new venture...

...Starts tomorrow!! My new teacher inservice training starts tomorrow, then the following week all teachers go back to school, then school starts eeekkk!!! I am super nervous and excited at the same time. I am nervous for the whole situation being new and excited because it couldnt be more perfect for our family. I am also sad, because I gave Jackson my sole attention until he was 20 months old when he started Mothers Day Out 2x a week, and I am not giving Colton that same opportunity. But Rick will be home with them till he leaves for work and he has 2 days off during the week. Also, we will have a nanny come to our house 3 times a week for no more than 2 hrs each day. I have always wanted to work when my children got to school age, God just had a different plan for me!
On another note, a couple of months ago I decided to transform the what we eat in this house when I started trying to loose all the baby weight. Which I am down 25lbs, if I could loose 10 more I will be at where I was before having Jackson. Anyways, I watched Food Inc. last week (and then again the next day and the next) and we as a family are taking it to another level. Its not that I let my kids eat crap all the time, but I never knew things that I thought were "good" for them could be so awful. We are only going to eat grass fed beef, free range open air chicken and organic dairy and produce. I have found a local farm that delivers to our home all of the above products since they have joined together with other farms around. I have now 6 other families on board, we need 15 to get them to start delivering to our area which I think we can get! I also found a local bakery that makes their bread with only 5 ingredients. Some of my friends think I have completely lost it, but I am not saying Jackson is never going to have sugar again or we are never going to have Chick-Fil-A....I am saying if 90% of what we eat is good for us then we can eat the other things. If my kids want ice cream at home thats fine but it better just say milk, cream , sugar and egg yokes on the label not 9000 other things. Anyways we are pumped, Rick included, on our new change its going to take a lot of home cooking but we can do it!!
I hope to blog soon about the new job, but cant promise anything right away. Thank goodness for FB to keep everyone in the loop!!

waiting...and waiting....

Seriously, it has been over 3 weeks since I took my exam for this teaching position and I STILL have not gotten the results. I will find out Monday by 5pm they said when I gave them a lovely little phone call. Its very frustrating, with technology these days would would think getting the grade for a scantron test would be a whole lot quicker. So, Monday it is and now I think I am going to puke with anxiousness.
On a happier note one of my teaching classes just ended. It was an amazing class, it was all on the teaching of Dr. Fred Jones- and his Tools for Teaching series. I swear, even if you are not going to become a teacher at any point I learned some wonderful things about how to deal with children (as in our kiddos) in general. Here are just a few tidbits from his teachings..

~ Calm is strength, upset is weakness.
~ It takes one fool to backtalk, it takes two fools to make a conversation out of it.
~ The price we pay for our own inconsistency is a reduction in our capacity to nuture.

He truly has some great things to teach just about anyone. I can say for us, in terms of discipline, consistency has been the absolute key. Even when it is hard, or the easy way out was to say yes, we have always stood our ground with Jackson and I really feel like it has paid off. Speaking of Jackson, this kid comes up with the funniest things lately, I need to start documenting them. Here is one from the other night...

(picture Colton lying on the floor watching Jackson who is acting like a three yr old hyped up boy would trying to get his Pj's on, as he almost falls full body onto poor Colton)
Me: Jackson, baby, you almost fell on your brother and that would have hurt him very badly.
J: He would have gone up high with Jesus?
Me: Possibly, and although we do want to go up high with Jesus, maybe not just yet for Colton.
J: (he ponders a mintue) SOOO..I fall on baby, he goes up high with Jesus...I'll just make you a card..ok, then it be all better.

Guess he doesn't quite get the concept that he would never see his brother whom he loves so much until he went to heaven as well, and what else would you need in a time of grief but a card....ha!

My crazy life....

