Oh February...

You have been a fun month. The kids weren't too thrilled about the snow you gave us at first, bu they ended up playing in it a lot. Can you see Zane's snow angel!? After a couple of days, the snow was able to be packed into snowballs for a nice evening of snowball fighting...

Just a couple days after the snow, we had this...

I love t-shirt weather!! We also saw Meemaw and got our nails done

Pink and purple with white tips...Fabulous!!!

We've also been working on our sunroom. It used to house a ginormous hot tub we didn't want. We now need to remove all the partial tiles...

Zane helped with the clean-up...the room has dust flying everywhere which is why the picture is so foggy. There are still more tiles left for another day...

Only men allowed I guess. I'm being shut out...

Then Wes and his brother installed a new door that was a return from Lowes. Adding the insulation...

I'm excited for March. Hopefully we'll see more warmer days and I will have a completed sun/mud/kids craft/homework room!! March is Wes's busy season though, so I have a feeling no progress will be made. That's OK too!

Was It Just Valentine's Day?

The snow days and new job kinda got me all messed up this year. We were one of "those parents" who don't send Valentine's to the school with their kids. We also didn't even get anything for the kids. Thankfully, my dad never fails in that department. Growing up, that was his holiday. He picked out the little gifts and cards for us three girls and he continues on with his grand-kids. I will say that I made barely edible not so heart shaped pink pancakes with pink milk though! I wanna see Andy do that...PS. Eating one gross pink pancake before working out at Body and Soul may cause you to pass out and have 911 called on you. Even when you are working out on the grandma side...can't say I didn't warn ya...

Brant and Britt didn't forget Valentine's Day and are totally winning in the favorite aunt department...

She wasn't too sure about her Valentine card which said "You are a stinky monkey!"

The goods...

I almost forgot the Princess Tea on Tuesday as well. Within 20 minutes, we went from this...

To this...

We hopped in the car and met daddy at the church right at 6:32!

I decided to sneak a picture of the daddy daughter party since Wes will never take the camera anywhere.,,

Here was the car ride back home. I had my nephew with me since my older sis was at the hospital waiting for her new niece! He was not happy about missing his dinner time in order to get Avery ready and off to her tea. So, we had to do this...and it worked! Little messy, but Zane did great! I must say I also did pretty well taking a picture (hanging the camera behind me) while driving...

Valentine's Day- Check.
Sappy Date With Wes- TBA
Zane's haircut to fix his homemade haircut- Someday

A Chapter Closed

The Tur-Bus Is Parked

Last Thursday was my last day to watch kiddo's. It's Bittersweet. The previous post may have seemed like it was more sweet than bitter...but we do miss them. Avery and Zane ask when they will come over next and the house seems to be weird and quiet. I've had E and E since September and I've had J and R over a year now. I don't know what to do with quietness?!!

The last day we painted...Made our own baby food since hers was accidentally left at home! Here we have soggy mashed up cheerios and bananas! She looks thrilled to be eating it...

Had a dance party...

Did some Karate Kid moves...

High kicks with constipated faces...

Crazy looking splits...

Computer time...

and wrestling matches...

It was a fun No School Jammie Day!! Great ending to the 2.5 year long chapter in my life. Hopefully I'll still get to see these kiddo's occasionally!!

I'll end by telling you about them (for my sake really)

E- The precious baby born in May 2010. Avery loved being her little mommy. It was so great getting to hold and squeeze a little baby again!! Most of the time she was very happy and smiley but did not like it when I left her sight! She liked to sleep a lot but unfortunately would have to get woken up to go pick up other kids. Thankfully, she didn't mind being woke up! She was so darn cute and Avery misses her little real life baby doll! Even Zane talked in the high pitched voice and would play with her. He liked holding her but only for 10.3 seconds and then would want to get down and play!

P- I started watching her right before she turned 1 and stopped right after she turned 3. I haven't watched her since December and miss that little personality!! She said the funniest things but she was sure sneaky if you took your eyes off her for even a minute! She was my best little sleeper the first year and half, but then decided naps were way overrated!

E- The 2nd cutest little 4 year old boy in the world (just after mine of course!). He is the easiest kid in the world to watch. When I would ask if he wanted to play (outside, with play-dough, or color) he would often times answer "No, I do that at my house. I just want to sit on the couch right now!" Can't argue with that, although sometimes I did! He always obeyed and loved telling me stories.

R- This little 4 year old girl loved getting dolled up by Avery but also knew how to rough it with the boys! She was very sweet and liked to agree with whatever her brother said! She usually ate everything I gave her and loved drinking juice! She's not afraid to bust some moves and have a dance off with Avery!

J- He is my just turned 6 year old Kindergartner who was the man of the house! It was usually his way or no way! Good thing most of the time the kids followed his lead but occasionally I had to let him pout! He is one smart cookie. He helped Avery with reading and loved telling us random facts about all sorts of things! He loved drawing and was very good at it.

We love you guys!! Thanks for taking a ride on the Tur-Bus...

Are they not the cutest?!

I was a little worried how 5 kids in an open gym would do....They were great! As long as you don't forget to pack snacks... or baby food, Leapster, Tag books, markers, paper, and a search and find game...

If you remember all that, you'll actually be able to watch your gymnast...

Now it's on to some more snow days!! Snow Day number 5 consisted of new crazy hair do's...

Snow Day number 6 consisted of Starbucks doughnuts...

and every snow day has included Netflix!

