Circus time!

K and I went on a field trip to the Circus with her preschool. She's never been before and was very excited but I don't think knew what to expect. It worried me because about 5 minutes into it, she said, "Is it almost over?" After she got used to how loud it was and some of the animals came out, she was into it. She loved when the horses performed and of course the snacks. "More licorice, please!" She was good and remained in her seat for most of the show. I highly recommend the booster seats (they are free at the service desk). She told me she had to go potty once and then when we got in there I asked her if she really or ever had too go. She gave me the most mischievous grin and said, "NO." There was only about 10 minutes left by that point and I think she'd seen enough.

A snapshot of us together.

I love being able to spend time with each of the kids alone. M knew we went to the Circus but didn't act jealous in any way. He's just that way.

M's Jog-A-Thon

M's school had a Jog-A-Thon last Friday as a fundraiser. M got pledges from family and friends ... all of the proceeds go to his classroom for supplies and field trips. Well, the Jog-A-Thon started and M ran like the wind. It looked like he thought it was just one lap and he was going for the win. (By the way, he is super-fast) Not sure where he got that from. Definitely not his Mom or Dad. When he finished that first lap and was told he had to keep running or walking for 15 minutes, you should have seen his face. It was too funny. Brian, myself and K were there to cheer him on. He hung in there and ran/walked 6 or 7 laps. Afterwards, they enjoyed juice pops. It was very cute.

"No more pictures, MOM"

Stretch so you don't pull a muscle.

Brian got out there and ran the last few laps with him (even K did one). I had an excuse ... I was the photographer, right? I love this picture. They have exactly the same stride.

The morning was rush-rush. K and I left from here and went to the Circus. Immediately after the circus, my mom came up and we left to go camping. Busy, but lots of fun. Will post more when I can.

Why I Blog

I blog to preserve memories for my children and also because it's a hobby that I enjoy. I started working on my blog book several months ago but somehow all of my hard work was lost and couldn't be recovered by Blurb. Well, my Mom is retired now and enjoys doing things like this, so she made the book for me. I just couldn't bear to start it again because I was so frustrated. She finished this about 2 weeks ago and I couldn't be more pleased ... I've read it over and over. Here it is.

M's homework from yesterday. He had to write 1 - 10 five times and continue writing above that if possible. His Teacher said he's doing great other than his handwriting. Brian has horrible handwriting also and struggled with that in elementary school. It took him a LONG time to do this. He really had to focus and concentrate - he even holds his mouth funny because he is concentrating so hard. He's also very easily distracted while doing his homework ... "Mom, why do we have windows up there? Mom, that's a strange light over there, huh?" A million questions. I can tell he's learning and his writing has improved. Today he told me about ABABAB patterns. Each morning when we get to school his Teacher is calling kids over to work with them one on one on their sight words. That impressed me.

Funny story ... Brian packed M's lunch for school on Tuesday and put the empty container back in his lunch box and the sandwich in the refrigerator. I drove him to school yesterday and assumed it was there. When I picked him up he said, "Mom, I don't like squished raspberries and all I had for lunch were Cheez-It's." I asked why he didn't eat his sandwich and he said, "Because it wasn't in there!!!" Then he said when he opened up the container (with his animated voice), "What the ... ?" We giggled so hard over it and couldn't wait to call Brian to tease him.

K has a "Beach Party" at school tomorrow and is so excited. I hope she sleeps tonight. It's been rough. Worse than having a newborn. I better get to be now!!

3's of me

3 names I go by:
Melissa
Missy
Nurse

3 job I've had in my life:
Answering Service Operator (very briefly)
Pizza Delivery Driver
Registered Nurse

3 places I've lived:
Coalinga
Santa Rosa
Sacramento

3 favorite drinks:
Coffee (of course)
Diet Pepsi
Margaritas

3 TV shows I watch:
The Mentalist
Criminal Minds
Reality TV

3 favorite restaurants: chains only
Olive Garden - but just for the soup and salad
PF Changs
BJ's

Proud Mommy

M told me that his teacher has started to give Cheetah Bucks (Cheetah is the school mascot) to kids that behave well and he got the first and only one that has been given out so far. You can use the Cheetah Bucks to buy prizes when you get enough. I asked what he did to earn it and he said, "I just sat a read quietly. Not really read but I looked at the book." I'm glad to hear he's been being so good in school because he has been quite the stinker at home lately!! He loves throwing out the fact that he's in Kindergarten now. The other day I asked him how he knew how to do something and he looked at me and said, "Of course I do ... I'm in Kindergarten Mom!" A few random pictures.

