy had it in his hands practically the next two days straight! it was his favorite toy! he was so cute. He would just sit there for 2-4 minutes flying his plane. and that is a long time for this boy to sit still with one toy. he even had to have it to sleep. i love it!

baby news and all other sorts!

2009-02-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

WARNING: very long info. feel free to skim! :P

I was able to go to the doctor last week and get an ultra sound done! it is actually real to me now! i saw the little baby's heart moving!! it was fluttering away! i love it! last time, with Craig, I ignored that i was actually pregnant and didn't get to a doctor and believe that i was actually pregnant until well, a while. (i was also trying to figure out how on earth i would pay for doctor's visits with no insurance and part time jobs while going to school) i was probably 3 months along maybe 4 by the time i saw the doctor. so this is all a little new! (got prego with Craig in march and saw the doctor late may, maybe June)

All is going! as far as the baby, i am one of the extremely lucky! i have not gotten sick at all! Trust me, I'm counting my blessings. It would be difficult with me being a first year teacher, and not supposed to take any time off, if i did get sick. so i keep taking vitamins and stay away from sick people... as much as possible surrounded by 30 sickly breathing little kinders :) But with Craig i got sick from food poisoning one time and that was all that i ended up being vomiting. so I'm praying that that is the same. Poor Trevor, he got sick already and he got sick last time too. he ends up being the one that feels the most crappy.

so all is well with the baby. Growth looks perfect and due September 13, 2009! now i get to tell my principal... seeing that she mentioned to me the other day, if they have to let go of a teacher, it will be me! I'm the last hired. yay. but we will see! We are just praying and having faith that things will work out. I keep praying that Trevor will magically get hired as an engineer as soon as he graduates and I won't have to work at all next year. but reality, I'm hoping my pay doesn't get cut so much that I'll have to work full time just to actually help at all with house payments, etc. (6% of $17,000 is quite a cut when 17,000 isn't much to start out with!)

Trevor is very busy! he got sick last week, we are thinking it was food poisoning because Craig and I never really got sick. But, Trevor is doing good and just busy! he got called to be the gospel principles teacher in our ward, along with ward missionary. too bad for me, i am in nursery helping out that I've only seen him teach once. but I'm very proud of him! gosh i love that man. He's still doing basketball, but with getting sick, we missed last week's game. But he enjoys being a little more active and it's helping us all out.

HOUSE- we went in and signed the kajillion papers on Friday night and are hoping to hear today that the sellers signed everything and got them back and that we get keys tonight. We are hoping. but we will see. things keep getting pushed back on us. then starts the mad rush to get things done and moved in! we are hoping to paint before things are moved in, but we will see. depends on when we get keys.

Craig is doing good. Since we are still sharing a room with him, he wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to sleep with us. well, sometimes that's ok, but other times, he rolls around kicking us and making us sleep horribly! Last week, he started screaming every morning around 4 and would not stop unless in bed with us!! after almost of hour of fighting with him, and trying everything (going in other room, reading books, singing songs, i got cold and took him in bed with me. the next night, Trevor set up his play pen and the portable heater in the kitchen and had him sleep in there. so he woke up hollering in there, but we did get a little more sleep and he stopped crying sooner. the next night was a little better and last night and the night before that, he didn't wake us up at all! so yay to Trevor for coming up with the idea!! when we move, Craig will be in his own room, so we hope this will also help with that transition!

School is crazy!! my class is still quite the handful! and i was feeling very overwhelmed. this trimester, we just have SO much to teach. but I'm praying about it and trying to get help from the other 3 kinder teachers. and we will see. i have a couple parents coming in to help (HALLELUJAH!!!) and so I'm trying to have them when possible get started testing these kids! in first and other grades, it's much easier to get grades because you simply give them assignments or give tests and get grades that way. but kinder has more skill grades. and most of it has to be one-on-one testing! and well, with 30 kids and no time to do it in, that is a lot to ask!

saving money

2009-01-28T07:59:00.000-08:00

I know many of us are looking for ways to save money. well, i've been wanting to figure out a way to take these classes, at first i thought about it for enrichment in our ward, but i also think if we ever get into a house, maybe i could just get a couple of ladies together and have them come to my house.

SO, I was wondering if anyone is interested if i got a class scheduled and we could really learn how to save money and stock up for food storage at the grocery store!!

Check out these two websites!

http://buyingsmart.blogspot.com/

http://shopsmartinvegas.blogspot.com/

they save SO much money and makes shopping a challenge to see how much you can save.

no house yet

2009-01-27T18:21:00.000-08:00

we were supposed to be signing and getting the keys to our house tonight, but as i felt, something went wrong... of course. hopefully, all the paperwork will be done by the end of the month, if not, we will see. Patience. i know.

my little bro, Luke finally got together and did part of his eagle project tonight and I love all the wonderful people who helped!! i will upload a picture of all the blankets they received, both from church people and knocking on doors! they are helping the homeless people in las vegas! so wonderful!

yay! and oh

2009-01-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

We have had so many blessings! some sweet people in our ward heard that we were moving and needing furniture, and so he cleaned out his garage a little and we were able to get a little night stand and small cabinet/stand from him! every little thing helps. a while back, someone gave us his old couches (which still have to be cleaned) but so we have a bed for us, two couches, a dresser for Craig and a kitchen table! Plus a small nightstand and a little drawer or tv stand. i love when people are so willing to share things they are getting rid of anyway.

we are closing on our house on Tuesday night... most likely. we ended up not going with the HUGS prgram, because of difficulties and it would also raise out interest rate from 5.5% to 6.6%!!! that's a good $150 at least a month! so we have saved as many pennies as possible and we renegotiated and got the price for the house down a little also.

We went and bought a stove, dishwasher, and fridge last night. we have been watching craig's list and saw ones for cheapo! they are not the best, but for $350 for all, we couldn't beat that.

I am feeling a little overwhelmed! we still need to find a washer and dryer, looking on craigslist and then get all the little fixing ups to the house and hopefully be able to paint before we get to live in a house of our own!! plus fixing the yard some and tearing out some trees and bushes.

went from flustered to peaceful

2009-01-21T07:31:00.000-08:00

For some reason, i am always a bit flustered when going to work. and it is usually a bit more the first day of a week. I just am not sure if I have everything ready and usually i might be leaving later than i would have liked to.

Well, yesterday was one of those days. and since there was no school Monday, it was the first day back (even though i spent a good couple of hours at school on Monday). PLUS, i was upset about interest rates (6.6% with the HUGS program). luckily, Heavenly Father prompted me to listen to some good music and i found some hymns to listen (actually sing along with VERY loudly in my car... it was just me and passing strangers). I was so happy I did. by the time i got to school, i was a little calmer and ready to face the day. then, i got some maybe good news that they might continue to have part-time teachers next year! and that made me happy to think there was a chance.

