Work

Back to work tonight after 2 days off. I would really love to be able to stay at home with my kids. I hate worrying about child care.

I am having a bit of a hard time on night shift. I get sleepy but I stay awake. I get up and work on cleaning projects. It is hard to fall asleep when you are up moving around. I was raised to believe you work when you are being paid for it and if you say you are gonna do something you do it. Some of my co workers are really good but a lot of them don't do much. In fact a lot of them sleep. It doesn't seem that they get in trouble for sleeping. Hey, I think it would be great to get paid to sleep. If I slept at work I wouldn't have to sleep as much at home and I would have more time to spend with my family. I can't do it though. I think it is wrong.

Last Tuesday I worked with someone I hadn't before. I had been warned about her. She shows up late, she sleeps for several hours, and she is a bit difficult. I tried to keep an open mind. I would just do my best to get along with her. She was late so I had already started laundry and cleaning the floor. I had checked all the kids and got paper work out before she even arrived. She quickly mopped her part of the floor then told a story about some other people who work there sleeping when she worked with them. She said she only rests her eyes she doesn't actually sleep. She then went to watch TV.

I cleaned the tables and chairs and wiped down the kitchen and the trash can. I checked on the laundry I had put in the dryer but it was still damp. A bit later she checked the laundry again and I helped her fold what was dry. She put away the dishes and changed out the laundry. She kept going in the laundry room and hanging out so she seemed to always get to the laundry first. Sometimes she would stay in the laundry room and fold the clothes so I couldn't help. I thought maybe she wanted to work on the laundry because she has a very particular way she likes things folded and put away. So I backed off.

Around 2:30 she started napping on the couch. I re-programmed the microwave because some of the buttons had quit working and tried to stay busy. There wasn't that much laundry to do. Around 4:30 she woke up and changed out another load of laundry. She then asked me if I had been told that only one person did laundry cause I hadn't done any all night. What!? I was so shocked that she woke up from a nap to tell me she didn't think I was doing my share of the work. I said I started the laundry and helped fold it I have been checking on it but it hadn't been ready yet. You just seemed to get to it first when it was ready. She said Oh so you started one load and walked off. Wow. I have never been accused of not doing my share of the work. Usually people tell me to slow down. She went back to watching TV and napping. I finished cleaning out all the cabinets in both laundry rooms and took out all the trash except for what was in her patients rooms because she had already told me to stay out of there. Then I cleaned my patients wheelchairs. She didn't help with any of that. She sat on the couch. She didn't clean her patients chairs, she napped. I can not believe someone would show up late for work, nap for a good part of the night and then accuse the other person of not getting enough done.

They get away with it too because we are short staffed so they hate to fire anyone. What ends up happening though is the people who actually work finally get fed up with it and quit. The people who are getting paid to sleep aren't gonna quit. They are gonna end up with nothing but sleepers and no one to get the work done.

More scary TV

New burger king commercial for apple fries. Scared the crap out of me. The king and his kids reacting to the new apple fries. The boy looks just like him but even creepier. I know it's hard to believe but trust me. I can't find this commercial online yet but while I was looking I found this one which will cause me to have nightmares as well.

http://videos.caught-on-video.com/recentvideos/2/11565dc5-16d3-4f8e-9053-985c014a5203.htm

BoohBahs. This makes Kay run and hide behind the couch and cry until we turn it off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SUq51zVViA&feature=related

At the Beach Tanning Commercials. Cam is frightened by these. Her voice is quite unnerving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jxjwip2cng

You can see more at the beach here:

http://www.atbtanning.com/tvspots/

Cams first missing tooth and gymnastics class

We went and tried gymnastics class today for Cam and Kay. Cam had a great time. Kay did her own thing which I was fine with but I am not sure the teacher appreciated it. She had a hard time with the different surfaces on the floor and kept tripping and falling. They didn't want her to wear her shoes and braces. I understand they want to minimize wear and tear on the equipment but she has to wear them so its a moot point. The teacher tried to tell me it was OK for her to wear just the braces but I think the ortho is a little more knowledgeable on the subject and I choose to follow his advice.

I am going to look into dance classes next and see if we have any more luck there.

After gymnastics Cam lost his first tooth. It has been wobbly for a few days. He says he swallowed it when it came out. I told him the tooth fairy wouldn't mind. He looks so cute when he smiles.

