ZUMBA

Tomorrow marks the first official week of the Zumba class I started teaching.  It has been so fun.  I really enjoy it.  My classes are only 30 minutes, but for me it works out perfect. I am able to take the boys to school and then drop the little ones off at Child Watch.  Plus... I get paid to exercise!  The reason they aren't an hour is because I wanted to do all new songs and dances for my class, rather than use dances from the other class.  Doing 7 new dances in a month was about all I could handle.
Tonight though I am subbing for the night time Zumba instructor, so I will be taking on an hour long class.  I hope I survive.  I already did an hour of Zumba today!  It's so much fun, I just hope my legs will hold up.

I Have A Question...

My friends I'm afraid I've been thinking. (A dangerous past time. I know. -Name that movie!)  I have a really hard time keeping up with a home cleaning/maintaining routine.  I just can't seem to get into a good groove for me.  What I have found though, is that although many people have wonderful ideas.  I still have to find what works for me.  The Green Momster.  There are some things that I totally rock at.  Like turning off all our electronics at the surge protector.  (This saves money!)  Rarely do I miss a beat with that one.  The other thing I am good at is forgetting the laundry.  If there were an award for this one I would get it.  It does get done, but a lot of times I have to wash twice because I have left it in the washer too long.

Short of putting sticky notes on my face to remind me.  (I am desperate)  I want to get some ideas from others that have worked for them.  How do you remember to do laundry? (and don't just say- turn on the alarm so it can remind you.  Doesn't work for me.) How often do you clean your bathrooms?  (should there be green growing on the toilets before you finally take charge?)  Anything in general that has helped you maintain a home.  I don't need perfection right now.  I just need routine.

Thank you for any and all suggestions.  Even if they are unconventional.  I want to hear!!!

Up In The Air So Blue

I was browsing through photos and happened upon this one.  This was when we only had 3 children.  We should have had 4 on this day, but T-bug had other plans.  Like coming 4 days later.  Oh well.  You can't plan moments of pure awesomeness like this one.

I wish I enjoyed being on a swing this much.

Smearing, Among Other Things

Today is my Happy Anniversary.  Supremo and I have been married for 11 years now.  I must say that I think I like him more now than I did yesterday, and the day before that.

We sort of had a bummer of a Halloween this year.  

1st off I was sick.  

2nd, I was was sick of candy.  

3rd, we got tons of candy from our Halloween party from church.  

4th, The Noodle threw up when we got home from the church party.  

5th,  my poor boys got to hand out candy instead of going Trick-Or-Treating.  We only had two doorbell rings the whole night.  The boys loved it! 

6th, I'm still sick of candy.

Here is our fairy princess!

 Getting ready to go to the halloween party.  The Chief went as a Ninja.  We wrapped a black scarf around his nose and mouth.  He looked legit!  T-Bug was just tired.

 The Noodle found a skeleton costume that he had to have!

 This year Supremo actually got a little dressed up.  He looked pretty scary if I do say so myself.  I don't know if I can do that again next year.

Me, I went as a purple Diva to the party.  No photos because I end up taking the pictures all the time. But just imagine purple and black tights, purple and black cape, purple wig.  Fabulous!

Here are my little ones in the tub.  They were being silly.

 Purdy Girl.

 Mr. Magoo with a nice bruise on his forehead.

 Grandpa and Grandma are here for a visit.  The Diva can't get enough of Grandpa.  They had too much fun.

 She was waiting for him to go to be, and just couldn't quite make it to the bedroom.  The floor was too comfy.

Our annual Pumpkin smear came a day late.  I still felt terrible the day before.  Better late than never.

Dance Like No One Is Watching

I got to do something this weekend!  It was awesome!  I became a licensed Zumba instructor!  Woot!

I have been going to a Zumba class at the Y and I really like it, but I don't like the time.  It is in the evening.  Since that seems to be the only time Supremo is home I have a hard time justifying going.  Solution, maybe I could do my own class at a time that works for me.