Long story short- Heavenly Father blessed me yesterday and I wanted to make a note of it. I LOVE the beautiful hymns and music we have.

pictures

2009-01-18T16:27:00.000-08:00

A while back, we went out and got some ice cream cones. Craig enjoyed his.

Then, we got some donuts and that night, craig found one and in the middle of eating it, fell asleep! this is how we found him. silly boy!

Our stake has started up men's basketball again and Trevor went to our ward's first game on thursday. it was nice, they invited families out and we were able to watch and there were other kids there for Craig to play with. i hope next time is just as fun.

well, we are doing pretty good. tomorrow, hopefully we will be able to find out some info about the HUGS program and find out whether or not we will get help with a down payment or not.

school is going kinda crazy! my kids are just very very VERY talkative! i figured out that i really need to be strict and consistent about the rules! kids need consistency and so i really need to make i give them that to help us all out.

we went and hung out with a friend of ours through trevor's work and his girlfriend on Saturday. that was nice. we tried palying some games, but we didn't know each other well enough for catch phrase (and two of the ladies speak another language and so there was a little difficulty for them explaining things in english for us) and then a LONG game of uno. we played it with drawing until you could play and we all had a handful of cards. finally we changed to draw only one card. it ended a lot sooner because of that. but it was nice and craig was pretty good too.

inspection

2009-01-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

yes, we have a pinkish house. we have to look into the hoa's to make sure that can change!!! but, we had our home inspection today and it looked pretty good. there's some issues with all of the windows, but it should be covered under warranty and we will check it out before the 10 days is up. if not, the windows could be a little pricey. but yay!!! now i'm really excited!

This is the kitchen and the breakfast nook! all the walls are white so we have some painting to do.

we're still waiting for the hugs program, but we are just praying and having faith that whatever happens will be right.

check out our picasa webs for more pics http://picasaweb.google.com/marilene.ross/House#

Such a sad yet glorious experience

2009-01-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

I feel a desire to also write about my love for some very special people in our lives. We were able to go to a beautiful and very spiritual funeral on Saturday for Baby Jack Alexander Johanson.

I had gone to only a handful of funerals that I actually knew the deceased. My paternal grandfather, a man in our ward and then a teenager in high school. However, this one is the most difficult I have ever gone to. I felt for the Johanson family so very much. I know that Jack is with Heavenly Father, but I know that this must be extremely difficult for Adam, Elizabeth and little Megan! I still don't know Adam and Elizabeth as much as others, but they have a little girl a little older than Craig. We were married about 6 months after them, had our first baby about 6 months after them.

Through Trevor, I was able to meet this wonderful family. and their entire family truly is wonderful! both the Johansons and Marshalls. I have spent time with a few of their various family members, all along with Adam, Elizabeth and Megan.

At the funeral, a beautiful and perfect song was sung for the occasion. I can't imagine the pain, but there were many pictures and even a recording of the sister singing the song and Elizabeth was able to post it all on her blog. I have cried many tears just reading and re-reading all the events starting from the labor for little Jack.

I am grateful for the strong testimonies that this wonderful family has. my testimony has been strengthened from this experience. I am so very grateful for the blessings that Heavenly Father has given me, that I have a healthy son and that I can cherish my time with him. I know that through our prayers, this family will be comforted. Heavenly Father is so very aware of each of us.

Adam gave Craig this pillow case. He came over Monday night and Trevor and he talked for a little while. This is a pillow case that the hospital gave to precious little Jack. Every time I have seen it, I am reminded of how precious our lives are and of the glorious plan of Happiness. I only hope to be able to see Jack one day in heaven and know that I am worthy to be in his presence along with our Father in Heaven.

new baby

2009-01-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

guess what! well, you could guess from the title. we are going to have another baby! i was going to wait until i saw a doctor to tell everyone, but my dad was spreading the word last night when he picked up Heidi from YW. the baby will be due around September.

well, we still have not gotten the papers signed on the counter offer from the seller, which means we can't have an inspection. they are the ones who wrote the counteroffer so i don't know why it is taking them so long!!
but we got some possibly bad news yesterday about the HUGS program helping us with our down payment. so we will see if it works out, or we don't know what will happen. if not, we have to come up with the entire down payment and will have no left over savings for the stove and appliances that we SO badly need(i know... we should have waited to get a house and just saved, but we need a place of our own so bad). which means we might not buy this house and lose it! uggh. but we are praying that things will work out. whatever that means. and praying for more patience.

school is back in session for me and we are sharing a car. which means i get up, drive trevor to work by 7, get back home, usually take a brief 5-10 minute sleep and shower before craig wakes up. there are some things that i will miss. for instance, just asking my mom to listen for craig while he is sleeping and we run and do an errand, or drop trevor at work.

trevor doesn't start school until next week, i think. then, he will have to meet with his group to get his project all finished by the end of the semester.

house offer

2009-01-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

guess what! we made an offer on a house and it was accepted!! AAHHH! i can't even believe it!

we have an inspection on the house next week and will make sure that there aren't too many things wrong with it... no hidden damage due to foreclosure. we are very excited... of course!!!

it is a good size house, a good sized yard and a good price. i'm so glad that it worked in our favor that the housing market and prices have gone down. we will let you know more details later! yay!!

What have we been up to?

2009-01-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

We went caroling and it was wonderful! we didn't get much time to go to too many places, but it was enjoyable singing with my family! i love being to harmonize at times and just sing out loud. Megan, Anne, Mom and I took turns singing the alto parts and the melody. my mom knows a couple of the songs on the alto part and does a good job with Anne or someone else. Anne, Megan and I can do whatever part we want, so we would make sure someone was singing the melody and take turns! it was fun.

Craig even can sing a little of Jingle bells! (hey and ha ha ha) :)

Then, we got done a little early and we headed over to the Ross gathering at Curtis and Heather's. On the way, Craig got to listen to his little mp3 player with Trevor's big headphones. He ended up taking a nap with them on. silly boy!

For Christmas, aunt nene gave Craig a pillow, and he loves to sleep with nene! that and read his books and listen to music to fall asleep. however, we've had to stop letting him listen to the music. he would fall asleep to it, but then wake up in the night and not be able to fall back asleep on his own.

Anne made her first wedding cake!! it turned out wonderful! it was so fun watching her and talking to her about what she was doing in order to make it. I am so proud of her!

Craig also got popcorn from grandma and grandpa Ross and was relaxing watching the movie, with his feet on his new pillow and eating a little snack. there are some cute pics from just driving in the car with him and his sunglasses on.

then, Christmas eve,when he fell asleep with the headphones on. this week, he found some pacifiers and really wanted them, so we ended up cutting the tip off, because he kept digging in the trash. what a cutie!

he was jumping on the trampoline with aunt Heidi and was playing by my old rose bushes in my parents garden plants and got his glove stuck on the prickery rose.