....the title of this blog totally explains the last couple weeks around here. Its calmer now, which is nice, so let me fill you in.
At the end of April I passed the exam to teach 4-8 grade, in June I started 2 classes toward my teaching certification. One is on Sat. from 8-3p, and the other is Wed evenings from 6-930pm. On June 15th I went to a local job fair that had every school district around the houston area there. I spent a few days before selecting the districts that I wanted to talk to and made a fancy smancy portfolio type thing for them, there were 6 in total. On the day of the job fair, I passed out all my resumes and spoke with an assistant principle to a local middle school about a history position. She told me to come back in a couple of hours so we could talk more. Well I was done passing out all my resumes so I just sat up in the stands (its in an audotorium) people watching. The districts that had openings held up signs for the positions that they had avaible. After about 20 mins of sitting there I kept noticing this sign for "technology applications" position at a HS right down the road from our house. So, since I had time to kill I was curious as to what that position was. I went and talked to the lady and she said it was to teach their video production class.....my mouth dropped, that was my major in college. I had NO idea these positions even exisited! I told her about my major and her mouth dropped and she imeditatly sent me down to have a mini interview with her assistant principle. Mind you I have no more resumes left since this was totally unexpected. I spoke with the assistant princple and she told me I had to take another exam to teach this class and level and there was a test in a couple of saturdays from them. (I will also add this test only occurs 4 times a year). So, that evening I got another call from the asst principle and she wanted to schedule and interview for me the next day. Went to the interview the next day with the head principles and it seemed to have gone pretty well. SO I went home and signed up for the test (signed up on the last day you could). They called me the following monday and offered me the job, but I had to pass this test the coming saturday. I was SO elated that they offered me a position but I was SOOO nervous about the upcoming test. Well, its been a week now since I have taken the exam and still have another 2 weeks to wait to see if I passed. A big part of me thinks of how God played this all out for me. I mean everything just fell into place so perfectly, how could this not be the path He has chosen for me? But, we shall see. SO, while frantically studying for this test, raising two kids, doing homework for my classes, having a husband (who so graciously put up with my bad mood)...I was super stressed to say the least. But now I feel as ease, and will wait to see what the good Lord has in store.
On a side note, I have lost 12lbs this month in my efforts to loose all my baby weight. 15 to go and I will be a happy camper. Yea me!! SO, if you have made it through this rambling, keep us in your prayers because this job could not be any more perfect for us. I would teach video production for 5 periods (have 2 open periods), school ends at 240pm. On M,T and Fri the kids would only be with a nanny at our house for a total of 6 hours a week since Rick is off W and Thurs. Summers off, holidays off....ohhhhh its perfect.....just waiting to see His plan!

Oh the big BOY...or should I say boys...

Is it June already? I can't even believe it! Colton is growing like a crazy head, 16lbs and 26.5inches at his 4 month apt. Everyone always says to me how much smaller than Jackson he looks, which it is true Jackson was 3 lbs heavier that this time (wow) but all babies are different and Colton is not melting away on us or anything. He's rolling over (or should I say) rolled over 2 times now. He is also trying to sit which totally shocked Rick and I. I swear with the second baby you are SO much more relaxed its not even funny. I feel like I have all the good mommy tricks up my sleeve ready to use them at any time!

Jackson is ever amazing us. He has quite the imagination these days, we play pretend things all the time. Which I LOVE! His vocabulary is unreal nowadays too. His new phrase is " O-H- M-Y-G-O-S-H that was AAAAAWWWEEESSSOOOMMMMEEE!!! The pool has opened in our community which is a nice get out of the house activity for us to do. He also starts swim lessons on Monday with some friends of his.

Rick is going on a overnight fishing trip to the gulf soon. He is beyond excited for that and I just hope he doesn't puke the whole time! I am sure it will be a blast even if he does. He works very hard and deserves a fun escape!

As for me, I started my 1 of 3 classes this summer toward my teaching certificate. This class is the main one that will help prepare me for my final certification test. As for now, I have applied at just about every district around and just waiting to hear. They often hire people even as late as two weeks into the school year. I also am bound and determined to get this stinking baby weight off of me. Since it is swimsuit season there is no need to scare everyone away! ha! I have been hitting the gym regularly and eating a low calorie low fat diet. Hoping to start seeing some results soon.

well happy june to everyone. I will be turning 29 at the end of the month...one year closer to my thirties...I can't wait!

oh its been awhile...

