My boys were quite inquisitive tonight, although the caliber of questions were at opposite ends of the spectrum:
No, I'm not a dairy fanatic. I'm simply reading the mind of what I assume our newest house guest is thinking. Yep. We got ourselves a little field mouse. Somewhere. I know, it absolutely GROSSES me out every time I think about it. I do think we have it trapped, though. Saw Hayden a couple of weeks ago running from one side of the hutch to the other and "playing" with something behind it. Being the brave soul I was, I moved the hutch away from the wall a bit, and lo and behold, our own Stuart Little darted towards the bathroom, then the closet, then the office, and then I have no idea. By this time Cameron was so embarrassed of my squealing and I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what the hell was going on over here at 7:30 in the morning, so I talked myself into believing that he just ran out the front door that I had open. Mmmhmmm. Right. Fast forward to Tuesday night. I walk into the kitchen, see something out of the corner of my eye and turned as "it" was bolting for the stove. Cue the sissy screams, and the stereotypical jumping on the chair. Bryan grabs a broom, swishes it out and then it runs for the dishwasher. Great. Cam has since grabbed his own chair. Bryan pulls the dishwasher out and we see a hole in the drywall. Double great. He's sticking the broom handle in the hole, pounding on the wall, banging on the cabinets, nothing. Cam asks him whether there was a "more scientific way of doing this?" Bryan responds that if he has any bright ideas, he's all ears. Nothing. So Cam and I are ordered to a stakeout while Bryan runs to the store for some traps. I get off the chair long enough to hit the bathroom - Cam said he could handle things for me while I was gone - but other than that, we are both still standing there and watching for that little you-know-what to join us. Meanwhile, Hayden saunters in from outside and we inform him he's fired. It is now two days later, and we've put out more cheese than we did at our Superbowl party. That damn thing kept getting the cheese off of there! So we know it's still in the wall and that it's coming out to party. Took the advice of our neighbors and put peanut butter on the trap instead. This way it will take a little more "work" and hopefully set off the trap. Bryan will be mousetrap shopping tomorrow if I don't hear a snap tonight.
Well I definitely scored some big time brownie points by finding that skateboarding facility/lessons. Cam is in heaven. He had a 1/2 day of school today, so he did a double lesson. Loved it. He's going again on Friday and Bryan signed him up for 3 weeks of summer camp. They'll be able to do more than just skateboard all day, although that would be JUST fine with Cameron. They have in-ground trampolines with wakeboard handles hooked up to practice flips n stuff, an indoor pool and a few other activities. He's pretty pumped!
In case any of you are looking for a TV show to watch, purely for entertainment, I highly recommend tuning into CMT for My Big Redneck Wedding. Unbelievable. You have to see it to believe it. One bride couldn't find her teeth on her wedding day. No worries. Future mom-in-law offered up hers. Camouflage wedding dresses. Flower arrangements in Budweiser cans. Wedding gifts to each other that include pink rifles, a butchering kit, and a snowman from one of those quarter "claw" machines. Classy.
Wow. Wednesday? That was the last post? How horrible for those "regular" readers. To check in 2, 3, 4 times a day and not have ANYTHING to see must be so disappointing. Sorry. This week kicked my ars! No excuses, but maybe some justification for the lack of web conversation. :0) Let's see, as always, school has taken a big chunk of my allotted nightly blogging time. The class week begins on Tuesday, and ends on Monday. Each week I have an individual paper due, and usually every other week, a team project in addition. The majority of my classes in this program require our papers/projects turned in on Monday nights, 11:59 pm Arizona time. I gave myself a break on Saturdays and Sundays to spend time with the fam and run errands, and worked on my papers Sunday nights, Monday during my lunch, and Monday evening for the finishing touches. This class, however, requires all assignments turned in on Sunday nights. This sucks. I either have to bust my butt throughout the week to get my other daily assignments done and turned in, and then work a little on my paper, or dedicate my weekend to working on it. This I'm not willing to compromise on. So, my weeknights are spent working on trying to get ahead in my daily assignments and working on my papers. Sunday nights are pretty hectic. Needless to say, I just turned in my paper this week. I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that I have just completed a comprehensive protection plan (specifically covering the areas of transportation, personal security and communication) for the University of Phoenix Online in the event of an emergency, such as a terrorist attack.