My Best Friend

2008-12-29T22:17:00.000-08:00

I don't do this blog thing very often so when I do I feel it is for a special reason. Tonight I have one of the best reasons ever...my longest and best friend (besides my wife of course). This is him and his wonderful family:Baby Jack, Elizabeth, Megan, and Adam Johanson. When I was about 10 years old I decided to become friends with this tiny little nerd that lived in my ward. I never could have imagined how his friendship and example would shape and affect my life growing up and even now, when he is hundreds of miles away, in the middle of No Where Ville, and we speak to each other but a few times a year. But with all that my heart is touched today by what this man and his family have gone through and who they are tonight.

If you would like to know what I am talking about please visit their blog at http://aejohanson.wordpress.com/
Start with a block entitled "Baby Jack Alexander Johanson" posted November 19, 2008. This is a story about Baby Jack. But there is so much more spirit and meaning behind the story that gives inspiration to my life from a true leader in this world. I will let you know ahead of time this is not a happy story. Marilene and I have spent our time weaping tonight because of the end of the story. However, if you do read it you will gain much more then sadness for the Johanson Family. You will gain a happiness to have shared this story with them. You will rejoice in the fact that people of God do live on this Earth and they are here to help and guide us in our troubled times.

Adam and Liz and little beautiful Megan we love you so so very much. I am where I am today because you live wonderful lives and influence me still today. You are a choice people and you will be blessed with that little angel by your side forevermore.

New trampoline

2008-12-28T20:02:00.000-08:00

My dad got a trampoline to fit over the hole for the swimming pool(12 feet by 30 feet!) and it was finally finished on Friday and Craig has LOVED it! this was Friday and he would just about jump on it all the time, but it was so freezing, that we had to bring him in to unthaw a little.

even once it got dark he still wanted to jump. so we bundled him in 2 sweaters, 2 pairs of socks (because they didn't want any shoes on the new trampoline... hopefully it will last longer) and socks over his hands because i couldn't find any clean gloves. plus his hat and a hood. :D

Luke along with two of his friends(Noble and Charles) enjoyed bouncing on it after all the work was done. look at them bouncing!

pre-approved!

2008-12-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

We are pre-approved and can actually go and tour houses!! yay! we are very excited and are gunna go look at a couple this saturday! yay for the wonderful people we are working with. we really are blessed and Heavenly Father is watching over us. thank you everyone who has prayed for us in the past.

my dear little boy

2008-12-24T13:02:00.001-08:00

I realized that i still haven't written much about Craig and his second birthday. Craig was born two years ago! and although it was a little bit of a struggle getting him actually here(he didn't seem to want to be born), he has been one of the best little boys for us! Craig, you love playing with your cousins and are still working on sharing. You love to run around, jump on the trampoline and goof around with 'Pa' (or grandpa Pearson).

You really love things that move, cars, planes, trains, trucks, etc. You love music and singing, or reading a book. Backyardigans are one of your favorite shows, but you also like little Einsteins, and other shows, like curious George, sesame street, handy manny. you really liked your pacifier, but have been pretty good about not having it, besides the whole waking up issue. you love riding your bike, and even before we got you your new one, you loved riding others bikes.

Craig, you really were a blessing for your daddy and I since we have been going to school your entire life. We love you so much and are looking forward to seeing you grow older. Never forget how much Heavenly Father loves you!

updates

2008-12-23T11:24:00.000-08:00

HOUSE NEWS! no particular house, but after trying to get more progress for two weeks, we are finally making some. we are applying for HUGS and got the loan approval moving, so we can actually look at houses with our realtor! we were starting to feel hopeless about the pace things were moving at, but this lady, Bobi, is very fast at the mortgage company (RMS) and then our realtor, melanie is also very fast. so we have made a lot of progress in just yesterday and this morning!! HUGS is for first time home buyers and/or teachers. which we happen to be both! check it out if you are in the future needing a house.

http://hugsfoundation.com/Home_Page.html

Trevor is done with school, for this semester. he has one more class next semester and then he will be a graduate!! i'm getting excited! He did get his full-time position with clark county public works and they moved him up (pay raise) from an engineer technician I to a tech II! so we were happy!

Craig just turned two. On his birthday, we took away all pacifiers! he has missed them, but we are dealing. He has decided to stop taking naps in early December and we are NOT happy about it! he is super super grumpy! yesterday, i made him lay down (hollering for 5 minutes in his crib, throwing everything out of it before settling down) but then silly me, i turned on the light to fold clothes about an hour later and he woke up. so if we are lucky, he gets a 45 minute nap every other day.

Then, at night, he wakes up SO often! he used to wake up a little, look for his pacifier and go back to sleep. but now, he doesn't get his pacifier. so i try giving him water and comforting him. but he is waking up at about 11, 2, 4, and 6 when trevor is getting ready to leave! it is killing us! last night, wonderful trevor, helped me realize again that he just needs to cry a little. so he did when he woke up at 11 and 2. for about 2 minutes each time. but then at 6, he decided it was time to watch cartoons already.

I'm a sucker. i just bring him into bed with us and neither of us get any decent sleep because craig is all over the place. the other night, he decided at 4 to go get into the fridge and look for a drink and some food! it was 4 in the morning!! so every couple of months or so, craig does this, when he gets sick or something. he cries and i get into a habit of just having him sleep with us. then trevor reminds me so nicely that we just need to let him cry and we get him back to sleeping in his crib all night. i don't know why i do this over and over again. i should realize that he jsut can't sleep with us. but this is one reason why i'm looking forward to getting into a house and craig having his own separate room! he will wake up and not see us sleeping in the same room and NOT want to be with us.

As for me, i am happy to be done with school for a little break. i am very relieved to have report cards and parent conferences over with, for the most part and will hopefully be better prepared next time around this year. i am enjoying being able to be at home with craig. well, i better go for today!

Christmas

2008-12-23T10:34:00.001-08:00

*sorry this turned out to be really long, but i would like to document my feelings for journal purposes.

Christmas has always been my favorite season! I love the music, and the specialty of the reason that we are actually celebrating. also, my birthday is on Christmas day. so that is always fun to get older.

My family has always gone Christmas caroling and I love it! for my birthday celebration in high school, my dad would take a couple of friends and i and we would just go caroling to people we knew. then my entire family (that could) would go on Christmas eve. I love it! i love singing and especially being able to harmonize with everyone. Christmas songs are my favorite. I could listen to them all year long. They just are so very special to me.

