Updates..

It has been much too long since I have done an actual update. Here goes nothing.. Alissa is still my sweet sensitive lovely little girl. She is doing ok in school although we have been battling bully issues. There is a girl named Sarah in class with a very strong personality and for some reason Alissa has been trying real hard to be friends with her.. problem is this little girl is mean. Alissa had been coming home crying saying Sarah was mean and no one would play with her so I decided to go to school with her the next day and observe. My oh my what a surprise I got there. I witnessed Alissa walk up to Sarah to play and Sarah turn her back.. what does my sweet girl say? "I love you Sarah".. the response? "I DON'T LIKE YOU". Umm.. wow. The interesting thing is I told the teacher why I was in class that day and obviously my presence made a difference because she immediately took the little girl aside and reprimanded her and explained that saying mean things was not ok. I'm pretty sure this wasn't happening before because she also had Sarah apologize to Alissa. Sigh.. you should not have to deal with people like this at 4 years old but I suppose thus is life. I was tempted to pull her out of school right then, but I didn't.. instead we talked about it and I coached Alissa that people like Sarah are just trying to get control and it is important for her not to let her "win". I told her next time Sarah says I don't like you or is mean to her she is to say "I am not going to play with you until you can be nice to me" and walk away. We rehearsed this over and over and over.. Alissa would have this huge grin and say, "that gives ME the power mommy." Yes it does my love. She was so excited to go to school and try this out!! LOL.. I had to remind her ONLY if Sarah was mean!! Sure enough.. two school days later I popped into class unannounced and saw Alissa and Sarah sitting together PLAYING!! And now after school Alissa always tells me first thing "Sarah was so nice to me today mommy!!" YOU GO GIRL!! What a lesson to learn at this young age. I am so proud of her. This week in school she is bringing Zena to class Tuesday and then Thursday is show and tell day so she is bringing in a VERY special show and tell -- DADDY! :) Daddy in uniform with goodie bags no less. How priceless is that? She is so proud of her daddy.
Now.. on to Jonathan. I'm not sure when it happened.. these things seem to sneak up on you when they are so young.. but Jonathan is signing and talking in sentences now. Two or three word sentences, nothing too fancy yet but he is sure stringing words together nicely. And one more thing.. it took Alissa FOREVER to get the coordination to catch a ball.. Jonathan can already catch balls consistently when thrown to him. The smallest he can catch are softball size. It's amazing the coordination he has. He will definitely be a sports player. His favorite thing to see when we go on walks is a basketball hoop.. and I kid you not he can say basketball hoop -- the whole thing. That's a mouthful for a little guy! :) His other favorite thing is to empty the dishwasher with mommy. He is such a good little helper. I think I may have mentioned this before, but whenever we give him something (be it drink food or toy) he always says, "Ali too" this has expanded into trips -- Let's go to Wal-Mart!! "Ali too!" "Ali too!". He love love loves his sister!! They are always hugging and playing together now. I am so glad to have two kiddos and watch the love they share.. I know I know when they get older the love will be harder to see, but right now I am just enjoying this. Kissy kissy!! Hahaha
Matt is kicking butt and taking names at work. He is speeding through Phase 1 and is already driving the car every day and handling calls on his own. I am just so proud of him. He is going to be the best cop on the streets and many lives are going to be positively impacted because of him.

As for myself.. I just got off the phone with a wonderful law office that offered me a part time job that I would have really enjoyed. I turned it down. After much soul searching I know that as much as we need the money right now while Matt is unable to work o/t my kids need their mommy. I did not have kids so I could leave them in others care. But I will tell you it was a very difficult thing to turn down. There will be lots of opportunities when they are in school for me to work.. I just have to be patient. And we just have to live on a budget that would terrify most people ;) Ahh but it's only temporary.. and ramen noodles really aren't THAT bad when you add an egg. Hehe.. I am still looking to babysit or find a job on the weekends. We will see what comes along.