Finish painting for the love of God

In the middle of all this crazyness I am still working on the never ending painting projects. I finished Kay's room. I just had to finish the trim. It looks so cute and she was really happy with it.

So now I think I just have to remove the wallpaper in the hall bath and the entryway and paint in there. Paint Taylor's room, the closet doors in Kay's room, finish the top cabinets for the kitchen, and do the blinds in the dining room. I had also planned to paint the outside door and porch but I may wait and tackle that later. Then I do have some spots to touch up but hey I feel like the end is in sight. After I get that done I can help Mom with her painting.

Moving on BBQ

I have been saying all summer I wanted to have my co workers over for a BBQ at my house. Something always seems to come up though. Painting mostly, I wanted to finish painting before inviting people over.

Then I got my transfer papers to move to a different house on night shift which is 11 PM-7:15 AM. I knew if I didn't do it right away that BBQ would not happen. Besides I may never finish painting. So I invited everyone over on Friday the 27th. Only two people were able to come but it was fun. We ate and then we went to see Wall-E at the theatre.

It's been a rough couple of weeks. I am emotional. I don't like changes so moving to a different shift and house is hard on me. I have been having some trouble at home too so I am a bit stressed. Jeff is having some problems so we are having some problems together. We are trying to work it out but it is hard. He is spending some time staying at his Mom's house and away from us. I am hoping that being forced to spend some time away from us will make him want to be with us and encourage him to find a way to get healthy so he can come back. I am ready to put it all behind me though and hope that better things are coming in the future for me and my family.

I started nights on the 29th. My sleep schedule is so screwed up I don't know if I am coming or going. I miss the kids in good ol house 4. The kids in 3 are great too but sleeping most of the time I am there. It is slow and quiet but I am getting lots of cleaning done and reading. It is nice to be able to find a place to park and I love spending the evenings with my family. I am sure it will get easier once I adjust. I have a really hard time around 4 am. That is when I get up and scrub the kitchen. I get home around 7:30 am and usually eat a quick bite then shower and hit the bed. I try to sleep from 8:30 until 4:30. I am still waking up around 11:30 and trying to force myself to sleep longer.

My favorite little patient was looking for me. He noticed I was gone and kept saying "Poor Jenper" When I came in to work at 11 he was still up and he gave me a big hug and kiss and told me "Earl missed Jenper" Ahh he is killing me! I have been going by house 4 in the mornings so I can see everyone and check my mailbox. It is good to still get to see the kids.

It is kinda funny after all that time I have been working with the house 4 crew on my last day I didn't work with any of the regular people. It was just me and the new girl. Probably for the best cause I hate goodbyes. Tabitha and Kayla will miss me though. Kayla said when I am not there it is chaos and that I change the whole atmosphere of the place. I think because they all fight with each other more when I am not around. I try not to get involved with the fighting and just listen to what they have to vent about. I am good at listening and I don't like to fight. Tabitha is mad at me for leaving but I think she will be OK. They won't even think about me once I am gone.

Promotions, goodbyes and golf cart rides

Jeff got promoted at work today. This is good news that has been a long time coming. He should have been promoted a while back but because his work schedule was limited by my work schedule they were having trouble making him a manager. He had to be able to work any time they were open in case of emergencies. Now my work schedule is not a problem any longer.

Aparently the chemical spill was too much for one of the workers. She was totally stressed and didn't show up for work. So now they are 3 people down. Looks like Jeff will be busy for the next few weeks.

Two of the kids from house 4 are discharging so we had a goodbye party for them. It was my day off but I went anyway because it was requested by the kids. Cam and Kay came with me and enjoyed cake. Then I took them to play on the playground and on a golf cart ride. They had a great time. Cam told his school friends his Mom works at a playground. Well its not always fun and games but I am glad he thinks its cool.

Last time for a golf cart ride for a while. I don't think I will be on the cart much during my new shift.

Chemical spill at Ace.

I went by with the kids to see Jeff at work today. Right after we left and Jeff went on his lunch break a shelf collapsed. It was the shelf holding all the chemicals they sell. 600 pounds of fertilizer fell on one of the workers and while they were digging him out one of the other people inhaled too many chemicals and got very loopy. They had to evacuate the store and send workers to the hospital. The fire department and Haz Mat came out. They closed them down for the rest of the day.

I am so glad we got out of there before that happened. No one was seriously hurt but two workers will be out for a while. There is a giant mess to clean up too.