So i am very excited to be done with school for 2 weeks and to really be able to think about this special season. Our ward had a dinner on the 13th and i loved it because at the end, we all sang a couple of the songs and i was able to do parts on some of them and it just really got me excited and anticipating caroling. then, our ward choir (led by a very talented and wonderful woman) sang two precious songs. one i had sung years before (Alleluia) and knew the tricky alto part. but the oh come oh come Emmanuel, i had never heard and enjoyed learning it. one part in it, that repeats, says REJOICE and i just love that message. this really is a time to rejoice and celebrate. Christ was born in such a humble place and I am very grateful to be able to celebrate his life.

growing up, we never really thought about santa and that he existed. we drew names and did a secret santa for one of our siblings. some years, we had to make the gift and other years, we bought. but the gifts have never been a big deal. i love that! birthday presents and celebrating my birthday hasn't been too important for me. I enjoy feeling people's love and having them express that, but i don't feel the need to get lots of 'things'.

So now that i am married to a wonderful man, we are trying to combine our traditions and things that we do. I heard my friend, Marcie say, that santa would give one gift and then the rest were from parents and family. i like that. it still allows us to do santa a little, but not focusing on everything santa and more on Christ.

SNOW!

2008-12-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

{i know that i am behind. I am trying to catch up a little on my posts. life has been pretty crazy and just going by too quickly}

I love the song SNOW from the movie White Christmas! i was singing that song ALL day long on Wednesday and loving it!

So we got snow falling on monday, then again on wednesday! this morning, trevor said that it was snowing too. who would think in Las vegas?

On wednesday i had conferences with parents all day, but my fantastic sisters watched Craig, along with my mom, and they took him outside AND got pictures! how wonderful! so here are the pictures from them. They sure got some great pictures! i love that he pushed over the top of the little snowman! i had to include those.

Below, here are some of my pictures that i got while at school. I was so happy to have my camera. when i left school at 7:30, my car was covered! i couldn't leave until i had got a cup and wiped the snow off of the windows. never in my life have i had to do that! most of the cars had gotten home, so it was pretty safe for me to drive. i took it slow and down shifted to stop.

that is what a pine tree should look like! covered in snow!

* side note- my wonderful husband had just fixed my car the saturday before all of the snow madness, so i was lucky that i would actually start. before, if it got too cold, it wouldn't start and some anti-theft would kick in and i'd have to wait 10 minutes before trying to restart it. so i was very happy that i have a great husband.

on my way home that night, the snow was starting to melt a little, so when i got out to get some drinks, it was very mushy. . . but fun! there was snow stuck to the underside of the light posts! it was frozen hanging there! there roads were pretty clear where everyone had been driving, but i went to turn off of blue diamond at mohawk and it was scary my car trying to get into the turn lane! it was frozen and snow thick in it and i thought i might crash! luckily, i didn't and just took it slowly.

The next morning, there was still snow on the ground! some of it had melted, but it was still there! we had problems with our little truck on thursday, so craig got to spend some of that day out playing in the snow too and he loved it all! he didn't mind getting all wet, since we don't really have great snow playing clothes for him.

Shark Reef

2008-12-23T09:25:00.000-08:00

My cousin Crystal and I try and get together. we grew up together for quite a while and are almost the same age. Then, in high school, they moved across town. and we are both pretty bad about talking to each other. she's better than me. So she called me up and asked if we wanted to go to shark reef with her and her boyfriend's sweet little girl. So two Mondays ago, we met up and walked through shark reef. it was fun. We had gone in August, but it was still fun to go and see all the animals. and there were differences.

We had fun! and Craig and Karlie got along pretty well. by the end of the night, they were holding hands. Melanie, Abby, Savannah, Crystal, Trevor, Craig and i all went. Thanks Crystal for the fun time and for keeping us in touch! love ya girl!

no school SNOW DAY!!

2008-12-17T22:17:00.000-08:00

aah!! i can't believe it! las vegas is having no school tomorrow because of a snow day!! i will post more pics and that means i can catch up on my blogging. yay! this really is amazing.

Craig's birthday

2008-12-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

Craig is 2!! his birthday was yesterday and we just had a small family thing. very very small. not that any of us minded. i qill write more later, but here's some fun pictures from everything!

uggh, report cards

2008-12-11T23:48:00.000-08:00

so my report cards are due tomorrow and i have been stressing out about them!! AAHH! :O well, i'm still not done. i was at school for 3 hours yesterday, then 4 hours tonight and i still have more to do. i was able to get all the students tested, but i have to write up their comments and input all of the letters (capital and lower), sounds, and numbers they know (writing, recognizing and counting!!). oh well. better go.

Sneaky Craig

2008-12-06T22:01:00.000-08:00

Craig loves candy! we usually get him some tic tacs for church to help encourage better behavior. He found a pack we had at home and ate the entire thing!! he was so silly. then, he tried sitting in an infant car seat. Then, we got a little Charlie Brown tree, from my parents ranch. we put it on top of our portable dishwasher. the only decorations this little tree could handle is some candy canes. But Craig has stolen all the bottom ones. Trevor also put up our stockings and Craig thought it was funny to squeeze Santa's nose! we had to use the dishwasher, so our tree moved too. i thought it was funny.

My dad brought back some goats, and we've practiced what animals say. So anytime he sees the goat, he "Maaaa"s. well, we saw a Christmas decorations of a reindeer lit up and Craig "maa"ed. it was so funny! it wasn't even a good one. just the frame of it in white lights.

Rain from last week & park

2008-12-05T10:32:00.000-08:00

here are some more pictures and i figured it was about time i wrote a little more (mainly to get it out of my head and maybe help me process things better) about my class.

Trevor is in his last week of classes (for this semester). but there is hope!!! he has one more class next semester and it doesn't even have a scheduled time!!

The first collage above, is some pictures of when it had rained (almost all day long it drizzled!!! and fog in Las vegas!! it was the first i can remember! we were at albertsons and heard a plane flying to land but could not see it at all!! it was crazy!). it was dry for about an hour and craig wanted to play outside... of course. so i bundled him up and let him. later that day, he was in a cute little vest and he would hold it closed. then, almost every time i take him grocery shopping (especially at albertsons) he sees balloons ALL over the place and has to have one! i spoil him. but usually he loves them so much and is so funny with them. yesterday, we were going to get a pinkish red Christmas one, but at the checkout, he saw a blue star one and had to have it. so we switched and now he is learning about all the holidays (it was a happy hanukkah).

Then, we had lots of pictures from Thanksgiving. and yes, jenna is giving herself bunny ears! silly willy!

friday we went to very AWESOME park! its out be 215 and horizon rigde ? i'm not sure. but it's on the way to boulder city, still in henderson. I loved it! everyone was always wanting to be or sit with craig. Craig is so lucky to have so many great cousins. i love the pictures of jenna getting a drink, with help from craig. and silly caitlyn doesn't really like to smile anymore, but she is so pretty. emma had some great side profile pics too.

