Snape: December 2011
Snape: June 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Summer is here!!
Summer is off to a running start!! May took forever to end, but now I can't believe it's already June 6th!! Our days have been busy with trips to the zoo, playgroup, Lowe's Build & Grow workshops, and yesterday we went to SIX FLAGS with some friends and today was the first Library Summer Activity... BUSY!! I am loving it!! The last two weeks with my girls have been wonderful! I am so in love with my two girls!
Brent had to miss out on Six Flags and the library program today. We're sad about that, but he's up in Richardson at his Administration Trainings. He did take the time to run over to the temple after his training yesterday, so that's good. He will get to go with us to the library on Friday though, thankfully!! Today the library had the Dallas Zoo come show off some furry and feathered friends!
Brynley played in the dirt most of the time.
Mariska was transfixed and loved hearing about the habits and lifestyles of all the animals.
This owl was pretty cool. I had to take a picture. And below is a picture of one of the penguins they brought. He pooped on her. Mariska thought it was hilarious and sickening all at once.
She's such a fashionista!! She loves her glasses... and the black boots she's wearing.
Yesterday we spent the whole day at Six Flags!! They both did so well. It's was so hot! It got up to a good 100 and they both were such troopers. Brynley threw a few fits when we had to wait in line a little too long. But it really wasn't that crowded, so that didn't happen often. She LOVED all the rides and was happy so long as we kept moving. Mariska had a great time with her friend she rode with and she even got to ride the Run Away Mine Train with me! She was so excited to go on a "big person" ride! It was a great day with my girlies!!
Brynley loved riding the train. Which I appreciated because it meant I got to sit for a long while!
Outside the carousel at the start of the day. It was HOT!! This is Mariska's friend Sarah that lives across the street. They had so much fun together!
Brynley loved the swing ride!
Mariska at the end of the Grand Canyon roller coaster!
This is a bouncy ride similar to the Superman ride for adults. It goes up high and then drops over and over. The girls LOVED this one!!
This is the girls on the Bouncy Boots, they just go up and bounce up and down. After it stopped Brynley says, "I want to ride the shoes again"... she had some issues with the idea of having to get off and get back in line, but by the end of the day she had it down!
What a great start to summer! I love it. I'm kinda sad I'm going to have to miss out on some of the library activities because of my cna class... but kinda not too because IT'S SO HOT!!! My class starts in less than 2 weeks. I'm excited but I'm also getting nervous!!
Here are some videos of our fun... mostly Brynley because Mariska was with her friend, but some of both. They took forever to post, so watch them!!
Friday, May 11, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Update, update, update
Hi everyone,
So, we've finally reached May! We have a lot going on... but nothing going on at the same time. Have I totally lost you?
ME: I am Wonder Woman and fully immunized for Hepatitis B, Chicken Pox, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Whopping Cough, Measles, Mumps and Rubella. Nothing can foil me!! Except maybe a cold. Anyway, now that I've gotten ALL my shots and my negative TB test reading, I am now able to turn in my application to my CNA class. Once it's approved, I'll be able to register on May 21st. Apparently the June class doesn't start until the 18th, which is pretty disappointing, it won't be finished until almost the end of July, and I was hoping to be job hunting by then. But it's okay, we won't know what Brent's job for next year will be officially until mid August anyway, and which jobs I apply for will depend on what his job is... so waiting is actually necessary. We're still debating on whether we would have me work every weekend or put Brynley into daycare, time will tell. I hate the cost of daycare, especially since we wouldn't use everyday that we'll have to pay for. Anyway...
BRENT: We thought Brent was totally done and able to apply for any Assistant Principal jobs. I looked up a few job postings on a few other district's web sites. Under the "job requirement" they listed a certification of "PDAS".... which we were told he wouldn't need. Apparently more and more districts are requiring it before they hire so the district won't have to pay for it. Heaven forbid tax dollars should go toward training and enriching educators... anyway, so now we have signed him up for this. In order to get his PDAS, he needs to get his IDL first. So, he's signed up to take both trainings this June. Then he will be totally ready to apply to any job any district may have open.
He has also talked with his boss about the possibility of switching into the 2nd grade, if he doesn't get an AP job this summer. Again, we won't know if that would happen or not until August. Do you see why I said we have a lot going on, but nothing at the same time?? - No matter what happens, we'll be just fine, because either way he has a good job to return to at the end of summer. 5th grade is alright. We'd like him to switch to the 2nd grade, mostly to get experience in another grade... which looks better on a resume for AP jobs. Also they don't have to do the state testing and have way less attitude and that sounds really great to Brent right now!!
