Thirty-Six

Yesterday was my thirty-sixth birthday. England had a huge celebration in honor of it. They even wore freaky hats that pay homage to uteri to commemorate the occasion.

I hope William and Kate don't make the connection that Hitler was married on the 29th of April (1945) - the day before he and his new bride promptly killed themselves.

But seriously, the birthday was a good day (except one bad hour, that I'll grudgingly mention in a sec). My students were pretty good, considering it is the end of the school year and a Friday!

My Advanced class ordered pizza. Well, actually I ordered pizza. I got maybe $7 out of the students and I covered the rest, but it's all good. It was also payday!

I invited a student of mine from last year to have pizza during lunch with me, as it was also his birthday yesterday. Even though I didn't have him as a student this year, I've seen a lot of him and when I got back from materntiy leave he said how much he missed me (and not because he hated the sub, because he wasn't in any of my classes this year. Therefore, I know he was genuine when he said he missed me).

Therefore, my lunch with him was very enjoyable. We watched goofy YouTubes including this one and this one.

Students like him are reminders why I do what I do. It's just hard to see that when there are so many other negative issues shadowing the positives. I will return to teaching in a few years. It's just time for a break and to enjoy Alexander's infancy.

I'll skip over the bad hour for a moment and mention that Chris surprised me by being home early. We had a sitter for the other two kids and planned to take the baby out with us. He wanted to take me to a fun 80s concert at the zoo (Dramarama was one of the bands performing), but they were very strict with the "Over 21" thing, so they wouldn't even let a 4-month old in. Oh well. We went to Montis La Casa Vieja nearby and then walked Mill Avenue. We then discovered how old and tired we were and came home by 10:30pm.

Now for the bad hour. (Taking a deep breath). I read an article this week in Good Housekeeping about "losing it" and getting angry with our kids. Apparently, I should have read it twice and taken the advice.

Christian's compulsions and obsessions got to me horribly yesterday. I went to the sitter's to pick up the kids and I hung around there for awhile talking and just goofing around. When I got there, I put my keys and phone on her counter (as an ADHD person myself, I have to make sure I have my own "system" and "ritual" to make sure I don't cause myself to go crazy by losing and misplacing stuff).

Well, when it came time to go, I go to the counter and my phone was open (clearly tampered with) and the keys were nowhere to be found. One of Nikki's kids said she saw Christian with my keys. After 7 years of this, I think my patience was long in the past. I asked him where my keys were, he said he didn't know.

I go outside to the car to find the trunk open, car doors open, the glove box open, a little tool packet from the glove box open, and toys from inside Nikki's house in the car. Christian was trying to blame Nikki's 3 year old, but the 3 year old merely followed Christian's influence. He was the one who took the keys and proceeded to act like our car was a giant theme park.

Well, since I couldn't leave without keys and my car was blocking Nikki's, my stress level went from 0 to 60. I kept asking Christian where my keys were and he was more stressed in his answers that he didn't know. He also kept trying to blame the 3 year old.

I really got upset. He knows he's not supposed to mess with my stuff, and he knows he's forbidden to mess with the car. Yet, there we were.

Long story short, the keys ultimately were found by Christian, but by then I was so spun up I honestly didn't know how to come back down. In fact, when we got home and discovered Chris was home early to surprise me, I was so angry from what happened that I had to go in the bedroom and have a time out and reflect on how crappy of a mom I was as I heard Christian's crying in his room telling his dad about the whole thing: "I even found the keys and mom was still so mad!!!"

Yes, Christian has his issues. But I clearly failed in dealing with them properly.

Watching the Wheels

How many more business days left? 19.

I take solace and inspiration from John Lennon's "Watching the Wheels". It's currently #9 on my Playlist.

It's about his decision to put his career on hold while staying at home with his son Sean (left). Sure, he was putting a multi-million dollar music career on hold (certainly not what I'm doing! lol), but the sentiment is the same. (And the merry-go-round part is dead on)

I've probably listened to this song thousands of times in the last few months. I know it'll probably be a thousand more before I'm finished in the next 19 days.