I went down with a lady from church and would you believe it, when we got there,  I was sick.  Nausea.  Bad nausea.  I went to bed at 8 hoping that I could sleep it off.  No such luck.  Thankfully I didn't heave my guts.  The day of the training I felt nasty up until the end.  It was fun, but would have been much better if I didn't keep stepping out to go to the bathroom.  Still no throwing up.  Phew!

Now I just get to practice some dances so I can begin my own class.  I can't wait!

'cause Ya Had A Bad Day

Yesterday was my bad day.  It started at 2 am when I whacked my elbow on the door.  Typical Green Momster move.  I hit it so hard that it hurt all night and the rest of the day.  I should have known to stay in bed after that.
Later that morning I was taking a piece of my little shark vacuum down my 3 little wood stairs when I lost my balance and slipped.  I am sure it looked like this at about the 21 second mark. Feel free to continue to watch the clip or just stop after that one scene.

 

 I sat and cried at the bottom of the stairs.  T-bug climbed down to the last step and just laughed at me.
I am so sore today and have some lovely purple bruises.  I do not recommend doing this on a regular basis.  Not fun.

A Whole Lot Of...

I has been a busy month.  Harvest.  Which should finish today. (Fingers crossed!) School.  Sickness.  Holy smokes.  And I have tried to cut back on my computer time.  I went 3 whole days without logging on!  Woot!  A record that hasn't happened in a long time.

We take donuts out the the boys during harvest.  This time we had lots of friends come with us to ride tractors and just play in the dirt.  It was great.  The Diva with her best friend.  These two are hysterical in nursery class at church.  They always have to sit next to each other.  So fun!

 A game of tag.

 Too much room to run!

On to other things.  The chief is so creative.  He just grabbed this box and started cutting it out.  This is his transformer outfit.  I love it.

 The noodle has really taken to cooking. (Especially if it is a dessert!)  He is always asking to help me.  Here he is making no bake cookies.  They were delicious!

12 Meses

What a whirlwind this month has been.  Not only are the photos of T-bugs first birthday on my camera that still isn't cooperating, but we are back in full swing with school.  The Diva took this photo with the ipod and I thought it was so cute!

 Stats for this month - I don't remember, but he is in roughly the 35% for height and weight, and 75% head circumference.

 Here he is sporting a new shirt and the stuffed elephant he got for his birthday.  He loves the elephant that we have named Orson.  We are trying to get rid of the pacifier so Orson is a sentsy buddy with the smell of Red Candy Apple.  I am hoping that T-bug will associate the smell with comfort and go to bed with just the animal and not the B. He is starting to take Orson everywhere.

This little boy loves to party!  Dance party!  So cute to watch him groove.  One thing I have noticed recently.  He doesn't jump.  I know what you are thinking.  'Not all one year olds jump,' but mine usually do.  Not even in his crib.  He just stands and yells 'Ma' when he wants me.  He just added 'No' to his arsenal of words.  Also 'Hi' and 'Yes.'  He is so darn cute.  I can't even stand it most days.  He loves his dad, but he loves his mom more.  He is my one and only cuddler.(I don't think that is a word, but oh well.)  I am adjusting to that and finding that I quite like it.  He loves to empty out the kids drawer in the kitchen.  It has all the cups, plates, etc that are unbreakable.  He loves to be held, just so he can see what is going on.  Lot of times he will push my legs until I pick him up.  He has me figured out.  What a fun year it has been with this little guy!

Did You Ever?

Back when I was a little girl we had a vacuum.  It sort of looked like a brown version of R2D2.  My sister and I named it Vaydee. (Or maybe I named it that.  I have been known to do that sort of thing.)  Anyway, it was so cool.  You would fill the bottom with water and when you were done, you would dump the dirty water in the toilet.  Awesome!!!

One of my favorite memories of old Vaydee is when we would to our hair with it.  Suck it in and pull it out.  It gave us some amazing hair.  So the other day I was in stitches when The Diva started doing it.

Ahhh!  Good times, good memories!