MARISKA: She is reading super well and is getting really excited for summer and being a 1st grader. I think she'll miss her teacher a lot though. She LOVES her teacher. She has her first loose tooth! She is so excited about it, but it's taking forever to really loosen up! She is really wanting to take swimming lessons this summer, and we'd like her to, but scheduling and funding might be a bit of an issue this summer, with my class and Brent's things it might be difficult. She's also become obsessed with horses. Often times when she's coming from the bus to the house, I'll notice she'll hold her fists out in front of her... she's riding her horse and holding the reigns.
BRYNLEY: We've figured out how Brynley develops. She platues for a good long while, until we are totally burned out on her lack of growing up... and then suddenly progresses over night. This week she has been speaking in very clear, full sentences and it's super exciting. She loves playing outside and loves Snape. She's not nearly as scared of him anymore. And he loves her, he follows her around the entire yard. She loves going to Story Time at the library and making the craft, and particularly the snack. We also have a pretty good playgroup going within our ward every Thursday. She loves going to play with friends.
SNAPE: Destroys everything and smells bad. He also is super sweet and always has a smile on his face, literally.
OUR CHEVY: AKA - "The Freight Train" has finally hit 51,000 miles!! We got it just over 2 years ago with 46K. We're hoping both our cars will last us at least another 2-4 years, we hope to start savings for a Kia Sedona once I go to work, but we'll see how that goes.
That's it for us!! Keep us in your prayers, we'll let you know how this all turns out!!
So, we've finally reached May! We have a lot going on... but nothing going on at the same time. Have I totally lost you?
ME: I am Wonder Woman and fully immunized for Hepatitis B, Chicken Pox, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Whopping Cough, Measles, Mumps and Rubella. Nothing can foil me!! Except maybe a cold. Anyway, now that I've gotten ALL my shots and my negative TB test reading, I am now able to turn in my application to my CNA class. Once it's approved, I'll be able to register on May 21st. Apparently the June class doesn't start until the 18th, which is pretty disappointing, it won't be finished until almost the end of July, and I was hoping to be job hunting by then. But it's okay, we won't know what Brent's job for next year will be officially until mid August anyway, and which jobs I apply for will depend on what his job is... so waiting is actually necessary. We're still debating on whether we would have me work every weekend or put Brynley into daycare, time will tell. I hate the cost of daycare, especially since we wouldn't use everyday that we'll have to pay for. Anyway...
BRENT: We thought Brent was totally done and able to apply for any Assistant Principal jobs. I looked up a few job postings on a few other district's web sites. Under the "job requirement" they listed a certification of "PDAS".... which we were told he wouldn't need. Apparently more and more districts are requiring it before they hire so the district won't have to pay for it. Heaven forbid tax dollars should go toward training and enriching educators... anyway, so now we have signed him up for this. In order to get his PDAS, he needs to get his IDL first. So, he's signed up to take both trainings this June. Then he will be totally ready to apply to any job any district may have open.
He has also talked with his boss about the possibility of switching into the 2nd grade, if he doesn't get an AP job this summer. Again, we won't know if that would happen or not until August. Do you see why I said we have a lot going on, but nothing at the same time?? - No matter what happens, we'll be just fine, because either way he has a good job to return to at the end of summer. 5th grade is alright. We'd like him to switch to the 2nd grade, mostly to get experience in another grade... which looks better on a resume for AP jobs. Also they don't have to do the state testing and have way less attitude and that sounds really great to Brent right now!!
MARISKA: She is reading super well and is getting really excited for summer and being a 1st grader. I think she'll miss her teacher a lot though. She LOVES her teacher. She has her first loose tooth! She is so excited about it, but it's taking forever to really loosen up! She is really wanting to take swimming lessons this summer, and we'd like her to, but scheduling and funding might be a bit of an issue this summer, with my class and Brent's things it might be difficult. She's also become obsessed with horses. Often times when she's coming from the bus to the house, I'll notice she'll hold her fists out in front of her... she's riding her horse and holding the reigns.