People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing
Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin
When I say that I'm o.k. well they look at me kind of strange
Surely you're not happy now you no longer play the game

People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

Ah, people asking questions lost in confusion
Well I tell them there's no problem, only solutions
Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind
I tell them there's no hurry I'm just sitting here doing time

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go

Easter 2011

I've probably written this before, but I struggle with Easter. No, not because of the candy and the commercialism with the bunnies. We embrace some of that because it's fun and it's indicative of Spring which is about "new beginnings" which is exactly what Christ's resurrection was as well.

No, I have trouble with Easter because it means it's getting HOT. Sometimes it already is. Every year I have a harder time knowing the heat of the summers are approaching. And this is the latest I've ever remembered Easter occurring (April 24th), so the heat is happening even sooner. They're predicting triple digits in a week.

That said, look at the "adorableness" (---hey, when they're that adorable, you have to make up words) of today's special holiday. And at 4 months and 2 days, it was also Alexander's first Easter.

Since he's too young for candy, AleXander received a Sing-a-ma-jig in his basket. It's his second Sing-a-ma-jig; as he received his first one for Christmas, when he was three days old, from his sister Mikelle.

And of course, the bunny ears made it outside later to be used again.

Looking at Mikelle, I can't believe she was a little chubber-butt wearing bunny ears for her first Easter when she was 7-8 months! It kills me. I don't think we put bunny ears on Christian for his first Easter, because he was just weeks old when it occurred.

4 Months Today...:cry:

It took 6 years for Chris and I to take the plunge and have our last baby. The only thing helping me in those years was knowing we'd have a sweet newborn again and it was in the future. But it's already gone! He's 4 months today, I took these today to capture the event.

Oh, don't get me wrong, - he has a lot more personality than he did as a newborn. However, when they're newborns, everything is in front of us. Now I just feel it slipping away. As I've mentioned before, it's even more difficult because I know he's my last one.

He's so fun - does the cute razz noise, smiles and sometimes squeals in delight. He rolled over once, but didn't like ending up on his tummy so he hasn't done it again. lol His favorite thing? Being changed! He's the happiest ever and most kicky and squirmy when you start to change him. Too funny.

The dog always puts his butt in places we don't want it.

We now pause for this moment of Christian....

Mikelle has a pillow that is shaped like an "M" for Mikelle. She keeps it on her bed.

A few days ago, Christian turned it over to look like a "W". When Mikelle got mad and yelled at him not to touch it, he said it's "W" for weirdo.

I can't help but think of the SPONGEBOB episode where Patrick said he had the setting on "M" for mini and had to turn it to "W" for Wambo. Such a dumb line...but it got even dumber (and funnier) later when Mermaid Man (voiced by Ernest Borgnine) asked Spongebob if he had it set on "W" for Wambo. I tried to find an adequate YouTube clip of it, but the available ones were in different languages, and none of them had the subsequent Mermaid Man inclusion.

But seriously, for two siblings that want to be together and play together, they sure fight and for lack of better words, piss each other off IMMENSELY. I have to record these kinds of moments because the loss of brain cells I experience from the way they drive me crazy is going to cause me to forget it all!

Maybe I need this book? But the scary thing is, they're ALREADY like best friends, but the kind that FIGHT like crazy. Ugh.
...and this has been a Moment of Christian...

Spring Has Sprung Part II

Outtakes, Bonuses and Extras!

Last week was really something. I can't go into it of course, but I will say this:

22 MORE SCHOOL DAYS until I'm officially a stay-at-home Mom. I am so relieved.

Let's just say, that no matter how much you do your job, and how consistent and effective and inspiring you are at your job, and you do what you're supposed to do as a teacher -- at one point someone will attempt to throw you under the bus for something because you were "doing your job." Seriously, it's nuts! This whole "tail wagging the dog" thing has me so burned out.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Spring Has Sprung!

...so that means more pictures!

These were taken Saturday at the Mesa Temple grounds in between rain storms (thanks Gina!). It's hard to believe it rained just hours earlier and then beautiful gray clouds were looming in the distance with another quick round of rain. But it was cold and windy. The kids didn't appreciate that. However, it's nice that I didn't have to worry about the baby's Spring outfit having long sleeves. Maybe on Easter Sunday I'll have to worry, but I certainly didn't have to on Saturday.

