Keepin it Real

I am by no means a neat freak.  In fact I'm a little bit of a slob.  Last year and the year before I won the cleanest classroom award at school and Dale just laughed.  And laughed.  Hard.  And then he laughed some more.  I didn't understand it myself...until one of the teachers came forward and said she got her whole team to vote for me because she spent an afternoon in my classroom and noticed all of my labeled bins.  I have somewhat of an obsession with bins.  5 years ago the 2nd grade team ended up with a surplus of textbook money and no one else wanted to spend it, so it landed in my lap.  I went a little crazy with my Really Good Stuff Catalog (awesome place for cheap teacher stuff), and ended up blowing most of the money on bins.  I spent an entire week of my summer vacation going through all of my teacher stuff and organizing it into these beautifully labeled colorful containers.  I didn't realize how many I had until I started sifting through my stuff in preparation to become a stay at home mom...54 bins folks.  54.  Now I have the fun task of finding them new homes.

Looking back I've actually been pretty organized at school...not always clean (my kidney table always has a pile on it), but organized.  Home is another story.  I can't keep it together.  I don't know how people do it, and honestly I haven't really cared until recently.  I've kind of been living by the mantra "Working moms are too tired to clean."  And I was okay with that.  I considered my off track time sacred.  I couldn't possibly taint it by cleaning floorboards or scrubbing toilets.  Then the thought of being a stay at home mom started looking like it could actually become a reality.  I started thinking about what I wanted our home to be like.  And the changes that would have to be made...because if I'm being completely honest, there are a lot of them.  So in December when I went off track I made myself a chore chart (must be the teacher in me :).  Then I stuck to it- and I loved it.  Our house wasn't perfect (18 month old on the loose), but I actually started letting people in when they came to visit instead of speaking through a 2 inch crack in the door so they couldn't see inside.

Now I've been back at school for awhile and once again I can't get a grip on the whole cleaning your house thing.  And I honestly don't know if it will get better once I quit.  I can't quite seem to figure out how to keep up with my 2 year old.  And I only have 1 kid!  I don't know how you moms do it with more than one.  So I guess that's my question- how do you do it?  How do you keep your keep your house clean with kids without spending every spare minute of your day cleaning?  Because I did that, and it's not for me :).  Wish me luck my friends because I'm about to dive into a whole new world, and I'm hoping I can stay afloat!  

Excited to be home with this little one...even if I can't keep up with him :)

  

Park Playin'

I love taking Trey to the park...mainly because when he gets home he's nice and ready for a LONG nap.  This kid has got energy- one of the parents of Dale's piano students assured me that my next kid would nice and calm, because nobody gets 2 crazy ones in a row.  Phew!  Now we can have another one :).

Trey loving the park...

Throwing a fit because he didn't want to leave...and yes, 

this does happen EVERY SINGLE TIME we go.  

 His shoes kept falling off- then he kept getting mad at me because I was taking his picture :).

Hey you guys!!!!

This here is our very own Sloth.  Last month he fell and hit his mouth pretty good.  Poor kid!  Don't worry, it only lasted for a couple of days and now he's as good as new :).

Sick Days

I have twenty or thirty-some-odd sick days at school to blow through right now and only 17 school days left :).  Dale keeps bugging me about using them- but any teacher will tell you the reason we don't take those sick days is because the sub plans are so not worth the time off!!!  Dale says, "Just show a movie!"  For 6 hours though? :)

Imagine having someone take over for you for the day- someone who doesn't know where anything is, or know your routine.  Now imagine having to put that routine into words- where to find things, what to do, specific things that need to be done, how to do things, etc.  Talk about a pain!  Sub plans seriously run around 6 pages long, not to mention the copying and planning that go into them.  Plus the aftermath of a sub is just as exhausting- the piles of work to go through, the notes the sub left, discipline issues (because with the class I have this year I have more than my fair share of those!), and of course trying to figure out what exactly did/did not get done while you were away.