BRYNLEY: We've figured out how Brynley develops. She platues for a good long while, until we are totally burned out on her lack of growing up... and then suddenly progresses over night. This week she has been speaking in very clear, full sentences and it's super exciting. She loves playing outside and loves Snape. She's not nearly as scared of him anymore. And he loves her, he follows her around the entire yard. She loves going to Story Time at the library and making the craft, and particularly the snack. We also have a pretty good playgroup going within our ward every Thursday. She loves going to play with friends.
SNAPE: Destroys everything and smells bad. He also is super sweet and always has a smile on his face, literally.
OUR CHEVY: AKA - "The Freight Train" has finally hit 51,000 miles!! We got it just over 2 years ago with 46K. We're hoping both our cars will last us at least another 2-4 years, we hope to start savings for a Kia Sedona once I go to work, but we'll see how that goes.
That's it for us!! Keep us in your prayers, we'll let you know how this all turns out!!
He
Monday, March 19, 2012
Spring Break
This spring break was pretty awesome. We were able to do some fun things, but also got some good things done around the house.
Monday we were able to spend the day at the Dallas Zoo. We got there early enough in the day that it wasn't too crowded. We went to the new Australian Koala Walk Through, which wasn't much, a couple koalas and kangaroos. Still, it was fun for Mariska. We were also able to get samples of Tillamook cheese, which was fun because it's super delicious but I'm too cheap to pay that much for cheese. And then the girls were able to spend an hour playing in the childrens' play area with the little stream and slides. Around 12:30 it started getting super crowded. We decided to head out and as we got to the carousel, there was a line like we've never seen before! So, as sad as it made Brynley, we only rode it one time... I was able to end her fit quickly by telling her we were going to get chicken nuggets. We stopped at Burger King and Aldi on the way home. It was a very full day and the girls slept very nicely that night!
Tuesday was kind of a bust because Brent and I both woke up sick. Brent had sinus/throat issues and I was up all night writhing. It felt like someone was grabbing and twisting my instestines behind my belly button as hard as they possibly could. I assume it was just something I ate, but the pain didn't end until later that night. So I guess it might have been a 24 hour thing. So we didn't do much except basic housework, like laundry, that day...
Wednesday was pretty cool. We took the girls to our friend's house and Brent and I spent the day up at Ikea. It's about 45 minutes away. We arrived and were really pleased to see that it wasn't crowded at all. We spent several hours walking "the maze" and left with a few fun things... namely the pictures for our big green wall... pictured below....
Thursday thru Saturday were "project days", fixing up the walls, going through the closets and trying to organize everything (which I'm still not done with).
It was a great Spring Break. Now Brent is back at work, Mariska is back at school and I'm here avoiding cleaning the bathrooms. We're also waiting for some severe storms to hit. I hope our trees survive. They are so cute with all sorts of little leaves on them.
Brynley in bed. She was awake when I took the video of Mariska that is below, she saw the camera and had to "say cheese".
Brynley has become attached to this baby doll binky... it's been conveniently lost several times.
We finally got Snape's dog run set up. It's 5X10, so it doesn't take up too much space, but he can still walk around some. I am so done spending money on the stinkin dog. But he's gotten much more mellow the last few weeks. He's not jumping up at the girls nearly as much, he's no longer biting for fun, unless he's way too excited, and he's not digging anymore! Our yard doesn't look like a mine field anymore.
We had a pretty awesome sun set the other day...
Elephant ears at the zoo...
See the mommy chimp with the baby on her back?
Monday we were able to spend the day at the Dallas Zoo. We got there early enough in the day that it wasn't too crowded. We went to the new Australian Koala Walk Through, which wasn't much, a couple koalas and kangaroos. Still, it was fun for Mariska. We were also able to get samples of Tillamook cheese, which was fun because it's super delicious but I'm too cheap to pay that much for cheese. And then the girls were able to spend an hour playing in the childrens' play area with the little stream and slides. Around 12:30 it started getting super crowded. We decided to head out and as we got to the carousel, there was a line like we've never seen before! So, as sad as it made Brynley, we only rode it one time... I was able to end her fit quickly by telling her we were going to get chicken nuggets. We stopped at Burger King and Aldi on the way home. It was a very full day and the girls slept very nicely that night!
Tuesday was kind of a bust because Brent and I both woke up sick. Brent had sinus/throat issues and I was up all night writhing. It felt like someone was grabbing and twisting my instestines behind my belly button as hard as they possibly could. I assume it was just something I ate, but the pain didn't end until later that night. So I guess it might have been a 24 hour thing. So we didn't do much except basic housework, like laundry, that day...
