Sleep..ZZsnore.. Bus is here!

As most people know, my daughter has began attending a bricks and mortar school. It's going very well. Well, everything is except the bus schedule.

Now don't think we're just being lazy or are used to sleeping in (we used to stay on a normal school schedule even when she was home in a virtual public school), because that's not it. My daughter's bus driver clearly runs on her own schedule. But that however, was not a bad thing for us just this morning!

The paper the school gave me says 27 minutes after the hour.. I however passed the bus in a panic the first morning because it was 18 minutes after. o.O In a few minutes of thinking "No bus, stop! Come back! You need my kid!" I had decided to stop chasing the bus like a child chasing an ice cream truck, and just take her to the school myself.

And I did just that.

So I decided it would be best if I began getting us to the school bus stop early.  Maybe, too early..

Okay, so we now know that the bus driver is NOT going to be there at ten minutes after the hour. Note to self.

A week later, we now get to our stop at fifteen minutes after, and this allows us just a few minutes to wait for the bus to arrive.  Yes, this is before and after school.

However this morning, we were warm and cozy in our beds. Aaah! What a nice place to be since mother nature has decided to release her wrath of chilliness on us early this fall.

Ten more minutes, yup we can lay here ten more minutes.

Get up, wake up the kiddos. Turn on the light. Pull the blankets off of the kiddos. Flicker the light. Kiss their foreheads. Wave the blankets over their heads. Five minutes later one is out of bed.

Checks clock.. ten minutes later, the second has finally put her feet over the edge.

After many minutes of persuasion, we leave in a panic because it is now twenty two minutes after and we're all awake racing outside chanting "The bus, the bus!"  Lucky for us, she is not there yet.

Whew!

One morning of panic and lesson well learned- the bus driver gets there early and we should, too. Also, sleeping in is bad- not matter how warm and cozy those beds feel!

Sleep.. ZZzzsnore... Bus is here!

Time flies when you're potty training!

In the past few months my little roos and I have made some major changes. Major, positive- changes in our lives.  We made a move to a new home in another city (that we all absolutely love) and made some changes as far as school is concerned, too.

My little girl is now a second grader in a bricks and mortar school. Yes, this is much different than the virtual public school she has been recently attending. She is doing great educationally and socially. She loves the stability and mechanism of being in the classroom.  I'm happy with her teacher. She is a young mom of two kids whos ages are the same as my own, and is very well educated.

On that note, my little girl came home this past week and I listened to her sing as she shook her butt and flung her hair side to side saying "trick or treat smell my feet, give me something good to eat! If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear" (all the while giggling outrageously in between each verse). I asked, "Where in the world did you learn that song?"

She looked at me with the biggest smile and said "My teacher".

She smiled and continue'd to sing.

I am very proud of both of my children. I love them more than the air I breathe. They are my life.

My son however has began his first preschool year.  He loves his preschool teacher and thinks it is the coolest thing ever that he gets to "do school", too.

Because his passion is airplanes, his teacher has made lessons to customize his interests.  He gets to make paper airplanes, sing airplane songs and do many more educational things related to this passion.  It's really neat to watch him and think "Wow, it wasn't that long ago I was rocking you to sleep".

My, how time flies.

On another note, we have also been working hard on potty training.  My super amazing boyfriend has been a tremendous help with this.  My little guy is doing wonderful in the daytime, as a matter of fact he hasn't worn a diaper in months (Woohoo, way to go little man!).

But bedtime, is a whole other battle.

My boyfriend has helped remind me to cut off his liquid at night (which seems to help a lot because my son is always thirsty and I'm a huge goober that has a fear of hydration and caves by saying "Awe it's okay, just one sip..") and so I not only have cut off the drinks before bedtime, but I also recently began waking him throughout the night and walking him to the potty.
The past few nights, it seems to be working well.  I am hoping that if I continue this habit with him, that he will eventually be able to wake himself up to go potty at night, when he feels he has to go.

So until this happens with no help from us, I will continue to work with him and cheer him on. Go Steve!!

That sums up my parenting adventures for the moment.  I bid you all reading this a wonderful Fall season and may the joys of the new school year and potty training be kind to all of you!

Life of a work from home mom..

The ideal job for many moms is to work from home.  Was it a dream of my own? Sure it was. I pictured myself with my laptop, standing at a counter and reading over work as my kids ran around me, with the love of my life reminding me it was time to head out for dinner.  Is my life how I pictured it to be? Not really, but you won't hear me complain.

Many people either see working from home in two different ways. One, it's luxury and they envy you because they think you do nothing and get paid for it.  Or, two they think you do nothing for little money and you should get off your butt and get a "real job" where you work outside of the house.

My life is fairly simple, and chaotic.  I help babysit when others need it, and work on my writing in between all of the craziness.  Normally when you read the things I write, it's not as flowing as when you are reading.

You may read "Oh hi, my name is Sandy and as of Saturday I will have been a contributor for Yahoo! Inc. for one entire year."  But when I'm typing it's more like, "Oh hi, my na- {step away to kiss a booboo}-me is Sandy a-{step away to end an argument}nd as of Saturday{step away to fix a snack} I will have been a contributor for {type in a hurry and proofread later because for the next ten minutes the house is quiet for all of the kids are scarfing down food} Yahoo! Inc. for one entire year." {Sweet accomplishment.. ah, naptime.}

After reading that last paragraph you may be thinking "Do you seriously have time to concentrate on the kids if you're working, too?" and I will tell you what I remind myself everyday.. I've totally got this!

Which is actually kind of funny when you think about it. ;-)  And I rather enjoy it.  As a matter of fact, when all of the little roos have gone home and my own are away I find myself at a loss in the quiet.

