Updates for update's sake.

As I sit here I realize I haven't written an update post in far too long. Lets start with me :) I am still working weekends, but have cut it back to 4 hours on Saturday's only. I also watch a two year old boy still from Tuesday - Thursday and that has been working out pretty well. I am officially on my low carb diet...again. One of these days I will get the weight off and actually keep it off.. here's hopin'. I was recently introduced into the world of FaceBook - neat sight!!Our house hunting continues.. we see about 2-3 houses a week.. just haven't found the right one yet. I take Triton to dog obedience classes every Wednesday night and it's pretty fun having the class clown. I Am also obsessing over schools at the moment for Alissa. I envy my home schooling momma friends and WISH I could be organized enough to do it myself.. just not happening. My second choice is a private school, but that's out because its way too expensive. Third choice - charter school.. that's a whole post in itself.. lets just say the only charter school I really love is for middle school aged kids. This leaves public school and I found one I really like but we will be moving soon to who knows where which compounds the issue of where in the world she will go to kindergarten. Enough of that complicated mess. Here soon I will be turning 29 and I find myself THRILLED that I won't be 30.. one more year. Yikes. Not much more with me.. same old same old I suppose.
As for Matt, he is getting back in the groove of things at work and doing very well. He works 12 hour shifts right now from 6pm to 6am. It's brutal and it sucks. On his days off he is always tired because his body is used to sleeping during the day. I hate it hate it HATE it that he is working graveyard but its the nature of the job and I have to learn to live with it. Right now he is working hard on his days off to get the house prepped for sale.. I am so blessed to have married a handyman.
On to Alissa. Alissa is doing fantastic in school. She loves her teacher and gets along well with her classmates and I enjoy my Friday's in her classroom. She is obsessed with pirates at the moment which I find hilarious. She has always marched to the beat of her own drummer. She is also doing well in ballet with one exception - she can't skip. Seriously, I have tried to teach her, her grandma has tried, her teacher has tried but she is just not getting it. So I talked with her most awesome ballet teacher who promises me that in one 15 minute private lesson Alissa will be skipping along with the best of them.. so we are scheduling said lesson now. Alissa has started harping on me to get her back in swim lessons so I am going to sign her up for another round here soon.. she LOVES the water. Alissa also loves to pray and I MUST get this on video sometime.. there is nothing more beautiful than a child's prayer.. often they include talk of angels and chocolate sometimes in the same sentence lol. On a different note - we have not turned on the TV since the 23rd i honor of national turn of your TV week! Although I don't normally participate in this, we had quite the incentive! Our local library had the kids sign a pledge to not watch TV from the 25 - 30 and they get rewarded with a sleepover at the library!! How cool!? So Friday night I am taking Jonathan, Alissa, and their Aunt Bethany to the library for a sleep over complete with crafts, other activities, and a profession storyteller before bed! Wowzers it should be fun. Oh! And they will feed us breakfast, too.. I shall post lots of pictures!
Now Jonathan. My little man who is just too big. Jonathan is into pretty much whatever Alissa likes..which mean pirates at the moment (better than Barbie, right?). He LOVES his toddler time class with mommy on Monday's. Jonathan's little personality is so great.. he likes to clean up and have things orderly (have no idea where that came from) When we clean up all our toys and can see the floor (LOL) he will stand in the middle of the room with his arms outstretched and proclaim with a smile "AAALLL CLEAN". He likes to wave at random people in the grocery store.. or anywhere else for that matter. He is also displaying some strong leadership skills. When his little friends come over he picks out the games, directs the activities.. just very cute to see those skills at such an early age. Jonathan is very sensitive to others feelings and when someone gets hurt he is very concerned.. "You ok mommy? You ok, Jonjon kiss it".. Such a sweetie. Jonathan skips his naps more and more frequently and I am resigning myself to the fact that here soon he simply won't need them anymore. Oh, and it is pretty funny.. say I am wearing a low cut shirt - Jonathan will point, smile and proclaim "MAMA MILK!" lol.. I hope when he is a teenager he doesn't still refer to them as mama milk, that could be embarrassing :)
Thats all for now..