He and K run laps around our stairs to get "exercise."

Our latest craft project. I've been on a crafty kick lately. K was old enough to participate in this one. I'm going to get another foamy project for us to do while he's in school because he tries to take over and doesn't let he do much unless I step in. We still had fun though.

Just cracked me up.

While at Target the other day, I stumbled upon the neatest teaching tool. Simple but they work. They are sets of post-it notes with sight words and the alphabet. Each set was $1 and you can find them in the office section. M got the sight words and K got the alphabet. She already knows all of her letters and sounds but I thought she would enjoy putting them on the wall. She LOVES working on letters and constantly asks me what signs say and to be quizzed on letter sounds. M had a great time with this also and has gone back to try to read them again. Getting him to sit down at the table to work on reading and writing is like pulling teeth!! I guess I'll have to try other techniques to get him interested. We'll try to work on these once a day.

Here they are. Click to enlarge.

More later.

Trauma

We've been a Trauma Center for a little over 2 weeks and let me tell you ... it's been absolutely crazy. Don't get me wrong ... it's been fun so far but it seems as if we are getting a lot more trauma patients than we anticipated. The other day, during day shift, they got 7 trauma activations in 30 minutes. What?!? Granted ... most of the activations are limited (meaning ... they aren's really that bad but could be based on mechanism) but it still involves a lot of man-power and documentation. At least on my shifts, we are also getting more walk-in trauma than we used to. Did word get out to the gang-bangers that we are a Trauma Center now or what? I've also had an increase in the number of sicker patients in the last few weeks. Last night I was in the trauma/resusitation room and I had a code, 2 trauma's (all limited and fine) and just as I was getting off a stroke alert.

This is so true. Click to enlarge.

Rain Sticks

While browsing a blog I stumbled onto a fun craft idea to do with kids. We made rain sticks out of cardboard wrapping paper tubes. Here's a link to the directions I used. There are tons of different websites to get directions but these are the ones I used. We do a lot of craft projects but the kids had a lot of fun with this one. I was able to make this using supplies I had at home. Here are a few pictures.

The finished project. They make a beautiful sound. We used rice but you can also use beans. She is so cute in this one.

A picture of K working on her rain stick. She didn't want her picture taken ... this is the mouth she makes when she pouts. We see it often.

M ... working hard on his.

Cutting out the aluminum foil. He loves using scissors and cuts out all of my coupons.

K ... a little more cooperative.

After they completed the projects, I asked the kids to do a rain dance. It was hilarious. They giggled and danced around with their rain sticks while I tried to hum an indian song. Too fun.

His tribal face.

M funny - We worked on the project last night after I got out of the shower. I ran a brush through my hair but didn't do it. While we were sitting at the table, M said, "Mom, you look like a boy!" Then he began to laugh and said, "You look like Shaggy!!" For those of you that don't have kids ... from Scooby-Doo. He cracked up about that for a while. Not funny. His teacher told Brian that he's going to start having homework this week. We'll see how that goes.

K is doing so well with her letters now. She knows all of the letters of the Alphabet and their sounds. I think I can thank Leapfrog Letter Factory for that one. She LOVES that movie and wants to watch it every time we get in the car. She is going through a scared of everything phase and wakes up with any little noise during the night ... unfortunately we have a dog next door that only barks (only at night). Sooo, we've had some difficult nights lately. I'm going to write a letter to our HOA and if that doesn't help, I'll call our security company to come out and knock on their door every night!! M went through the same thing when he was 3. Luckily, he can sleep through anything now. She's also not eating ... anything. I don't know how she does it. She's never been a huge eater but would at least eat the food she loves - fruit. She doesn't want to eat anything lately and it's very frustrating.

My mom said I don't post weights often enough. Soooo, M is 42 pounds and K is 33 pounds.

K's tall ... I need to check her height. She wears a size 4T (sometimes 5T). I bought 4 pair of shorts on clearance from the Osh Kosh Outlet that I thought she would wear next year. They are 5T but she is able to wear them now! We'll see if they fit next year. She absolutely loves jammies and would wear them all day if I let her. She giggles and gets excited if we see them in a store and always begs me to buy them.

M wears a 5T also. He has a skinny waist so sometimes still wears a 4T. I'm glad he has to wear uniforms at school. It makes it so easy in the mornings. (and cheap)

Gotta go ... K and I are going for a bike ride before I have to go to work this evening. More when I get time.