When I e-mailed these to Chris he replied, "I'm officially scared. I guess I'll have to get another shotgun."

Ages 10 1/2, 7 and 3 1/2 months

Wow, Miracles DO Happen...

Okay, so it was already awesome that Winter made a return yesterday and it was rainy and yes, cold. No, not Midwest or Canadian cold. But for April in the desert? It was cold - in other words...AWESOME. But what a beautiful surprise from my vantage point near home! Snow on the Superstitions. This really was one of those desert miracles. Sure, those mountains get dusted with snow at least once a year when we have a good cool winter rain. But not this late in the year. This was gorgeous. An April Day - clouds, rain, crisp air (even without wipers! haha) and views like this! Click on image to see in more detail.



If only it would last. Sadly, despite the miracle, it's still April in the desert. Tomorrow it's already going to be back in the 80s.

Christian's Solar System
Just this passed Friday, Christian had a huge project due. It was a shoebox model of the Solar System. He was sooooo excited about this project. Here it is, unveiled in its glory (and we gave Pluto an "Honorable Mention"):
He's going to give his oral presentation tomorrow. We'll see how it goes!

Now That's More Like It...

It's a good thing I haven't changed the position is of first song from my playlist (Gravity by John Mayer), because it still applies.

This was not a good week. I was running on emotional and physical fumes. Plus, Chris might as well have been out of town. Twice a year at the plant, they have to work really long shifts because of specialized procedures. This was one of those weeks and because he works 2 hours away, it was as if he wasn't even home. And to top it off, he had to go in today (Saturday) because someone threw out their back. He's exhausted (in fact, he sent me a text this morning that said "I'm alive. I think.") and I'm wondering when the world will stop spinning because I want to get off of it. I am relieved I'm resigning at the end of the year to stay home, but there are a lot of bi-polar feelings that are going with it. I admit I haven't been handling it all that well.

BUT...it's raining today! Not only that, it's FORTY degrees cooler than it was a week ago. It was 100 on April 1st, and here we are on April 9th and the high will be about 60. Now, that's more like it! However, the windshield wipers don't work on the car. Oops. We had been putting off getting that fixed. It's easy to procrastinate on that when rainy days are few and far between.

A week ago, Mikelle's choir group at the Middle School performed at a special Voices of the Valley Event in Phoenix put on by and with the Phoenix Childrens Choir. We forgot the camera. HOWEVER... at a school board meeting 3 days later, her group performed again. There she is in the back center in the pretty shimmery silver dress (click on it to see in more detail):

Phoenix Children's Choir have their auditions in a month. I'm encouraging Mikelle to go. She says she's "not sure". We'll see what happens.

Mohawk Boy
The next morning, the kids got a hold of the camera while we were getting ready for the day. Here are the results. The pictures speak for themselves:

To The Great Almighty: Your April Fools Joke is NOT Funny.

Friday was April 1st, and it was without any fun jokes or gags. Heck, even the news talk station that usually throws many people for a loop with an April Fools newstory didn't do it this year (too many people probably got mad at their years' past stories, even though they were obvious to me that they were April Fools gags in the way they were presented).

However, there was one big joke that was NOT funny. It hit 100 degrees. That's the second earliest on record.

The earliest 100-degree day was March 26, 1988.

Yesterday's high broke a record for April 1. The previous record for Phoenix on that date was 96 degrees in 1966.

And even crazier, the hot weather came as a snowstorm walloped New England.

Wish You Were Here

This was also a tough week in that Chris was gone until Thursday evening (3/31). Even though he and I and Alexander returned from Utah on the 26th, Chris had to turn around fly to Houston on the 27th. Therefore, getting myself and Mikelle and Christian back in the groove after Spring Break was accomplished with me flying solo. And to top it off, Chris lost his cell phone, so we had limited communication while he was gone. I e-mailed these pictures of Alexander to him, as he fit into the Pink Floyd romper his Grammy sent last summer!

This post was supposed to mention Mikelle's big choir concert in Phoenix, but for now, this is it for this entry. Time got away from me, and now it's Sunday night. Here we go into a new week! At least it'll go down to the 80s and *they say* chance of rain on Friday and not even reaching 80. Well, here's hoping!