New Year's

So, I'm already thinking about how I want my 2010 to go. Is it really already 2010? Crazy. Anyway, (1) I am starting 10 off debt free, and I am going to make sure it ends debt free. (2) This is my year to finally be in a healthy, happy relationship with a man! Lol. No drama, no stress, just love. Real love. I'm ready for it and I'm open to it, so I know it's going to happen. (3) Be a more patient mom. Giving each child individual, alone time to just do whatever they want with me and having a family night once a week are my goals. I want to build good, happy memories for them.

I am grateful for all of my past experiences, even hard ones. They make me who I am and they make me stronger. This is going to be my best year yet, and I am very excited for it to be here! And for the first time in a long time, I will be celebrating the New Year right here at home with the two most important people in my world, my kids. I'm even letting them stay up until midnight!

Loved

I am feeling so spoiled lately. First of all, my mom and brother gave up a good part of their Friday to bring me a couch and help me figure out what was wrong with my battery. Then, my family gave up their WHOLE Saturday to move me to Gilbert. They didn't just move us then leave, they stayed and unpacked, hung pictures, organized things, and cleaned things. They were amazing. Then, my coworkers are always offering to loan me money for groceries, roach spray (lol), or whatever I need. They really are the best. One of my student's moms made the most delicious dinner for us and dropped it off to welcome us to the neighborhood! Then to top it all off, tonight Theo and Josh had us over. Josh went to Checker and got new battery terminals for my battery AND installed them. It took a couple hours and he missed American Idol. :( I just can't help but feel totally loved. I am SO lucky to have such good, caring family and friends. I love you all and just wanted to publicly thank you all!

Queen Creek

As I pack up my life into boxes, I can't help but feel a little sad. While I hate living in a half abandoned neighborhood in the middle of nowhere, I was nothing less than thrilled to purchase my very own home...all by myself. It was an accomplishment and I was proud of myself. Well, I failed as a homeowner; which is hard for me to swallow. I put a lot of love into this house. I painted it all by myself, well with a little help from the twins. I hung the curtains, installed the ceiling fans (with assistance, of course), and took care of the yard.

Both of my children lost their first teeth in this house. They also learned the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy are not real in this house. I look around and see memories. Like when Cory put a hole in the wall with the handle of my resistance band, our sleep overs in the front room together as a family on Friday nights after we watch a movie, the forts the kids built, the night Kylie left cheese out because she googled how to catch a ghost and a site told her it could be done with cheese, the time Cory cut his head on his ceiling fan, all the secret spy missions the kids have done in this house, the mouse in our garage, bike rides in the neighborhood, getting Max, then Libby, then having to give Libby away, Cory getting glasses, my kids started kindergarten while living in this house, all the laughs, the tears, the love we have shared is in this house. Oh if these walls could talk......

I have always had a hard time accepting change. I know life changes. If it doesn't, we get stagnant. We have to change to grow and learn. I have learned a lot from living here over the past almost 4 years. I know that we will be happy in Gilbert. I know that it will be a positive things. We will never forget our first home in Queen Creek though. We will miss you. :(

Cory

Cory rode Colby's motorcycle yesterday. Jesse asked if he had good insurance. Lol. Scary. He did great though! I'm sure he'll be asking for one for his birthday.

Max

I though Max might have fleas. He didn't. He has horrible allergies. His skin was sooo red and raw. Poor guy. They gave him a shot, I have to bathe him with medicated shampoo and conditioner three times a week, give him benadryl twice a day, he takes a prescription pill, and I have to wipe him down with a damp cloth at the end of the day to remove allergens and pollen. Lol. So much work! And it was $120! He's lucky we love him a lot. We are on a tight budget! This is him right after his medicated bath. Soooo fun to hold him in the tub for 10 minutes so he wouldn't jump out.

Spring Break

We started our spring break with a visit from Mo and her beau, Luke. It was so good to see them. We had breakfast at Aleisha's. Then, we went to the zoo. It was HOT, but still fun. We wrapped our break by heading to Heber to the cabin. It was really fun and the weather was definitely cooler. We made smores last night in the backyard. Max even got to go! Back to school tomorrow.....last quarter of the year!! :)

My Future Politicians and Boo on Arizona!