Wednesday was pretty cool. We took the girls to our friend's house and Brent and I spent the day up at Ikea. It's about 45 minutes away. We arrived and were really pleased to see that it wasn't crowded at all. We spent several hours walking "the maze" and left with a few fun things... namely the pictures for our big green wall... pictured below....
Thursday thru Saturday were "project days", fixing up the walls, going through the closets and trying to organize everything (which I'm still not done with).
It was a great Spring Break. Now Brent is back at work, Mariska is back at school and I'm here avoiding cleaning the bathrooms. We're also waiting for some severe storms to hit. I hope our trees survive. They are so cute with all sorts of little leaves on them.
Brynley in bed. She was awake when I took the video of Mariska that is below, she saw the camera and had to "say cheese".
Brynley has become attached to this baby doll binky... it's been conveniently lost several times.
We finally got Snape's dog run set up. It's 5X10, so it doesn't take up too much space, but he can still walk around some. I am so done spending money on the stinkin dog. But he's gotten much more mellow the last few weeks. He's not jumping up at the girls nearly as much, he's no longer biting for fun, unless he's way too excited, and he's not digging anymore! Our yard doesn't look like a mine field anymore.
We had a pretty awesome sun set the other day...
Elephant ears at the zoo...
See the mommy chimp with the baby on her back?
This is our green wall. We LOVE it!! I'm going to get curtains that match and eventually we'll add some more red to the room to match the couches.
We can always tell when Mariska falls alseep... she sounds like this almost every night. It makes us laugh.
Friday, February 17, 2012
6 year plan
Okay. Here is an update on our life and some good old fashioned rambling...
Brent passed his Administrator Certification Exam!!!!! He's done!! Now all that's left to do is find a job. We were a bit stressed out for the last 3 weeks before we got the results. There is a huge weight off our shoulders now, knowing he doesn't have to retake it.
Mariska is reading really well. She's already on the level she should reach by the end of the school year. We're pretty excited. She loves school.
Brynley is doing well. She's just hanging out with me. The highlights of her week are her speech therapy, playgroup and story time at the library.
I'm doing okay. For the last little while my brain has been running a mile a minute. Brent and I have been talking over the plans for me to go back to work. This would of course, include Brynley going to preschool or rather, daycare. I really want to go back to work and eventually get back into school, but I was having big issues with the idea of daycare and how it would pretty much make me the worst mother on the face of the planet. I also had fears that if I began working, then we would never find a good time or reason for me to stop in order to go back to school. Because we all know, there's never enough money! I talked that part over with Brent and we both made it very clear that my education is top priority... I felt better.
When it came to the daycare thing, I was having big issues with it one day and decided to google "daycare guilt" and see what I could find for how other moms work and balance it all. I found chats and forum after forum of women dealing with the guilt of putting their 6 week old, or 8 month old or 18 month old into daycare and how they were having guilt issues in adjusting to only seeing their babies 3 hours a day... Doing this alone, made me feel much better. I'm not dumping my infant somewhere to only see her 2-3 hours in a day. I'll be taking my almost 4 year old to preschool until just after naptime and have her home with me just in time to meet Mariska off the bus. Plus, with the schedule I'll be working, I'll keep her home with me one day a week until after she's actually 4. This day would either be a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, depending on the week.
The 2nd thing I did was I went to the web sites of the two daycares I really want to check out when the time comes. One of them had a link to their daily schedules. I got really excited for Brynley. I thought about how excited she always was to go to the Y and play in their little kid center. She's always super excited to go to speech and aks almost everyday "Mom, can we go to Brynley's school today?". Everyday before naptime they have "music and movement", and she will LOVE this. We were at the library the other day and she was sitting at a table doing puzzles next to another little girl. Listening to their conversation was hilarious and Brynley loved talking with her "friend". Both my girls are super social and really enjoy activities with other kids. I think the fact that I can put Brynley in a program she'll enjoy AND make money while doing it is a huge blessing for our family.