House News

2008-12-03T07:12:00.001-08:00

Marilene is always bugging me to blog something, and since we have really good news I decided to do it today. Plus Marilene just never has time any more to blog much so this is for her too.

Last night we had an appointment with a mortgage person. Earlier in the summer he (Randy Lovstuen 812-7406) gave us the good news that we were really close to getting our first house. Last night he told us we are ready, and we are going to start all the paper work. He told us about this awesome down payment program called HUGS that gives first time home owners who don't have a huge annual income a 2-2.5% down payment gift. So if we get approved, which we should, for HUGS then we only need a couple thousand to complete the down payment. and that won't be hard since we have been saving for a little while now. Plus Marilene should be receiving a nice signing bonus from the school district soon.

As soon as we are approved for that then we can start looking at houses. Granted I have been looking at houses on-line for a good year now, but we can actually go tour homes now. Big BIG difference. We won't be able to close on a house until the 20th of Jan or around that time because Randy has to have two full time pay check stubs from me and I won't have that until mid January. However, we can start the process and get everything rolling in the mean time so we are exstatic. In fact last night we were laying in bed and we just couldn't fall asleep because we were thinking about it sooooooo much.

We love Marilene's parents and they have been so kind and gracious to us. There is no way will be able to repay them for the kindness and all the things they have given us these last three plus years. But with that said we want out!, and they know that. It is hard living in a tiny little space with a single room being shared by me, Marilene, Craig, and.... SO it is definetily time to move up and onward.

lots of pictures!

2008-12-02T10:26:00.000-08:00

I love to take pictures!! especially since they are digital and can simply be deleted, i love it! at one time, i worked for a wedding photographer, just as an assistant. but i think i learned to love taking pictures more because i did work with her.

To see all the pictures, check out our Picasa web albums! October and November.

we have had lots of things happening and I wasn't always able to take my camera, so here are some pictures and catch up pictures (thanks Anita and Cyndi for having your camera!).

We were able to go to Aviation Nation, early in November and here are the fun pics from Anita. I'll have to upload a video or two that we took. Craig loved it!!! it was a little loud at first, but he was never crying or scared from the loud airplanes. he loved them so much! there was lots of room to run around and i just followed him around pretty much.
There were so many cool airplanes! Trevor and I went 2 years ago, but we didn't really watch the shows. the things these planes can do are amazing!

Then, Trevor played Turkey bowl with a couple of church guys. it was fun. Craig and i went and played around at the park the same day. it was such a beautiful day and i was able to get some great pictures of Craig and the bushes, etc. he just makes me laugh so much. he makes some silly faces and loves climbing on anything and everything.

photo tag

2008-11-23T22:41:00.000-08:00

Marcie is doing a fun tag! This is the pic from the 4th folder in my picture file and the 4th picture in that file. I have my folder organized by months, so this pic was taken in April of this year. we were on our way to the ASCE conference in LA and we were driving. Craig was SO tired, but he wouldn't go to sleep. that cute little blue puppy(with musical box in it), we lost him on that trip :( but Craig survived. we got him a brown bear to replace it.

I can't believe how much he's grown since then! i love that little boy.

I TAG YOU! it's so fun. this one is an easy one.

baby shower, dinner and drawing

2008-11-21T08:08:00.000-08:00

About a week ago, we went to lunch at sammy's woodfired pizza. we got this salad to share and it was SO delicious! it had pomegranate vinaigrette and pita bread pieces, sesame seeds, cucumbers and MINT! it was so refreshing. Craig even loved it! he never eats lettuce very well. he usually picks off the veggies and that's all. but he was chowing down on the delicious lettuce.

Then, the next Saturday, we had a baby shower to go to for one of Trevor's friends from high school (oh my goodness she is such a cutie!) and after, we stopped off at Roberto's tacos! we love that place! i was dressed up nicely, so i wanted to get some pics. Craig looked so cute drinking his drink, so i guess Trevor wanted a pic like him too. they are both SO cute! ha ha ha :D i love my silly husband!

Then, Craig decided to draw a little and accidentally drew on himself. Trevor decided to add more to Craig's drawing on his body, but Craig was not happy at all about it (and he was getting tired too). he was SO mad daddy drew on him. but it was pretty funny! below, he's trying to rub it off a little. we took a bath and he was much happier.
updates, Trevor will start his job (the same thing he's doing now) December 15th. he's so wonderful! he's getting closer to the end of this semester.

my class came back from track break and OH MY GOODNESS!! aaahh! it has been really difficult. several days after school, i just break down and cry. my principal has came in and observed us twice and it went horribly both days. of course, almost every day goes pretty bad. yesterday, at the end of the day, i had the office manager in my room, then the assistant principal came in too. we went outside to dismiss the students and when i came back in, the principal was also in there, trying to help a student calm down and get ready to go home.

but, i am grateful that i am only teaching half day. the full day job i would've taken, would have been pretty difficult too and it would've been ALL day. and way across town.

i'm still not sleeping

2008-11-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

i was determined i should get to bed early tonight and then i just couldn't fall asleep. after lying in bed for 45 minutes, i finally just got up. normally, i fall right to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. however, i've been sleeping in since with school we had a 4 day weekend, and i keep thinking about tomorrow and i just get a little anxious about all i need to do for school and craig tomorrow. and of course trevor. o-well. i'm gunna try again.

So much fun!!

2008-11-10T23:36:00.000-08:00

We have had a lot of fun pictures recently and I love them all! First, Craig loves playing with hats and so he had fun having him and I try on hats so I had to get pics.

Then, he is so cute when he sleeps!! tonight, he was cuddling with books again.

It is alternating between hot and cold still. Saturday it was shorts and flip flop weather in the middle of the day, but Sunday was a nice coat weather! Here are some fun bundling up weather. He loves playing outside so much, and sometimes during the day he just doesn't get enough of it. Especially when Grandpa or someone has to do something outside, he likes to be out there with them.

Luke had a competition and we went and saw the half-time show review. Craig loved it, of course! he was singing and clapping along. but beforehand, he drank his chocolate milk.

Then, on Sunday, my mom had a lot of us over for dinner and after dinner, we all went outside and were jumping and swinging! I had to grab my camera and get pics of the fun cousin times! i LOVE taking pictures and went a little overboard, but o-well. :D

At one point, Craig and Matthew were both on a two person seesaw type of swing and Trevor was pushing them. Matthew told Trevor to slow down, so he did. As soon as Trevor slowed them down, Craig says "GO, GO!" they are so funny! i love that they play together really well. Matthew, Craig and Sara were jumping a lot. Craig did pretty good with them, but if both Sara and Matthew were jumping, he had a hard time staying up. but they were so patient and helpful!

jobs

2008-11-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

guess what!!