Dangerous

I want to refer you to a post that happened last year.  It is called Much ado about...  It talks about the grace and poise I have since becoming a mom.  It is a lovely post about a lovely little Diva.  Yesterday, it happened again.  My poor girl who inherited my fabulous coordination.

We were walking home from school.  We have loved living closer to the school and get two walks in a day now.  It is great.  The Diva decided she was going to run, and run she did.  There and back.  We were less than a block away from the house when the sidewalk decided to reach up and grab her.  She had so much momentum she totally missed her knees and totally hit her mouth.  Blood everywhere, and screaming. (Not from me, although I wanted to.)  Her teeth we knocked back and up a bit.  Another trip to the dentist, and we just get to wait it out again.  Oh sweet Diva.

This was yesterday after it happened.

 Still willing to smile

 This is the day after.  If you look close you can see the dark gums.

Sorry for the not so great pics.  Still having issues with the camera, and the ipod is the next closest thing I can do.

Scary Phone Call

There are many phone calls that you don't want to receive.  Like robo calls, telemarketers, or even someone from your past that you don't want to talk to.  Well I got a phone call yesterday that make my heart sink.

Hello-  This is the principal.  The Chief is not in class.  (I knew he was at school because I personally dropped him off.)  He went to his first two classes, but was marked absent.  We are checking the bathrooms, but we think he went home.

WHAT?????

Okay so I didn't say that and yell it at the principal, but I wanted to.  I told him I would go home and check.  I wasn't home at the time.

I got home and he wasn't there.  I went down the walking route we take and he wasn't there.  I was praying 'Please let my little boy be okay.'  I was just about to make another pass down the route we walk and I got a call.  We found him.  He's back at school.  Phew.

I went to the school and we chatted with the principal who was great about the whole thing.  Chief decided that he didn't like his reading class.  (He is in a really advanced group again.)  Then we got to chat with his reading teacher and everything was okay.

He went to class today and had a great time, hopefully a peek at things to come.

I hope I never get a call like that again.  I just love this boy.

11

I totally missed posting about this month, but you are going to get a catch up because my camera is not being kind.  It won't let me download all the photos from the vacation or T-bug's first birthday.  I feel like I may cry.  (And that is because I am tired to.)  Anyway, it did allow me to download a few so here you go.

 This little guy got his first pair of shoes.  We had a wonderful friend that gave us lots of sneakers, but he wouldn't walk or crawl in them.  I found these leather ones at Target and he loved them.  Such a big boy.

 There were actually a couple of photos from our vacay, but only of us at the hotel the first night.  Here is T-Bug, loving his reflection.  Notice the messy hand prints.  I felt sorry for the cleaning ladies.  It was a mess of a mirror when we left.

 Loving swimming!  He loved the pool and didn't want to get out.  It was so fun to watch him go.

This 11 months ended up with him saying 'Uh-oh' really well, and he added 'Thank you' to his list of words too.  He loves to try what his big brothers and sister are doing.  He loves to push cars around and buzz his lips together like the cars are really working.  So fun!

Let Us Pause For A Moment

Lots of things have happened, and are happening in the next little bit.  I promise an update of our awesome vacation, and the house, moving, and everything in between.  But these updates will be coming later.  We have found out that we need to be out of our rental sooner than we thought. (Aug. 9)  Thanks to the city, not the landlord. So I will update again from the new house sometime after that.  Until then Feliz Navidad!
Okay that was dumb.  Typical me!

Oh, The Humanity

Since we are packing and cleaning, we are finding some interesting stuff.  We were doing the Noodle's room and we found something that made me scream and want to get out of this house faster than ever.

Snake skin from our little snake encounter last month.  I am so grossed out.  I can't even believe I took the picture of it.  Nasty with a capital N.

Ten And Change

Oh little Mister.  We are on the go with this guy.  He is trying to run... everywhere.  He loves to dance and listen to music.  He thinks he is as big as his brothers and sister.

 He has finally had his bottom teeth come through.  They have been a long time coming.
He loves water and will play in it any chance he gets.  Needless to say, we leave the bathroom doors shut now.