I took Kylie and Cory to the March 4 Schools Rally in Phoenix today. We rode on a bus with people from our school and district. It was really neat. I hope it makes a difference, because I sure as heck don't know how I will teach 40 students next year. More importantly, I do not want my own children in classrooms of 40 next year. It makes me sad to think people I see as friends may not be there with me next year. I know every business is going through hard times and so many people are getting laid off, but we are talking about our children. They should not have to feel the effects of what's going on. But that's exactly who will feel it with our state's proposed budget cuts. I was looking at the rally information online. I was pretty annoyed at what some people think. I read that teachers aren't teaching in Arizona. Really?!?! Wow. What do they think we do all day? Do you know Az is actually 51st now (below Puerto Rico) in per pupil funding? They've got to be kidding me. Part of me seriously wants to go to a state where educators and education are valued a little bit more. Why is Az like this? It makes me not even want to go to work tomorrow. It seems that no one values what I do anyway..so what's the point? Oh yeah, those 30 little kiddos smiling at me every morning..waiting to tell me all about what they did yesterday...waiting to tell me what they looked up about the Civil War...telling me they practiced their math facts and they just know they will pass their timed test today...telling me how pretty I am (lol)...they're the point! Come on Arizona!!! Let's get it together. Recession or not. We can't do this to our AZ kiddos!

Grandpa's 80th Birthday

My grandpa's 80th birthday!!

Theo's birthday

Dogs

As you all know, Libby is the crazy dog. Max is the calm, well behaved dog...or so we all thought. He had us all going. Look at what I caught him doing to a pillow in the backyard. When you can't see him in the picture, it's because he's actually INSIDE the pillow. Libby just watched the madness.

New Year's Eve

These are just two of the 'Creepy Creepertons' who harrassed us on New Year's Eve. Lol.
This is me and Carole. And yes...that is water in the Michelob Ultra cup.

Carole and I went to the Scottsdale Party. We were supposed to go to Gibbons' party, but didn't quite make it. He was not happy. Sorry Gibby. We had fun, met lots of 'interesting' people, saw way too many crazy, drunk people, saw people getting arrested, saw really inappropriate things happening...lol, and saw a guy fall on the sidewalk really, really hard. Call me crazy, but I don't think the best way to ring in the new year is by waking up the next morning with a huge hangover. Nonetheless, it was quite comical. We had delicious pizza around 3 in the morning. We met some boys who were here from Texas. They are playing in the Fiesta Bowl on Monday. Go Longhorns. So, there's my shout out to my new Longhorn friends. They were SO young. They were mesmerized by me and Carole's age. Lol. Very cougar like. It was a much better new year's than LAST years is all I have to say. I was minus someone this new years and it makes things so much better. My life is SO much better minus this someone. So...here's to a drama free '09. I hope everyone has a great year. I know I'm going to try my best to make it my best year yet.

Christmas

We went to the cabin for Christmas. It was freezing. We went sledding. It was sooo much fun. The kids loved it. My dad loved it. Monica and I even sledded with our fat butts. Lol. The kids got a ton of stuff. It was just a low key, relaxing Christmas. Monica and I took the kids to see Marley and Me. Wow..total tear jerker. Total. All 4 of us cried. It was a great Christmas.

D-O-N-E

I am sitting here feeling utter relief that I just turned in my research paper. I'm done. Wow. It feels good. I won't even know what to do with all the free time I'll have in the evenings, yeah right. Lol. I have been a major maniac stress case lately, so thanks to everyone putting up with me. Now, I can relax until, what, January? Then, I have to sign up for more classes through my district to get my bonus money and move on the payscale. Teachers really jump through hoops to get a little money. Hey, that's why I make the big bucks...right? NOT. See you all at my moms next Friday. Be there or be square!!