TREVOR got his job!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!

that means we can look at houses and figure out how to grow up!! Thank you everyone who has prayed for us. we appreciate all of your love!

addictions and tags

2008-11-03T14:20:00.001-08:00

My friend listed her addictions and it was fun reading through hers, so even though this has taken me a while to do this, I am admitting a few of mine.

1. watching CHUCK; I LOVE love this show! it is so funny.

2. changing my blog background and header; actually doing just about anything with blogs, reading and writing.

3. buying books- this one, i cannot indulge in, but with my classes' book orders, sometimes i can get a free book and I love it

4. saying "I love you" i think that a person cannot say this too often to people they love; Trevor gives me a hard time sometimes, but i always want him to know how important he is to me.

5. taking pictures- i love to take pictures. i had so much fun getting creative with taking pics on Sunday. I got some fun ones of Sara. I really think i would love to do that again, working with a photographer

6. editing pictures- i love messing around and adding features to them

7. DREYERS rocky road ice cream- this is the best kind EVER! i love this stuff. the slow churned is even better. other rocky roads are ok, but this has actual marshmellows, almond slices and delicious chocolate ice cream; yummy

8. cuddling in blankets- it is so fun snuggling in a blanket; it is just so comforting

9. tea- I love making a delicious cup of mint tea; it helps me relax and i love teas (except fruity ones; not such a fan)

10. speeding- i am working on it, but i love driving fast down the road, especially when the road is clear and a good song is on the radio

8 Favorite TV Shows
CHUCK- I live for this!!! Last week, they didn’t show it and I was depressed;
Gilmore Girls
House
NCIS
The nanny when I catch it
What I like About you
the Backyardigans ( I love all the singing and Craig loves it)
Signing Time (another kid one, but this one is wonderful!)

8 Favorite Restaurants
Macayos
Outback… mainly because it’s Trevor’s
Pei Wei
Applebees
Port of Subs

8 Things I did today
slept in WAY too late
Did some dishes and laundry
Found out Trevor got his JOB!!!
Went shopping
Made soup with Trevor
Went to the library and got Craig more books
Watched CHUCK
Cuddled with Craig and Trevor

8 Things I look forward to:
getting into a house!!
Craig communicating even more
Getting a Christmas tree

8 Things that happened yesterday:
I went to church
Got a new bishop
I subbed in nursery
ate lunch with family
Took tons of pics!
Cuddled with Trevor

8 Things I love about fall
Getting closer to Christmas
Cooling off
Change
All the holidays and breaks
Changing my blog background

8 Things on my wish list
a house
Another child, some day
Being more organized
A clean house
Craig gaining weight :) o-well
Me losing weight
More time to read
Getting a bike for Craig

I Tag
Everyone who has things to admit :)

Christmas

2008-11-03T06:58:00.001-08:00

I found some great Christmas gift advice on someone's blog and i like it! she even got her advice from someone else, so I'm glad they are passing it on! I always have a very hard time thinking of good gifts for Trevor. It goes like this:

Something to wear,

something to read,

something you want,

something you need.

Christmas was never very big about the presents in my family. WE usually drew names and got a present for a sibling under a certain amount of $. I hope over the years i will get better at remembering hints from Trevor and making note of it.

I know some people will think this is horrible, but I LOVE Christmas music! i love listening to it. the other day, i was very grumpy and I came home and asked Trevor to please put on some Christmas music. He asked why and i told him that i was grumpy and needed to be in a better mood. I've been listening to the music in the car and at home and i love it.

our boring lives

2008-11-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

Trevor always complains that I am always writing about Craig but never about him. I figure he can write it for himself :D. So here is a little about the grown ups!

Trevor has an interview with clark county tomorrow first thing in the morning. He is currently an intern and we are hoping he will get hired on as a full time, doing basically the same thing he is doing now, with a higher pay! He will be done with school in May, so would only be hired on as a technician for now, but this will really help ensure a smoother transition into an engineering position. especially with the economy and so many civil engineers looking for jobs right now. So hopefully, we will know by Wednesday and if not, then that means he didn't get the position.

Trevor has been pretty busy recently. Luckily, he isn't helping out with ASCE (unlv's civil engineering group), but he just took his huge test (FE, that really qualifies him to be a civil engineer). It was two 4 hour tests in one day with a 1 hour break between. uughh! my test i had to take was only 4 hours total i think. so, i know he had it difficult.

He is taking two classes, one in preparation for his last "class". Next semester, he is basically putting together a project with a group and so instead of scheduled class, they meet on their schedules and with the advisor. so he has his class of designing it now and then another one.

As for me, my pm kinder class has been on track break and they come back on Wednesday. PRAY for me please :) j/k... kinda. they are quite the handful of little kids. i know now that i had the am class. the afternoon group is a very difficult group. but i am excited that i have a first class and i think it will help a little. maybe make it worse, knowing i have them ALL year long. ha ha ha. i really was joking there.

but as the psychologist at the school mentioned, we have 3 days this week, then only 3 days next week, then a full week, then thanksgiving, and then only about 3 more weeks before a 2 week break! so looking at the positive, we have several short weeks coming up. it made me laugh.

I have been able to move a couple of my school things into my classroom now, since i know what school i will be at and that i will be there for probably two years. I am subbing in the morning too this week still. but i think that next week their teacher comes back.

Lots happening

2008-11-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

well, i am a little ashamed at how little i have been blogging and documenting recently! i am not taking note of my blessings either, and that is almost a sin! Well, here are lots of pictures! and these are just a few from my camera. sorry! this is like 2 weeks make up.

First, one of these days, Craig was playing outside (he does that very often!!) and it was a beautiful sunset. I just had to get pictures.

Then, Curtis and Heather were able to get a fun enclosed little thing to light a wood fire. It's over at Trevor's parent's house, so we went and sat outside around a fire. BEFORE they lit the fire that night, we were just sitting out there and Craig put his lips and hands on the little screen to help protect from touching the burning wood. So i had to get a pic of his criss cross black marks over his lips! the silly boy. but he made me laugh. then, they also lit some tiki torches and Craig loved pointing up at them. He's such a joy! and he was pretty good around the fire. no burns, but it was quite nerve racking. and we came home smelling a LOT!!

Next, we all went over to Anita's and were able to have a fun gathering to carve pumpkins and decorate cupcakes! i think this is second favorite part of Halloween time! i love carving pumpkins! we have done so every year since I've been married/known :) Trevor and his family. Last year, we didn't so much carve the pumpkin as stick Craig in it, but it is always fun! plus you have time to sit around and talk. For that night, we got many many cute pics of the kids. We had Trevor, marilene, Craig, Anita, Dave (her boyfriend), Heather, Bailey, Caitlin, Jenna, Bailey's brother (mark?? it just slipped my mind) and then some fun family friends. Curtis had to work and Mom and Dad were out of town (Mom in Texas awaiting baby Taylor's birth and Dad in Reno). it was so much fun! Craig enjoyed having two little boys there along with his many female cousins (which he loves dearly!!). He even played pool with the one little boy.

