Sunday, May 31, 2015

Bring on the summer schedule

Being the teacher mom that I am, I made a schedule for my family.  This is our schedule and we may change it up a little bit, but not much.
7am-Wake up, brush teeth and have prayer
7:15-7:45 Eat breakfast, and get showered/bathed/dressed
7:45-8:00 Wash dishes/sort laundry/vacuum living room
8-9am ZUMBA
9am Leah Lexia/Sumdog time
9:30 Emma Lexia/Sumdog time
10am Kira Sumdog time
10:30 Clean Kitchen
11am lunch
11:30 Ben computer time
12-2 QUIET TIME
2-3 Play outside
3pm Science/History
3:30 sort laundry
4pm Clutter destash/clean bedroom/games
5:30 dinner
6:30 dessert and dishes
7pm Gonoodle/ Kira and I run
8:30pm Family prayer and scripture study
9pm bed and books
9:30 lights out

We may flub it some when we do daytrips, but we're trying to stick close until our vacation, so the kids aren't completely thrown off when they go back to school!
We have been blessed so much by people giving us hand-me-downs as they get ready for their move!  We have so much that the kids have already grown out of, that we can easily fill in from the hand-me-downs, so we're able to get rid of the outgrown/stained/yucky clothes.  Some of it's amazing and we've filled 8 bags of stuff this past week that we donated.  Scott and I filled up 2 bags ourselves!  We're getting our laundry down to a manageable level.  Phew!  Our house is looking better and better everyday!
My kiddos love the schedule, which amazes me!  The other day one of the kids was trying to watch a movie and Ben informed them- "Do you see tv on the schedule?  NO!"  I love it! They're keeping up the learning, and I know when I get a breather.
On Friday we went out in the seemingly constant rain to check out the Moon Marble Company.  We loved seeing the lady make a purple cow out of glass!  We let each of the kids pick something, which turned out way more expensive than I planned!  Everyone was pretty happy though!  When we got home I found my temp contract for my new job in the mail!  We were able to use our 2 free large pizza coupons and I paid $8ish for the breadsticks and we had our celebration dinner!
As per usual, Saturday was crazy full.  We did the usual morning, but the Wii remote died, so we didn't get to Zumba long.  It worked out though, because I wanted to make a fruit basket for a baby's funeral at church and dessert for the Church BBQ that evening.  It took a ton of time and I barely got to the church on time to drop off the fruit basket.  It's so sad when someone dies, especially a baby! We went to PriceChopper for their big event.  We got a hot dog, chips and a drink for $1 each!  Then the kids each got a free root beer float!
We headed to my parents' house right after and I helped out by watching my brother's three kids while he was working.  My mom took my four oldest to the store with her and then I just had 6 kiddos aged 1-5.  Fun times!  I got plenty of exercise!
We left my parents' house and went to the Church BBQ.  It was awesome!  We brought desserts and there was yummy food, great music and a bouncehouse!  The kids had a blast!  I love our church!  I'm sad so many people are moving!  We're moving too, but it'll be after they've all moved!
We had someone take our picture, so Scott has a long family photo. I sent Scott home with the kids and I headed to watch my sister in the Glowlight Run.
For some reason, my map took me to Kansas City and not a good neighborhood, so I headed back toward home.  When I finally got ahold of Kim I figured out where she was, and they had just started, so I had plenty of time to watch!  I walked the last half mile and hung out until she got there.  We walked together the last mile and I took pictures of her with her friends.  Once we were done with pictures, they went to the after party and I headed home.
I can't wait to see what happens next week!  We're hoping that it's sunny at least one day and we can go berry picking!  I'm also hoping to go down to Emporia and start looking at places to live!
Pictures!



 Shoulder angels/devils as they play checkers

 Kira with her friends at a softball game

 Reading together selfie
 7 shirts and 1 skirt for under $20, it helped me get rid of ugly clothes!










 He had a super hard time choosing between them.


These two boys together, hilarious!
 Ben's amazing creature!
 Our celebration dinner
 The fruit basket I made.




















Sunday, May 24, 2015

Fantastic Week!