Now that we've cleared that up, we can move on. We signed up Cameron for skateboarding lessons last week. The classes are held at an indoor skating facility that is apparently "full of so many cool ramps and rails." His class is the "Rippers", and he goes once a week for an hour, and will go for two weeks during the summer for their day camp. He is so excited. When Bryan took him on Friday to check it out, he ended up staying for one of the classes and just had a ball. So that takes care of two weeks of summer. Thought it would interfere with little league, which we don't have a schedule for yet, but he can go any time and any day during the week. Makes it kind of nice in that it doesn't necessarily interfere with any other appointments or commitments. Opening day for Little League is March 29th, and from I was told, that season is over about a week before Memorial Day. I started to think Cam would be pretty well spent from all the activity, but his energy level is never ending.
It looks like the telecommuting is a go, but the date has been pushed out to June 1 because of the budgeting for the fiscal quarter. Fine with me. Just git 'er done.
Time to boast about Cam's 3rd quarter parent/teacher conference! As always, he's doing fantastic. To give you an idea about where his reading skills are at, at the END of 2nd grade, the standard is reading 90 words per minute (wpm) of grade-level text. At the end of the first quarter, he was at 99. This quarter he was at 104, which means he's been reading at a 3rd grade level since the beginning of the school year. So proud of him. His teacher emphasized his writing skills and his knack for creativity. One example was a short report they had to do on George Washington. After writing a few paragraphs about George, they had to come up with a title for their work. Mrs. Lorts stated that the rest of his class (okay, so there are only 9 of them, but still...) titled their story "George Washington." Cameron, however, thought outside the box a bit, and titled his "On the Quarter". Not bad for a 7 year old. So academically he is above average in every subject. He improved this quarter in three areas of "Christian conduct and work habits." This was great news! His teacher's comments were: "Cameron is reading above grade level and the math concepts seem to come easy for him. He completes all classroom work but unless challenged does not exceed the required amount." (Old news here. He needs that little push of motivation. He loves the competitiveness of a challenge, but with himself. He doesn't react this way with others in his class.) "He has improved in his citizenship and respect for others, thankfully so as he is a "born" leader. I am sure in his maturity and grown-up humor, the Lord is showing him how to be that positive leader!" Very proud of him.
Okay, one last note before I hit the hay. Bryan and I were hanging out front yesterday while Cam was skateboarding. The little boy two houses down (I think he's 5 ) and the little girl next door (she's 6) were riding their bikes together. Well she was kicking butt in their "races" and he was getting a bit irritated. His potty mouth really surfaced when he yelled out to her, "Hey! Get back here you Stinkarm!" A what? A stink-arm? I wonder if she was really supposed to be threatened by that one. I know I would take offense. I immediately shot out the water that was in my mouth and could not stop laughing. Bryan, of course, had to "get in on it" too and started yelling it to the little girl also. Real mature.
For those of you who had the day off from work and/or school, I hope you enjoyed the day! Cameron and I definitely took advantage of the Holiday! To start off, we had a great weekend. Kind of busy, but still good. Birthday party and a visit with some friends on Saturday, and yesterday was spent doing housework, errands, and of course, schoolwork. Yesterday I left the boys to their video games and skateboarding (yes, I'm referring to Cameron and Bryan ...) and ran some errands on my own. Funny how I always seem to accomplish more of the items on my to-do list when I'm by myself. Anyway, I got home to find that they had run off to do their own "errands." So, I took the opportunity to knock out some more on my paper that was due. They finally get home and lo and behold, they came home with a present for mom! It was a new bike. My old one had seen better days. The last time I went to ride it, the front tire exploded right as I was getting on it. Now THAT is one loud boom. Scared the bejesus out of me. Minutes later, when Bryan was looking at it, the rear one decided to follow suit. Anyway, Cam came into the office and says, "Mom, tomorrow on our day off can we go on a bike ride?" I let him know that of course, I would be more than happy to watch him while he's out front riding around. He says, "No, I want you to ride with me." Ever so patiently, I remind him again that what was once my two-wheeled mode of transportation was "No Mas" and that I would look kind of funny keeping up with him if I were on his razor scooter. Then he says with this huge smile, "Well what if you rode the one in the garage?" I swear he was ready to wet his pants he was so excited and thought he was being so tricky. (Bryan later confirmed this. He said on the way home from the store, Cameron asked him to "rehearse again with me what I'm going to say to mom”...). Anyway, they went and got me a new mountain bike! Cam and I went on about a 45-minute ride this morning. It was great. Then Bryan came home from work with a bike for himself, which meant we were off again. At this point, the feeling was back in my butt and the burning had gone away in my thighs, so I figured why not. Now when Cam and I went out, we stuck to the streets, sidewalks, farted around at the elementary school, etc. The nice, leisurely type of ride. Well Bryan reminded us they were called "mountain bikes" for a reason, so this ride was off-road. I think we went about 4 miles or so, and I thought I was going to die!!!! I was surprised though. I honestly had visions of Cameron riding his little buns for help because his mom and dad had passed out from exhaustion. In all actuality, it was Cameron that was panting a little more than usual and wanted to know if we were "almost there??!!!" Guess his little legs were pretty tired! My bike is no longer clean and pretty, it's covered in mud. According to Cameron, "it looks way better this way." We had so much fun and I can't wait to do it again. (Darn it - I just realized that won't be until at least Saturday. It's kind of getting dark by the time I get home. Shoot.) Just kidding, it honestly was a blast, and we had a great time together.