When the house is quiet and everyone is sleeping safe and sound, I work the best.  I am grateful for my life and all of the wonderful chaos it brings.  I don't mind the judgements that come with being a mommy who works from home, good or bad.  And to think, it only took me twenty minutes to write this blog.  ;-)

Kids say the darndest things ;)

via my Cafemom blog

Kids say the darndest things
Have a smile today, then show it to others. Enjoy!
Random things I've heard my little girl saying with her brother and friends:
My lil B's friend "Why does your mommy call me sweetpea?"
B "I don't know, but she calls me that, too. When she says it to me, I just smile at her. (shrug)"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
(My mom told her I was a cheerleader when I was younger)
B "Oh, you were a cheerleader mommy? Ha- prove it, go over there and do a split"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
(While flying kites, I mention there isn't enough wind for the kites but that the airplanes were flying)
B "Well the planes don't need air to fly"
Me "Yes they do.. well if they don't use air to fly, what do you suppose they use?"
B "Their engines."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
(Standing in line to cash out in a store)
B "Mommy that man didn't eat his broccoli" (points to the man who just walked out of the store)
Me "How do you know he didn't?"
B "Because he was short"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
(My son to my daughter)
Tj "Bryanna, shoot that target"
(B shoots the playgun, misses the target)
Tj "Bryanna, you're fired!"
(Me- o.O)
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
(While filling out a form, B was reading over my shoulder and saw that I marked "White" for her race)
B "I'm not white"
Me "Huh, what?"
B "You marked white, I'm not white"
Me "What are you talking about? Oh, here? Well if you're not white, what are you?"
B "Tan."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tornados and other- yucky stuff.

Since my last my post, the Midwestern United States (where I reside) was hit with a line of tornadoes. My little roos and I were blessed enough that the tornado just missed us and stayed south. However our neighboring cities and states were hit and tragedy struck when even a few of the towns were completely "gone".

I did my best to report it throughout social networks, in hopes that I would inspire others to help volunteer in any way they could- as that could have been us as well.  Unfortunately many passed in the dangerous weather and it gave me a new appreciation for my time with my little kiddos. Life is far too precious to take a second for granted (do much needed naps count with this? ;).

In the meantime, we've been working hard on our daily lives.  Which yes, include the occasional "don't say those yucky words or you're going to time out" phrases.  My three year old son is currently working on breaking the habit of talking about bodily functions and thinking it's hilarious.  My six year old doesn't help much by spelling the words to him to get him to say them.  (I must say though, she is one smart cookie!)

As for me, I am surviving the terrific three's for yet another round and doing well with my writing. I am finishing up the editing for Violet; Irresistible and  am working on publishing three children's books. Overall, I will just be happy if by the end of the week, I won't hear "p-o-o-p" come out of either of the little children's mouth's. Heh, wishful thinking never hurt anyone. :)

Tornado drills, lazy bums and poopy butts- Oh my!

I am now back from my four day trip to Kalamazoo.  It was a wonderful time as there is so much to see and do there.  I felt a bit guilty for flying, because I see how much my little ones want to fly as well.  They will love it as much as I do.  So I plan on taking them on my next trip.

Now that I am back, it is back to normal- life as we know it.  Except I am noticing, just how cluttered everything really is.  We are fully unpacked and swimming in books and paperwork throughout the entire house!  I plan on doing some major spring cleaning this weekend with my little skiddoos.  I just need to get their cute lazy lil bums motivated to do so.  The weather has been a roller coaster ride! And in turn, none of us have the motivation to do much of anything.

Speaking of, it seems we didn't have much of a winter this year.  In retrospect, the weather has been down right crazy.  Instead of snow, we've had thunderstorms and tornado's.  It's as if we've been living the spring season repeatedly in stead of building snowmen and sledding.

With the recent tornado in Illinois (bless their hearts), we decided to do some tornado drills a bit earlier this year.. just in case.  So we got our basement prepared and began doing some drills.  I even put a portable potty down there for my little one, as he is still potty training. I have every faith that someday, his fear of the toilet will be a funny story. (fingers crossed ;) )

Potty training, and other fun stuff.

Really, I'm not a slacker. What a way to start a blog post, right? ;) Life is very tricky sometimes. In between the last post to this one that I'm currently typing, life changed dramatically for the kids and I. We moved to a new location and I became a single mom. But before you reply with "awe's" and "sorry", believe what I say when I tell you that we are as strong as we were a year ago.

As a matter of fact, we are as a normal as your neighbor next door. Well, maybe not the creepy one, but the one that is potty training a child and puppy while running to the grocery store and cleaning the car for the next soccer trip. Yup, that's us.

My little girl is now six going on sixteen (God help me) and has been blessed by the touch of Bieber fever that has struck so many young ladies these days (Yes spell check, Bieber is actually a word.. and a fond word of many girls including my own now).  She is doing well in school, one of the top in her class and overall we- the parents and Connections Academy staff- are very proud of all of the students in her class. We took our first field trip with them last fall (yes since I've last wrote this blog), and had a great time! Connections Academy is a very cool public school system, kudos to them!

As far as my little man, he is now three.. a very rambunctious three.  I've always heard though, that potty training a boy is much easier than a girl. If I could get my son out of the fear of pooping in the toilet ("It's okay honey, the potty is supposed to do that..." ) then I would gladly believe that statement to be true. :)

And now, we have added onto our little family with another little guy named Brutus. Brutus is our 9week old German Shepard. Yes, I am "potty" training him as well. He is exactly what we needed to keep the insanity going. Speaking of, time to mop again..