...since I have blogged. I can't imagine why I did not have time for this sooner?!?! Its has been a super busy last few months with the birth of our new girl...HA...I mean sweet baby boy Colton! It was quite the shocker, but a pleasant one at that...we are thrilled Jackson will have a brother to grow up with and we now dont have to go broke buying every cute girl thing around. Many people asked me if I was sad about it all and I can honestly say no. I never cried, was upset or anything of that nature. We have a healthy beautiful baby boy and that is all that matters to us!

Jackson has been a wonderful big brother thus far. I can see it in his eyes how much he loves his little brother. And Colton sure is already in aw over him. He follows jackson with his eyes constantly. Colton is a sweet baby, a lot more vocal (aka more of a crier) than Jackson ever was. But that isn't much to compare to since Jackson rarely cried. Colton is also a horrible daytime napper just like his brother was. But I am blessed to have a great night time sleeper. Colton is also a bit smaller than Jackson was at this age...Jackson was always ridiculously off the charts...Colton on the other hand is in the 90-95% (so still not small by any means).I can't wait to see them continue to grow together and watch their relationship blossom.

As for me...I tried to be an overachiever and get out right away when I got the ok to work out and start running. After about a week of running my knees hurt so bad I could barely walk. Fast forward now 3 weeks and they are getting better so I think I will start off with the elliptical (sp) machine now and work my way up to running. I also in the mean time have been studying to take the teacher certification test. Which I did this last thursday and passed. I took the test so I can teach 4-8th graders and I am going to be taking a few classes over the summer to then hopefully start teaching in the fall. With Rick's schedule the kids will only have to be with a sitter for 6 hrs a week (in our house) and it sets us up for a great future with two pensions to retire with. So I am beyond thrilled.

Well I guess this is all I have for now...hopefully 3 months won't pass by again before I write.

Holy Holy....

We are hitting the ten day mark before the newest addition will be here. I am feeling all sorts of emotions right now.

1) I am beyond uncomfortable, no position sleeping or awake feels good on my body. I joke with Rick constantly on how "hot" I must look just trying to put clothes on....between the labored breathing, huge belly and my pelvic bone feeling like it could snap any minute I don't think it can get any better.

2) we are totally excited to meet the little one but at the same time I am very anxious on the dynamics of our family when she arrives. I can't picture another little one in the mix, our little family of three feels perfect, but I know that she will be another added joy to our lives.

3) I am nesting to the extreme right now. I feel like nothing is clean enough or organized enough. Today for example I took apart Jackson's car seat and washed every inch of it, including the mat it sits on to protect the leather seats and then vacuumed my entire car. Why ?? I don't know. Don't get me wrong I like to keep things neat... I wouldn't say I am super clean freak but I don't like a dirty house either. But this has all been taken to the next level and its starting to drive Rick batty!

4) I AM EXHAUSTED!! Maybe its because I don't sleep more than 6 hours total a night (if I am lucky and never consecutive) or maybe its because I run myself ragged cleaning, moving, organizing, chasing a toddler...whatever it is it stinks!

I am positive these next 10 days will fly by. If I remember I will post again before she is here if not...sometime after.

Christmas...

....I love Christmas dearly!! I love everything about the Christmas season and it always makes me so sad when its time to take down our decorations at the first of the year. This year was extra special because its the first year that Jackson actually "got it". Well...mostly that is, he knows its baby Jesus's birthday that we celebrate but he doesn't quite get why this Jesus guy we always talk about who is "up high and in our hearts" also has a birthday. He was really into Santa this year too....and trust me it was a great ploy to get him to behave everyday leading up to Christmas!!
So for the first time, we put out milk and cookies for Santa and filled our stockings with little gifts from him as well. Jackson woke up SO excited I thought he was going to bust out of his pants!! Everything he opened from his stocking was "oh my goodness--- I LOVE ______" it melted our hearts. We feel so blessed in the things we get each year for Christmas as well as the things we can give. Jackson was totally on present overload I think it will take weeks for all his new toys to settle in. The grandparents all got him something fun and exciting while mom and dad got him educational toys. I guess thats what we are for right?!?!
I missed my family in California as usual this Christmas, we are hoping to make it out that way next Christmas for sure since it just kills me to be apart from them during the holidays. I wish I could have all my family close by me to celebrate all year!!
So, now that another Christmas has come and gone...I hope everyone had a wonderful day and that each of you took time to remember the true reason of the season!