(I took this picture after our ride, and although Cameron was overjoyed at being back in our driveway, he was looking at Bryan like "Is she kidding? I just rode to Tucson and back, all I want is a drink of water, and she wants to take my picture? Whatever."
"A mother is loved before her children have words to tell her. A mother is loved long after they are grown. A mother is loved through every age and season ... more deeply and completely than she will ever know."
Here are some extremely useless, but entertaining, facts for the day. Happy Friday!
Well I've got some good news from work ... my manager and I have been approved to telecommute, which comes with a promotion! We're in the preliminary stages of logistics and planning, but it seems to be a go. We're shooting for an April 1 start date. This is definitely a good thing! I usually don't start work until 9 or 9:30 due to dropping Cam off at school around 8:15. Then if I'm lucky, my commute into work is 45 minutes. That's on a really good day. I'm racking up about 400 miles a week just driving to and from work. That doesn't include any lunch hour errands I have to run. For those of you who know where we live, you cannot depend on traffic whatsoever. There are literally 2 ways out of Queen Creek. So if there's an accident on one of the two (2) lane roads, I'm pretty much screwed. Needless to say, I usually don't get home until around 7:00. This leaves me with about 2 hours with Cam and Bryan on the weeknights. Thank god I have a saint for a husband who does the cooking and gets Cam started on his homework. The last thing I want to do when I get home is get started on dinner - and I'm pretty sure my boys don't want to be eating dinner at 8:00. Sooooooo ... this is huge! Graduating in July was good leverage ... without actually "saying" it! Keep your fingers crossed that this doesn't fall through. Very excited, but still somewhat leery. I'll be excited when I'm sitting at home in my "work" flip-flops.
So Bryan and Cam decided to take me to dinner last night to "celebrate". I met them at On the Border for some Mexican food and a celebratory Corona. Very nice. Cam was cute - I sat down and he says "Congratulations Mom on your telethingy." Then he decided to order the nachos off the kids menu, but they were pretty plain with just beans and cheese. When the waitress came to take our order, he asks her, "Can I customize my nachos and add some steak?" Hilarious!