So, since I started feeling better about all that, my brain started focusing on what I'll need to do to get my RN. The biggest issue with this, is that the program is a full-time all day, all week program and I won't be able to be home with the kids in the afternoons... so it has to wait until they are old enough to handle being home alone for a couple hours. So I've listed out all the classes I'll need to take before applying to the program and made my "6 year plan", it starts with me going back to school part time in the spring semester of 2014. Once Brynley is in kindergarten and we won't have to pay for childcare, I'll go to PRN or rather "subbing", covering shifts, every now and then and focus on harder classes. Assumming all goes as planned, I should be done with my RN when Brynley is finishing 4th grade. This sounds like forever from now! It's kind of hard for me to have to wait so long, but we can't spend $500 a month on childcare, if I'm not working, and that's how much an afterschool program for both the girls would cost... and I'm not about to plan things around the idea that we might be making more at that time... I can't spend hypothetical money after all.
So that's my plan. And I'm super excited about it. I just hope I can get my cna and find a job quickly this summer to get the ball rolling!! And hope that I can work where I want to because they have the shifts that will work best for us.
And that is the end of my rant. Thank you.
Brent passed his Administrator Certification Exam!!!!! He's done!! Now all that's left to do is find a job. We were a bit stressed out for the last 3 weeks before we got the results. There is a huge weight off our shoulders now, knowing he doesn't have to retake it.
Mariska is reading really well. She's already on the level she should reach by the end of the school year. We're pretty excited. She loves school.
Brynley is doing well. She's just hanging out with me. The highlights of her week are her speech therapy, playgroup and story time at the library.
I'm doing okay. For the last little while my brain has been running a mile a minute. Brent and I have been talking over the plans for me to go back to work. This would of course, include Brynley going to preschool or rather, daycare. I really want to go back to work and eventually get back into school, but I was having big issues with the idea of daycare and how it would pretty much make me the worst mother on the face of the planet. I also had fears that if I began working, then we would never find a good time or reason for me to stop in order to go back to school. Because we all know, there's never enough money! I talked that part over with Brent and we both made it very clear that my education is top priority... I felt better.
When it came to the daycare thing, I was having big issues with it one day and decided to google "daycare guilt" and see what I could find for how other moms work and balance it all. I found chats and forum after forum of women dealing with the guilt of putting their 6 week old, or 8 month old or 18 month old into daycare and how they were having guilt issues in adjusting to only seeing their babies 3 hours a day... Doing this alone, made me feel much better. I'm not dumping my infant somewhere to only see her 2-3 hours in a day. I'll be taking my almost 4 year old to preschool until just after naptime and have her home with me just in time to meet Mariska off the bus. Plus, with the schedule I'll be working, I'll keep her home with me one day a week until after she's actually 4. This day would either be a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, depending on the week.
The 2nd thing I did was I went to the web sites of the two daycares I really want to check out when the time comes. One of them had a link to their daily schedules. I got really excited for Brynley. I thought about how excited she always was to go to the Y and play in their little kid center. She's always super excited to go to speech and aks almost everyday "Mom, can we go to Brynley's school today?". Everyday before naptime they have "music and movement", and she will LOVE this. We were at the library the other day and she was sitting at a table doing puzzles next to another little girl. Listening to their conversation was hilarious and Brynley loved talking with her "friend". Both my girls are super social and really enjoy activities with other kids. I think the fact that I can put Brynley in a program she'll enjoy AND make money while doing it is a huge blessing for our family.
So, since I started feeling better about all that, my brain started focusing on what I'll need to do to get my RN. The biggest issue with this, is that the program is a full-time all day, all week program and I won't be able to be home with the kids in the afternoons... so it has to wait until they are old enough to handle being home alone for a couple hours. So I've listed out all the classes I'll need to take before applying to the program and made my "6 year plan", it starts with me going back to school part time in the spring semester of 2014. Once Brynley is in kindergarten and we won't have to pay for childcare, I'll go to PRN or rather "subbing", covering shifts, every now and then and focus on harder classes. Assumming all goes as planned, I should be done with my RN when Brynley is finishing 4th grade. This sounds like forever from now! It's kind of hard for me to have to wait so long, but we can't spend $500 a month on childcare, if I'm not working, and that's how much an afterschool program for both the girls would cost... and I'm not about to plan things around the idea that we might be making more at that time... I can't spend hypothetical money after all.
So that's my plan. And I'm super excited about it. I just hope I can get my cna and find a job quickly this summer to get the ball rolling!! And hope that I can work where I want to because they have the shifts that will work best for us.
And that is the end of my rant. Thank you.
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