Graduation

Less than one month til I graduate!! It's the one bright spot in my otherwise bleak life right now. You're all invited to my graduation, and more importantly, to the party afterwards at my parents house. Invitations will be coming soon and thanks Aleisha for making them!

The top pic is Master's '08 and the bottom one is Bachelor's '01. Funny how my hair came back around to short blond. Lol.

California Knows How To Party

So, Aleisha and I drove to Newport Friday to surprise Monica for her birthday. We got there before her and hid in her bathroom. We scared her. It was pretty funny. We had an amazing dinner, then not such an amazing time at I Lounge. Let's just say Monica had to hold Aleisha back from breaking some chick's face. Lol. Saturday we went to the beach. It was gorgeous. We met a guy who laid down in front of us so we would walk over him, like a speed bump. He was pretty funny. We ended up going to his house for a little get together. It was hilarious. Seriously, probably the most fun I've had in years. Then, we ended up at Rudy's. Also an amazing time. I honestly don't think I've had more fun with my sisters before. This picture is from dinner. And, ps...we aren't bending down. Those girls are THAT much taller than us shrimps.

Fall Break

Fall break is FLYING by! We got a new dog named Libby. We went to Schnepf Farms with Aleisha's family. We went to the movies. We are going to the zoo. Busy, busy, busy. Oh, and the house is clean and the back and front yards look a okay. Oh, and the Halloween decorations got put up. My life could be amazingly organized if I just didn't have to work!

In memory of my hair-RIP

I had to put up this pic in memory of my hair. Granted, my hair doesn't usually look this good. Truth be told, it's usually in a pony tail and I have felt Marsha Bradyish forever now. I have been dying to cut it, but couldn't part with my long hair. Well, today, I cut it. I have mixed feelings. I'm sad. But, I'm glad, too. When I'm feeling a little better about it, I'll put up a pic of the new do. I'm trying to change things in my life for the better...this hair cut is representative of me changing. It's hard, but I'm trying. It makes me sad sometimes (just like cutting my hair made me sad), but I'm doing my best. Take it one day at a time...one foot in front of the other.

Max

I love Max, but he has an obession with my shoes. Notice my shoes pre-Max and post-Max. I might just have to kill him. And anyone who knows me knows these are my two favorite pairs of shoes I own. I LOVE my black sling back peep toes with the bows. LOVE them. And my gold shoes..don't even get me started. I'm in love with them. I've only worn them ONCE. WTF.

ASU

Carole adivses for ASU. Saturday's game against UNLV was staff appreciation night, so her and 4 other ASU advisors got to watch the game for the 1st half on the field. Well, one of the advisors didn't show, so I got to go on the field, too. Sweet. This really cute guy named Skip who works for ASU was down there with us. He had to go get new people at half time to bring down. I told him where Carole and I were sitting and said, "If they don't show, come back and get us!" So, sure enough, he came and found us in the stands and we got to go back down to the field. So we were on the field for almost the entire game. It was crazy. I loved it. I was standing on the other side of the net where the punter practices kicking the ball. I thought he was going to take my head of every time. Thank goodness for strong nets. We were right next to the players. We heard all their bad words, saw all the spitting, etc. It was crazy. There was tons of commotion. We had to stay out of the way of Fox Sports Net camera people and all their dang cables. I thought we might get taken out by the players a couple of times. Anyway, ASU lost in overtime. :( It was such a fun experience though. Shout out to Skip for hooking me up. :) And thanks Carole!

We LOVE the cabin

The cabin is so fun. Ok, I admit it, I'm the first one to say, "I don't want to go." I hate the packing and not being home all weekend because nothing gets done, but I love it once I'm there. It's fun to be with my family. The house is amazing. We stuff ourselves silly and the weather is beautiful...gorgeous. Max is so well behaved up there..way better than here. Plus he just tires himself out running around outside all day. Come to think of it, so does Cory. Cory and Max are similar in so many ways. Lol. We love it. Can't wait for the snow! No, I won't be in it, but I love looking at it from inside the cabin by the fireplace with some hot chocolate.