Not too much to report here. That is always a good thing! Had a good weekend - it was beautiful and finally not too cold! Yes, contrary to what all pf you Pacific NW'ers might think, it has been cold here! Went over to a girlfriends' house on Saturday to help with a garage sale and made $50! Not too bad for about 4 hours of work, especially considering the most expensive item I sold was $5 ... everything else was a buck on down. And besides, I was going to donate these "treasures" anyway, so it was nice. It was beautiful here, not too chilly, and Cam had fun skateboarding and riding bikes with her kids. Took a nap on Saturday afternoon - cannot remember the last time I did that - but it was needed. My week breaks in between classes always seem to wear me out more than when I'm in class! A few of those nights I find myself kind of wandering around after Cam and Bryan go to bed, trying to figure out what to do next. I tend to focus on the little things that have been pushed aside like cleaning out the junk drawers - yes, plural - and throwing out the crap in the pantry that has been there since Halloween (not kidding - just got rid of a container of leftover Halloween candy). In fact, after I asked Bryan if he "needed" about 15 different things I found in the junk drawer, he asked me when I started class again. Guess he's ready for me to get back to my "normal" evening routine; the one that doesn't involve organizing. :) So, he'll be happy, my next class starts tomorrow. Happy to say that I received an A in my last class - thank god it's over. Not to sure about my next one: Concepts of Physical and Personal Protection. There seem to be a few of the objectives that I could probably do without, but then again, I'm not the expert here. :) So the countdown begins. Including this one, three more classes. I'm on schedule with June 30th as my last day of class and graduation in July. Really looking forward to it. The number one question I get from people is "What are you going to do with your degree?" Good question. Not real sure at the moment, but I would like to get in the field eventually. No, there will not be another cop added to the family. I don't really care for Navy Blue or the "dustbowl" Brown uniform colors that our local police department sports. I'm headed more for the administrative side of things .. yes, a desk job, and sitting in front of a computer are what I had in mind. Research is right up my alley. A few projects for my classes involved scouring job postings for realistic positions upon graduation - ie: Director of the FBI or Homeland Security is not considered realistic - and there were a few that interested me that involved criminal records investigations, background checks, etc. We'll just have to wait and see! Yesterday we spent the day running errands and then hurried on home to BBQ our hamburgers so we could watch the Suns game. Little disappointed that Shaq wasn't playing. We're not Shaq fans, but curiosity got the better of us, so we were kind of bummed. Will have to wait for Thursday to check that one out. Hmmm ... maybe he'll be the speaker at Graduation this year since he is a graduate of UOP ... :) Anyway, we worked on Cam's Valentines last night - sports themed of course - and put together treat bags for his party on Thursday. He's excited, although he won't admit it, but doesn't hide it very well either! Well he got a note in his folder home today. Nothing too extreme. No military school or anything. It seems his adrenaline was pumping just a little too much during a hot game of tetherball, and he decided to push the other kid out of the way so he could hit the ball. It happens. I mean, come on, we're talking about TETHERBALL here. But I wouldn't be surprised if the other kid weighs 20 pounds less than Cam, and I know he's about 4 inches shorter. It would be a good match up between him and Alex. The other kid kind of laughed, but the teacher saw it, and had to "document" it. So, whatever. Thinking about if the tables were turned, and we got a note home saying some kid pushed Cam down while playing tetherball, we'd probably think it was funny too, and chalk it up to boys being boys. Oh well. Guess he has become desensitized due to all of the violent tetherball video games we let him play.
Thought I'd post a pic of Cameron in his new reading glasses! He's doing awesome with them - taking really good care of them and he's pretty diligent about wearing them when he's supposed to. His teacher even sent home a note saying how cute he looked in them, and that he was so careful in class when he was cleaning them. :) Pretty GQ if you ask me ...
Happy Birthday Theresa! The infamous "yellow cake" with Alex and Kailee helping out!
Friends: Kerry & Chas
The kids had a blast together ... watching Scooby Doo!
SuperGrandma Julie and the kids ... she had Kailee on her shoulders, Alex on her back, and then was bending down to tie Chas' shoe. Thank god for the Corona ... I'm sure she probably felt THIS one on Monday morning!Usually the weekday morning conversation between Cameron and I consists of "Did you brush your teeth yet?" "Where are your shoes?" "We need to leave here in 10 minutes .." etc. This morning, however, was slightly different. I'm not sure how many of you have ever had to explain suicide bombers or Allah to a 7-year old, but it is quite challenging. A few news briefs came on before we left, one of which was about the two female suicide bombers in Baghdad this morning. Cam comes upstairs while I'm getting dressed and tells me "Mom ... two ladies had bombs strapped to them, and then blew them up in a place where there were lots of people. There were like a 100 people killed because of them. Why would someone do that?" The million dollar question. If I had a logical answer to that, I certainly wouldn't be in a criminal justice program - I'd be running it. So then we get on the subject of the Muslim religion, who Allah is, why these people are supposedly viewed as "heroes", etc. His next remark is "Mom ... do they really think they're going to get into heaven by killing other people?" Bingo. Proud moment. Fight some tears, give him a hug and kiss, and move on to the next important question of the morning: Apple or banana in your lunch?