Then, for our ward's and Mom and dad's ward trunk or treats, Trevor, Craig and I dressed up. well, actually, not for our wards. We even saw Enoch and his cute family at our ward's! Trevor was Darth Vader after the death star blew up and was a Death star engineer. Craig was superman and I was a construction worker.

Wow! this is long!

Fun times

2008-10-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

We have been having fun. My kinder class is on track break still, so I have afternoon's off, but am subbing for a maternity leave in the morning. it's been nice to be done at 12.

Craig has found a fun place he likes to play! in my parent's backyard, he likes to play in an old garden box next to these bricks. there's some dirt there and he just loves it! My dad and Luke have been working on emptying the pool and cleaning it (his annual tradition). Craig has been watching them. the other night, he was helping Aunt Heidi sweep the dirt out. He's so much fun!

Trevor is getting an interview set up and hopefully, we will hear about a full time job for him soon. I was able to go in and sign papers and was officially hired!! i am staying at the school i am at and am so happy!!

Bundle up weather

2008-10-15T14:30:00.001-07:00

We have had lots of fun, I just haven't gotten around to writing it down. I had some things in a box from school that I was going to recycle. well, Craig wanted to play with them, so I cleaned them out a little and replaced it with water. he had lots of fun squirting the water out, and i didn't care as long as he was outside.

Craig has been so cute! i love cute pictures of bundled up kids! i just had to get a pic.

The other night, was a little warmer but I was still worried about him getting cold at night. however, he got too warm and decided to unzip it a little. It cracked me up! i zipped it up as soon as he was out.

We were driving and Craig was grumpy. I thought maybe i could distract him, but it didn't work. He loves to hear a cop car's siren or an ambulance and starts copying them!

Today though, it is back up to 85 and I'm wearing shorts! i wish it would make up it's mind about the weather! two days ago, it was freezing and I was wearing a big jacket!

update

2008-10-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

Some good news and some ok news! the short result is: . . . . . . I am staying at the school I am at, with the half day kindergarten. i will still be subbing for maternity leave until about the end of November. the long story is below.

I had an interview with an elementary school across town at Charleston and I-95. It went wonderful, i loved the principal and assistant principal. it would be a full time job, one kindergarten class all day. However, I didn't feel good about it. i would be gone practically all day everyday, except on track breaks, which that class already went on.

Craig has been having a hard time when we leave. I've mentioned it before, but it is not getting much better. he's ok usually when he stays with Grandma Kady, because it is still the same house and she cuddles him a lot. and we haven't been over to Aunt Nene's recently, but i think he cries a little there too. but the hardest thing for me, is when I pull up to a good friend's house, Jade, he starts crying and does not want to get out of the car even! Then he hollers and cries very loudly when i leave. eventually he does get settled down and play, but when i come pick him up, he wants to cuddle and leave right away.

Because of that, I took the half-day job with the school I am at. I feel really good about it and i think it will help me be better at home and at work.

I have been leaving him his entire life. I had school classes, i had my practicum and then my student teaching and he was always fine. Every once in a while, he would cry, but he would be fine in a little while. now, he is always very sad when we leave. I now I need to work on attachment because that is the issue. but i really feel that this will help. I prayed really hard about this and i feel that for our entire family, it will be better if i take the job that I am at already.

On to the ok news! I already have a substitute license and I had to add an endorsement that would allow me to teach. well, i did it in August, but i called them and they said it would take 16 weeks to get it back to me!!!! AAHHH! are you kidding me! so i was supposed to keep my receipt, but all it was was my cashier's check receipt and no one told me to keep it in order to get hired. hopefully, the principal can call and make sure that things are going on and they will hire me anyway. if not, I can't get hired until DECEMBER, but would just be subbing until then. so, we will see what happens, but at least I know what school i will be at and I know my class, the handful of kids, but they are mine!

Iron Man

2008-10-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

We rented Iron Man and was watching it, Craig was being cuddly and a little sad, but then he decided to lay down on the floor and watch it. He saw the strong iron man and picked up the chair, look how strong he is!!

Then, iron man flew, so Craig and Grandpa were trying it too. luckily, no actual jumping and injuries.

special words for us

2008-10-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

I was able to go to the RS broadcast, listen to conference all day yesterday and today and WOW! i realized last week that I needed to decide to be happy and proceed to do so. I did all last week and I think it really helped. I still had some hard times, but it helped. I know how much I am loved, both here on Earth and from those above and listening to His words for me at the RS broadcast was wonderful.

I love President Uchtdorf!! (might have spelled wrong) both last Saturday and yesterday, he spoke words that truly touched me! if you missed the women's broadcast, please read his words. I think it uplifted and helped all women feel better and more appreciated. Heavenly Father really does love us and wants us to know that.

My blessing

2008-10-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

Since the sun is rising later and later, Trevor has been getting up and to work before the sun is all the way up. now, we are not really morning people. But Saturday morning, Trevor woke me up at 6:00 and asked me to get myself and Craig dressed, silly Craig was already awake and doesn't understand weekends.

So we get in the car and i don't know exactly what's going on. we end up driving up to red rock to try and see the sunrise, however mountains were in the way, so we opted for the mountain west of fort apache over by warm springs and rhodes ranch. of course, i left my camera at the ross's, but Trevor was great enough to bring our video camera.

He brought our jean quilt (Cyndi we still love them!!), some cut up fruit, donuts, hot chocolate, cups and juice!! also, it has been hot up until Saturday! but he did tell us to get tennis shoes on and brought us our sweaters.

the clouds got in our way, but it was still wonderful! i enjoyed driving around and being surprised by my magnificent husband. Craig and him even got to go for a walk.

We came home and Craig was able to jump on the trampoline before conference (and a little during too :D ). he still had his sweater on for a while, but the day did warm up a little.

the weather has been beautiful today and yesterday. we opened our window and door and let all the air in.

It reminded me to enjoy our time together and to cherish my wonderful little family. The world was so quiet early in the morning and we were just enjoying our time. We also saw many airplanes and Craig LOVED that.

weekly Update... sorry, not funny like SNL

2008-10-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

This was what Craig wore last Sunday! he was just so stinking cute, I had to get his picture! on our way out the door, he found a pumpkin and this bubble blower, and watned to play with it! He looks like an old man blowing his pipe.

it wasn't really october yet, but he is ready already!

The other night, I read him a story and laid him down and he snuggled with a book under his arm. he ended up moving around, but i'm so glad he loves books already! another night, I reaed a peek-a-baby book that he recieved for his birthday from my cousin Crystal. He was so funny. i suck in air, and then say peek a boo and he was doing the same thing. i never noticed he was copying me until that night. he's such a cutie!