Wow, that really turned into a rant :).  Bottom line: sub plans = huge pain!  

A couple of weeks ago I was forced to take a few sick days- I got some sort of cold and completely lost my voice.  Apparently you need your voice to be able to teach :).  And, I gotta admit, even though I had to write those awful sub plans, I loved spending the day with my sweetheart Trey!

Our sick day together:

Trey with his "Whee"- I used to say "Wheee!" whenever I'd put Trey to bed, because everything is more fun when you use the word "Whee" :).  So now that's what he thinks blankets are called.   

Then Trey got sick...so he had a sick day with Daddy.

 Dale nursed him back to health :)

Spring Gwalks

Sometimes Dale loves taking walks (or "gwalks" as Trey calls them)...mainly when we're able to scour the neighborhoods dreaming about things we want in our home...eventually :).  And sometimes I have to infuse our walks with a little old fashioned bribery...which usually involves food.  One of my most favorite things in the world is to get out of the house and walk the neighborhood with Dale and Trey.  I don't know what it is, it just makes me happy.  It brings back memories of when I was prego with Trey and we would go on a long walk every night.  As my due date got closer the walks got longer and longer, hoping to bring him early :).  It didn't work, but now walking through our neighborhood makes me a little nostalgic.  This super L-O-N-G drawn out winter is killing me...bring on the springtime and the strolls through the neighborhood!

First stroll of the season :)

Californ-I-Ay

Dale and I found a new love.  We love the beautiful state of California!  We loved everything about it (minus the crazy driving...but we would gladly take it just to visit again soon!)  We spent the last week soaking up the sun (on most days), meeting Disney characters, and just plain having the time of our lives.  No cares in the world, just the beautiful California landscape and the salty breeze in our hair.  It couldn't have been a better vacation!  We spent the week at Grandma Gigi's (our Brother in law's grandmother) and were spoiled with home cooked meals and a beautiful home to stay in.  Trey loved playing with his cousins (and hitting his little cousin Spencer...poor kid took a lot of bullying from Trey this weekend).  We are so glad Dale's family invited us along on this trip!

The Alien Jerky place in Bakers CA.

Disneyland

 Doesn't he look super excited to be on this ride?  He didn't smile on any ride except for the teacups.  Most of them scared him.

 Lunch at Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure.  It was not fantastic.  We missed our breakfast time, so we had to do lunch instead...and I'm not gonna lie...definitely not worth the money.  I think it would've been more fun for us if Trey cared at all about princesses.  But, he doesn't.  In fact, the only think that kept us sane during this whole ordeal were the stickers they gave him.  

 Belle was very sweet talking to Trey :).  

Then he attacked her.

 So these next few pics are super bright...my sis in law gave me a mini lesson on how to use my camera  without just using auto.  So, I ventured out into the scary world of using manual for most of my pics.  I learned a very important lesson.  Don't wear your sunglasses while taking pics...they make them all look dark :).  I couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I just kept making them brighter :).  So, don't mind the pics where Trey's hair blends in with the sand/sidewalk...lesson learned :).  

 In a lot of the pics we're pointing because it's the only way we could get Trey to look at the camera :)

 My niece Faith buried my legs :)

 All week there was a long line to see Mickey Mouse, and we weren't about to wait in it seeing how Trey doesn't even know who he is.  But on Thursday we hung out in Toon Town for awhile and I thought it'd just be fun to check out his house.  There was hardly anyone there, so I figured he wasn't around anymore.  When we got to the back, there was a security guard waiting, and I asked him how to get out.  He said to wait just a few minutes, but didn't say anything more.  Then it dawned on me that Mickey was still here and we were first in line :).  We didn't get a great pic (Trey kept trying to touch him and the lighting was horrible), but it was fun to see him!

 Trey has discovered dumdum suckers.  He thinks they are fabulous.  I loved all of the pics of him eating his sucker, so here they are :).