I had to work everyday, but it worked out well, because I was able to get everything that my students hadn't packed up for me packed!  I was sad everyday thinking that my last day was coming and I still didn't have a job.  It was pretty terrible.  I kept applying as I had extra time in between Professional Development sessions (that I didn't really need) and even got an interview scheduled for next week in Emporia.  I was recognized for leaving and got flowers.  That was super sad. Everyone else had a place they were going to and I didn't.  I really wasn't looking forward to a whole summer of trying to find a job like the past two summers.  Anyway, those were my thoughts (catch the past tense?).  Kira had come with me on Wednesday to spend time with her friend that was going to be staying the night.  We got Sonic for lunch and she even got to go with us to Activity Days, where we made tissue paper flowers.  Pretty fun!  I'm totally making poofs for my class next year!  They will be perfect for around-the-room!  Her poor friend was overwhelmed by my kids (seven versus her only having one sibling).  They're going to miss each other!
I went out to lunch with my third grade friends and found out that it was good that I was out of there. I will miss my co-teachers though!
 So, Thursday night, one of my co-teachers called me and told me about a job opening to apply for, and I got right on it.  On Friday we had one more meeting and then hung out waiting for the Principal to get back to get signed off and checked out.  My same co-teacher came in and told me the insider info that they didn't like any of the people they interviewed, and told me to call the Principal and ask for an interview.  If you really know me, you know how out of my comfort zone that is.  I asked for help making a script of sorts and called.  He asked when I could come in and we agreed on about three hours later.  I got my signatures and was out of there!  I grabbed lunch on the way out of town (I left my hot pocket in the freezer, oops).  I was super excited!  It was about a two hour drive and even though I was in casual clothes, I had good clothes to change into in the car (due to a feeling I had at the beginning of the week).  I called family, and had my husband read information about the school to me.  I really was excited for this interview!  I changed clothes on the way and was still thirty minutes early.  I read over previous interview questions and my answers, then headed in fifteen minutes early, and read their school newspaper as I waited.  I felt the interview went pretty well, and I headed to a nearby town to get my family's favorite ice cream.  That was when the principal called back and said I got the job!  I took the offer!  I'm thrilled for this opportunity!  I texted my co-teachers first and then called Scott!  He is super excited too!  What a blessed relief!  It's a fantastic school and I want my kids to come to it!  The hard part will be finding housing, but we have time to figure it out!  I'm just so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that helped this happen!  My kids are stoked too!  They loved Emporia too!  I'm going to have to let the other interview know that I won't be making it in, because I have a job!  I can't even begin to say how joyful I am!  I drove to my sister's house and my family met me there.  We had dinner and left the kids with her to go on a date that my mom paid for with a gift card!  We went to see a movie.  It really wasn't funny, but it was clean!  We got our boys and went home.
I pretended like Samuel's birthday was Saturday instead of Friday (since I wasn't there almost all day to help him celebrate).  We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and he got an awesome balloon (that Josh popped as soon as he got in the car) and was told happy birthday by tons of people at Hy-vee!  He kept smiling and being adorable!  Josh was being pretty cute too!  He said he liked a song and danced to it.  I have no idea what song it was.  We went to my parents' house and started prepping for the party.  Most of my sisters came with the girls that stayed with them.  We had Arby's for lunch and then did cake and ice cream.  Poor Samuel burned his little finger on the candle flame.  I felt so bad for him!  He smashed his cake pretty well though!  Scott got him cleaned up and I fed him, so he could nap.  His finger was better when he woke up.  Phew!  I love spending time with my family!  I'm glad we're only going to be moving about an hour away!  We'll see when we find a place!
All together it was a pretty great week!
 Lunch at the park with my kiddos on Monday
 Cooling off on Wednesday
 Tissue paper flowers
 Decorated container for the secretaries and my Principal.
 Last time they'll see each other for awhile.
 The vintage table I decorated for Relief Society on Thursday.
 On his actual birthday
 Getting ice cream at one of our favorite places.
 Before the movie
 I love picture strips!
 On his fake birthday
 Cupcakes, cookies, and his smash cake
 He's getting onry.  
 With his Papaw.  
 Arby's gave them two boxes worth of food!
 He was excited for cake!
 About to burn his finger.
 Fun diving in!
 That's Emma in the tree.
 Then Kira took a turn
Samuel was exhausted!