5 Years Old - PIRATE BIRTHDAY!! Arrr

Well me hartey's Alissa's 5th birthday party was a cannon blast! Here is The Dread Pirate Mommy getting in character before the little pirates arrived. And Grandma Adams hard at work turning her back deck into a pirate ship!! Alissa was in pirate heaven!

The party got started with a game of pin the treasure on the map -- arrr and the winners got to select a prize from the pirate treasure chest. Next we headed outside where there were hidden 5 gold coins.. the kids went on a hunt and whoever found a coin traded it in for a prize! Then we went inside and played a game of musical islands - -you see the islands pictured below. These are the islands from Pirates of the Caribbean online game -- authentic pirate matey! After our musical island game it was time for pizza and a pirate ship cake! Then out to the pirate ship to take a wack at the world's strongest pinata with a boat oar. It took every child, plus one adult and we still couldn't crack the thing. No worries!! The Dread Pirate Mommy tore it apart with her bare hands!! ARRRRR!!After the undestructable pinata it was time for BURIED TREASURE!! That's right.. if you wanted a goodie bag from THIS party you had to grab a shovel and start to dig. Of course I was given much grief because the kids had to really dig to get to their loot hehe.. but it made it more special in the end! The fact that all the kids were covered head to toe in mud...well, whats a pirate party without a few dirty pirates? With our treasure found it was time to come inside and open presents. To avoid this becoming chaotic we made it into a game. We played "spin the looking glass" .. yes the looking glass HAPPENED to be a bottle..which caused a few snickers amongst the adults.. but Alissa LOVED the game as she sat in the middle of the circle while everyone held their gift for her, spun the..ahem..looking glass and whoever it pointed to she got to open their present. It worked wonders to keep everyone seated and under control.

Ahh but that was not the end of our pirate games. After presents were opened and the kids were sufficiently exhausted everyone was asked to pick out one balloon. They were then told that inside three of the balloons was a slip of paper with an X on it. And..you guessed it.. the kiddos who found the paper with the X got a prize! (We were big on prizes hehe). The kids had a greattime popping balloons and claiming their loot. That a fun party!! We said our goodbyes.. YO HO HO and The Dread Pirate Mommy and Grandma grabbed a bottle of rum! Ok ok..merlot..slight technicality there... and with rum/merlot in hand promptly collapsed into a tired heap on the couch.

Party hats - $5

Cake - $20

Happy 5 year old pirate - Priceless.

Siblings..

Not much to say tonight..just wanted to share these pics.

They say it all.

Happy New Year!

Wow.. 2009. I figured a new year warranted a new layout!! I almost didn't write this, because I have no photos to add. Yikes!! Talk about slacking.
For New Years Eve the kiddos spend the night at Grandma Adams' house as they have every year. The tradition is this: If Matt works that night I stay at grandma's with the kids..but if he is off we hang out together. This year Matt was off work so we brought in the new year with rum and coke and some less than desirable champagne. Just a word of caution: The more expensive champagne is not necessarily the better tasting. Stick with the $5 bottle. Or maybe that is terrible advise and I have poor taste. That's for you to decide.
Alissa is back to school this week and we start with life as usual again.. I watch a 2 year old boy from Tuesday - Thursday every week, Ali is in school and ballet, Jonathan has Toddler Time classes Monday and now Triton has obedience classes Wednesday nights.
As for Matt, he recently had to make a tough decision. He decided that working enforcement for the county was just not the right fit for him. He did not come to this decision lightly and it was tough on all of us... but I am so proud of him to do what is right for family first and for himself and his career second. Being back in institutions he will have a lot more flexibility to be with us and not miss so many important events in the kids lives. They have already given him the nod to be Range Master which is a HUGE accomplishment for him!! He will be doing weapons training for the county. What an opportunity! Matt is an unbelievably good marksman and the county recognized this, I am so excited for him!
And an update on the dream house - unfortunately it shall remain just that, a dream. It was just too much for a one income family such as ours. However we continue to view other houses and I am in the process of getting our current house ready to put on the market. Exciting times!