Yes. They are the cutest. Especially since we don't have to disturb their naps to go drop off or pick people up from school!! I love snow days!! I hope our school district adds minutes to the day and not days at the end of the year though!!

What's Going On?!?!

Here I am two years and two months later, back at my old desk (with one of the receptionists)!!! I loved being a Part Time Office Manager for a Psychologist. Medical billing, transcription, calling insurances, keeping the office running, keeping the morale up, handling the mail, hiring and training people, putting up and pulling files from storage, keeping a psychologist in line, and just chit-chatting with all clients and employees. It's a job that keeps me pretty busy but not stressed and overly busy. I hate being bored at jobs, just sitting watching the clock. This is everything BUT boring! I love it!

I am one that realized very quickly that I did better getting out of the house when my kids were little. Either school or work, I just needed to be around people. This job was perfect for the flexibility- making my own hours, not coming in if I couldn't, etc. I worked for 2.5 years but decided to quit when the kids were 2 and 4. They were more fun and could carry on conversations with me. They could walk, wipe their own booty, and feed themselves. We could play more games and were busy with gymnastics and soccer. It was easier for me to be at home all day long with them at that age. Sounds terrible, but being around babies all day can get monotonous and depressing for me. Not that they weren't blessings...but...I just need to be doing things more exciting than watching a baby crawl if you know what I mean.

So I had QUIT...hoping I could get the job back one day when the kids were back in school. I was so ready to be a SAHM! It was only one month after quitting that Wes was diagnosed with cancer and would be living in the hospital for 4 months. It was a good thing I had quit and didn't have the stress of trying to work while trying to visit Wes and juggle everything else. However, after he was back home, we soon realized I'd need to make about $10,000 a year to pay for his illness. The person I hired didn't want to leave of course, so babysitting it became!

Babysitting has SOOOO many perks and it's anything but boring! Kid's are so stinkin cute and funny, but boy is it also hard after doing it for 2 years. It's hard seeing my house a disaster ALL THE TIME. There is no such thing as a clean kitchen or a toilet that doesn't have "stuff" in or on it. It takes quite a bit of emotional energy for me to be able to listen to 6-7 kids under 6 fighting, fussing, crying, begging, etc all day long. It's like the kids finally got comfortable enough with each other that they acted like siblings instead of friends!! This school year has been so much more busy that I haven't been able to pull out crafts and paint and fun stuff as much as I used to. I literally have to load everyone in the car almost every hour. My day involves dropping off, picking up, dropping off, picking up, dropping off, picking up and then again picking up...it has became craziness lately!!!

I am all kinds of excited that this job has opened up. I will miss being around the kids I've watched grow up and I'm sure my kids will miss them a ton too. I'm so ready to get a break from my house though. I plan to only work from 1-3:30 (while both kids are in school) everyday and then go in on Saturday for a few hours if I need. Once summer starts, I will work a little more. I hired my good friend, Belinda, to work with me which is even more exciting! She'll be working mornings, but we'll cross paths often!

Have I mentioned how thrilled I am?

I think this will be a huge blessing and is such an answer to prayers. I wasn't even praying for a new job but just praying about my stress and being emotionally exhausted. I was planning on scaling back babysitting a lot this summer (since Wes will be finished with his treatments) and wondered what I would do next fall when the kids are in school. Now I know. It just fell into my lap. So very very excited that the girl I hired decided to go back to school thus letting me have the job back!!!

PS. This picture shows a VERY messy desk. I have a lot to catch up on and organize!! The office needs a little help in the cuteness factor as well. That will be coming soon!!

SNOW DAYS!!!

It's been an interesting week of no school. I got offered a job out of the blue and made 6-8 phone calls- each about 40 mins long. Good thing Wes stayed home Tues and Wed so he could actually parent the kids! I'll talk more about this later...

While not on the phone, this is what we did...
SNOW ICE CREAM!!! The kids have had this before and liked it, but for some reason were not fans this year. This picture was obviously taken before they tried it! Avery was worried about it coming from outside and thought she was eating sand. Zane just said it was disgusting and he hated it! Maybe vanilla from Mexico tastes weird to little kids? Second go round I put less vanilla and made sure the sugar dissolved in the milk before mixing it into the snow. It was eaten up much better by 4 out of 6 kids (One being an baby and Zane still not being a fan and asking for me to mix it with "real ice cream from our freezer!")

SNOWBALL FIGHTS!!!
or lack there of...

Pretty deep in some areas!!
(This snowball also turned into powder after leaving her hand!)

Avery couldn't find her coat and apparently snow made its way into her back...Haha
After taking this picture she said "I HATE snow. I'm never coming out here again. It's SO boring and I hate it JUST HATE IT..."

JAMMIE MOVIE DAY!!!
When I watch kids and there is no school, this is what we do. Although, Movie Day means 2 movies in 9 hours. Not too terrible...right?!

Of course we also play several games, color, cut, glue, fight, fuss, eat, fight, cry, and laugh.
and apparently we also wear crazy accessories in our hair....

and enjoy hot chocolate!

Lastly we
GO STIR CRAZY!!!
(All bathrooms have name tags and toothpaste smudged all over the mirror along with scissors and duct tape on the counter...right?...or just ours??)

Stir crazy always includes my camera being stolen. These beauties are courtesy of Avery Photography...Since the kids took a picture of this, I can say thank you Gpa Jerry and Granola for the Xmas money. This is the book Zane bought himself. Not pictured, but also bought with the money was a KungZhu car, Fancy Nancy sticker book and more Barbie clothes!