This week went pretty well. I did not have to work friday! it meant i didn't make any $, but i got to spend the entire day with Craig and it sure was needed. Craig has cried everyday I leave. on enight this week, Trevor had leave for class or a meeting, and craig got so sad and started crying. I really think we need to spend more time together. Trevor is not going to be helping out with his student engineering group, ASCE, so hopefully that will help. also, the afternoon class just went on track break!! so hopefully i will have after noons off for the next little while.

JOB UPDATE:

last week, they started hiring newly graduates. or so I heard. i still have not received any calls. the principal I am working with offered me two things. I can stay on as the afternoon kinder teacher, or I can wait a little bit and see if i get any calls. i asked her if we could wait. she is giving me until Friday the 10th. but that was on Monday and I haven't heard a thing!! so, monday or tuesday, i will accept the job, keep on subbing for the maternity leave, possibly subbing in the afternoons just at that same school when needed. it will be probably my most difficult year, but at least i'll get it over with. all teachers get a difficult group of kids about once in their teaching. but i will be bale to feel like it is my class, not just the class i'm borrowing.

ENJOY OCTOBER!

Pictures of life

2008-09-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

Craig has been riding a bike around at Jade's when he's there two days a week and loves it! we want to get him a bike for his birthday, but it's not until December. my sister-in-law offered me a girl's one. so for now he has it. he can't push it on his own, like the one at jades, so he gets frustrated, but he still likes it. here he is on it, then another day his cousins came over and wanted some old blue candy canes. well, craig had to have one too, so here it is.

Craig was just being silly when we were getting him ready for bed. he makes us laugh so much! he really is a joy. i need to focus on that more. he is still cranky, but i think he's just growing and frustrated that he can't talk more.

Then, on Friday night, we went to Sierra Vista's football game and watched Luke perform. Craig loved cheering fr part of the football game we caught. he was so funny! he was one of the loudest cheering. then, Luke came on and he started conducting along. he is so cute and so musical. i'm sure, it's nothing amazing, but to me, it is. he is just so smart to conduct along.

This is what i did with both my classes on Friday. it was Johnny Apppleseed day and we tasted apples and chose our favorites.

busy busy busy and my dear sweet boy

2008-09-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

this week seems to have flown by! craig is being good. he is so sweet. last night, we were getting him ready for bed and after we said our prayer Trevor told him to say goodnight to me, so he puts his hand on my cheek and rubs it a little! it was precious!!! i love that little boy! then, he likes to read a book before bed and sometimes lays down with it. he totally put it under his arm, cuddling with a book. i'm so glad he loves reading already.

This morning

last week, all the teachers that were already hired but were surplus got moved around. so hopefully, this week, i will get calls and figure out relatively soon (within a couple weeks) what is going on and where i will be working. hopefully, full time, but a half day job is better than no job.

i am very busy, still substituting in both a morning and afternoon class for now, and it seems like i am always making mistakes. i had a little boy get hurt and didn't send him to the nurses and the mom got upset. i felt pretty dumb. but life goes on. i have decided that i need to be happy! i have happy times, but working and school has not been making me happy and i just need to decide that i will be happy there. i know it will still be tough, but i can enjoy it and i need to, otherwise i don't want to keep working. so my goal this week is to work on my patience, both in class and at home with craig and to be happy! when asked how's it going, i need to reply, really good, or great or wonderful. not "i'm surviving". I know that Heavenly Father wants me to be happy and it is my choice, so that is my choice.

I'm alive!

2008-09-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

I feel like it's been forever. i have just had a very busy week. i'm not used to waking up by 6 each morning and i have been very tired each night. plus thrusday, i had open house for both my classes.

well, i started substituting all day this week, track 1 am class and track 3 pm class. the am class reminded me that i actually do enjoy teaching kindergarten and i wasn't just dreaming! they are a good group of kids and i am happy for their teacher who is on maternity leave. don't get me wrong, i like every single kid in the afternoon, it's just that together, they are quite the difficult group and each day is a challenge. but i am working on it.

Craig was able to go play over at Jade's house and loved it!! he goes over there and Jade watches him for 2 days a week. he was so mad both days when it was time to go. i'm so excited for him to be able to be playing with kids his age and learn to work on getting along and sharing and learn to talk because he's around them. i swear he is saying more things because of Rosie (Jade's daughter). i can't understand much of it, but it is an attempt and it makes me smile.

then, he is with my mom 2 days and Anita on most Fridays! he is one lucky little boy. i really wish i could be at home, but cest la vie! :)

go football!

2008-09-16T17:04:00.001-07:00

last night, we decided to go to buffalo wild wings and what a great idea! it was Monday night football, so it was nice and loud and cheering going on. Craig fit right in! he loved it. there were tvs all over and he could see all the colors, then, clapping and shouting and no one cared how loud he was, because everyone else was that loud. we loved it. Craig kept climbing up to try and get a better view of the tvs.

Today, Craig was able to go over to our friend, Jade's house, to be watched while i worked. He loved it! he had lots of fun, especially with the tricycle and a little car. he had so much fun, he was quite upset when we had to leave. but he will be back on Thursday.

relaxing and yummy Danielle's

2008-09-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

Craig still has his fun beach ball, that deflates. here he is. he took it outside with him and was sitting on it for a long time, and then when i grabbed the camera he changed. but he loves it! several times a day he will find someone to blow it up for him.

then, Friday night, Trevor decided we should go to Danielle's! it is a fun ice cream and chocolate shop that Trevor has been going to since he was very little! he remembers his dad sending him back to help clean the dishes when he was done eating his ice cream. the owners even sent him a check during his mission. TREVOR, help clarify these.

The little silver pitcher is full of hot fudge! they bring it out to you and you can just add a little at a time. Trevor loves it and he shared with me. we both shared with Craig and everyone loved it! we even bought some white chocolate (snow) popcorn for my mom. yummy!!

little piece of our life

2008-09-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

the other day, Heidi (my sister who is always trying to tell Craig what to do, or having a cow about something he is doing), Heidi had a dr's appointment. when they get home, my mom tells me that she has something for Craig. at the end of her appointment, she got to pick out a lollipop. she turned to my mom and asked "what about Craig?". and so, dear Heidi does like Craig and brought him home a lollipop.

and life goes on for the rest of us. we still have no clue about jobs for either one of us, but just trusting the Lord. although i did have a dream that i got a call from a school. no clue what school, but at least in my dream something happened.

We are all still sick. Craig i think will be over it any day, and i'm not sure if Trevor has caught it or not. but he's so busy, that the poor man never gets enough sleep.

I'm still really busy with my class and am going to be starting the am track 1 class on MONDAY! i can't believe how fast time goes by! i'm hoping the am class is at least a little easier than my class right now. but it will be their very first school experience and she has 30 kids versus my 26 now! talk about AAAHH!!! :O