 If you can see in the next photo, he has 3 pacifiers.  He loves his B.

 He has also weened himself off of bottles.  I don't know how permanent this is, but I sort of hope it lasts and sort of miss snuggling with the bottle.

He is still such a happy little guy and brings such joy to our lives.

The Older Ones

Since I haven't posted much this last little bit, and since you haven't seen much of my older kids, here they are.

Chief ready for action.

Dancing Diva

Wet willie!!!!

Almost ready for church.

Building with blocks.

Doing her school work. (That's what she calls it.)

I got these foam shapes and the kids have been loving them.  The have magnets on the back and work great!

You Won't Even Guess

We do something all the time.  Lots more than most.  I bet you can't guess what it is....  Let me give you a hint.

Yup.  We are going to be moving again.  If you happened to read my previous post, know that the situations that arose there aided in this happening sooner rather than later.  We hope to close on this little home by the 1st of August.  I am so excited.  This is such a cute house.  It was built in the 1920's and has been completely updated.  Even better is that the house payment will be less than we are paying in rent.  BONUS!

4 This Year

I just want to let you know that we have had a certain species of animal come to our house.  I don't like it.  Supremo has taken the guise of Knight in Shining Extermination again.  We have had 3 snakes in the back yard and 1 IN THE HOUSE this year.  I need not remind you that snakes and I don't have a good relationship at all.  Thank goodness for Graham who has sniffed out and kept a couple at bay so Supremo could kill exterminate them.  Feel free to continue reading about the disgusting encounters, but if you are like me you can end here knowing that the world has a few less snakes to deal with.

1- This began with Supremo mowing the lawn and saying, I think there are some snakes in the back by the fence.  One day during lunch Graham was barking like crazy at a block.  I told Supremo it was snakes and he took a rake out to investigate.  It was. Supremo moved a block and one jumped up, another tiny one got away.  My wonderful little Graham kept the big one in his sights and Supremo started whacking it.  When he was done he held it up.  He could hear me screaming from the house.  But this doesn't end, because there was still the tiny one.

2- One Sunday afternoon Graham was barking and playing 'possom with somesing in the yard.  The boys were yelling that it was a snake.  I was done.  Supremo was taking a much needed nap, but that wasn't enough for me to not freak out and wake him up.  This time he took a snow shovel out, (he couldn't find the rake or his other shovel) and sianara to the snake.

3- This one is the most disturbing.  It was a Thursday and we had just got home from taking family photos.  The Noodle was about to head down the stairs to change and yelled, "Mom there is a snake on the stairs."   I don't know why he called me.  Like I was going to do anything about it.  Thankfully Supremo was home, and he took care of it.  Have I mentioned that I am totally in love with this man yet?

4- Same day as the house snake.  In fact this one was right after the house snake.  Supremo (in black pants, white shirt, and tie- That's what we did for photos) was getting rid of the house snake, and was confronted by another one.  (Okay, so he probably startled the snake more than the whole confrontation thing,)  Being the Shining Exterminator that he is, with not shovel he took care of this one with his foot.  In shoes I might add just in case you are getting squeemish.

So there you have it.  4 too many in my book.  Especially the one in the house.  Too much for me to handle.  Sorry if you have a love for this reptile.  It does not tickle my fancy, but to each their own.

Life Will Never Be The Same

I was planning on posting about how this little guy crawls.  If you will notice.  One hand in a fist, the other one open.  It is so cute to see.  When he gets excited he puts his head down and crawls as fast as he can.

Then I had to post a little bit about the Diva.  Can we just say FABULOUS.

 Sunscreen on the nose.  Classic.  Dad having his usual snooze.

But then this happened.  Yesterday.  T-Bug decided that it was time for him to walk.  9 months old!!!!! He hasn't been showing huge signs of wanting to walk on his own.  He loves holding onto hands, but was always plopping right to the floor as soon as someone let go.

 I was making cookies and he just went.  It was so fun to watch.  He got so excited.  The other kids were so proud of him.

 Love this boy.