New Kay Pics

I can't the picture posting button to work. It is really frustrating because I have tons of pictures I have been trying to add for weeks and something is always going wrong to prevent uploading.

I will get the pics added to this post and the others ASAP.

DARN! Emmy results

Well, Rachel didn't win the Emmy. It went to Bindi Irwin. Maybe next year.

Going Postal or How much is an H stamp worth?

Ahhh, the post office. Another fine example of how state and government offices waste an insane amount of time and money. How I wish I never had to set foot in another one.

Let me back track a bit. I was out of work for 4 weeks 3 days with a workers comp injury. They were required to pay me 70 % of my salary during that time (yes, they should have to pay 100 %). After a month had gone by with no pay I called them. I thought perhaps they would send me a check on June 1st as that would be my normal pay day. It did not come. When I called and left several messages a day for 3 days in a row and still did not get a call back I was getting pretty nervous. I had bills due and hungry kids and literally NO money. Finally on the third day I called again and she answered. She told me she had sorta forgotten to enter me into the system so my checks had not been printed. I was supposed to have received a check every week. Sucks for me right. So she entered my info, printed a check for the total amount, and said I should get in in 5 days or so.

We had to borrow 100 bucks from Taylor to buy some food and hope the check would come quickly enough to keep things from being shut off.

Now back to the post office story. I had gone to the store and purchased padded envelopes to send our Father's Day gifts. I got them packaged up and went to put the addresses on them. Can not find the addresses to save my life. My one goal for my Thursday off was to get the gifts sent so they would arrive in time. It took about 5 hours but Jeff finally found the addresses it a box of stuff in the garage. Yes, I tried looking on the Internet address finder but our Dads live kind of out in the middle of nowhere so they are not listed. And yes I could have called and asked them but I am crazy OK. I didn't want to call and admit that we had lost their addresses. Somehow in my mind loosing someones address gives the impression that you are an uncaring disorganized boob. While I am still a bit disorganized (we are making progress on the garage) I care very much about the Dads. I just wanted to get the packages sent already.

By this time the post office is closed but they have that handy little drop box for after hours packages. I put them on the scale to see how much the postage would be. 5.60 each. I have no money remember. I brought all the stamps we had in the house and some change to purchase more if needed. I ended up covering the entire package with stamps.

I had to call home to find out what the H stamp is worth. I thought it would be at least 2 cents. I mean what is the point of printing a stamp that is less than that? I thought the rate hikes went up by at least 2 cents each time. But the H rate stamp is only 1 cent. So I ended up being short by 65 cents. I had to go back home a scrounge up some more change. I finally got the rest of the stamps affixed and dropped the packages into the open drop box.

When I closed the door I saw the label. It says that due to heightened security you can not drop off stamped mail that weighs more than 16 ounces. You can only see this label after you close the door after depositing your package. Well, I can't get them back out. So despite my best efforts the packages will not be going anywhere. They will get pulled as a security risk and be held for who knows how long then be returned to me. At that point I will have to return to the post office and hand deliver them to someone who will throw them in the same bin they were already in and ship them off.

The only difference will be that now they will have me on camera delivering the package. I could also use the drop box if I purchase metered stamps with a credit card because then they have a name to trace. So what is boils down to is that they don't plan to search my package or X-Ray it (in which case they would see it is only a photo album with pictures of the kids). They don't really care if I blow someone up they just want to be able to find me later if I do.

This is what your envelope ends up looking like when you are broke.

Here is a interesting site that details the postage increases over the years.
http://alphabetilately.com/G.html

Back to work and new Signing Time shows

I went back to work yesterday. Two people called in sick and the only other girl working was supposed to leave at 9:00. She ended up staying so at least I wasn't all by myself. Fun times!

My favorite little patient is back though and he was happy to see me. I had just gotten my new set of Signing Time DVDs so we watched them together and he was thrilled.

Cam and Kay have been watching the new shows non stop. Kay can sing along with the theme song now. Cam was really excited about the stickers, chore charts and dusting cloth that came with the set. Maybe he will turn into a neat freak and help me around the house more. Hey, I can dream right?

I really enjoyed the special feature of the trip to Africa. They are doing amazing work there. I wish I could donate a million bucks to the Signing Time Foundation so they could continue to do great work. They will find a way regardless but it sure would be nice to be able to help financially more than I do all ready.

Name that spot

It has been one week since I cleaned all the carpets in the house. I thought it would be fun to take a tour and see what kind of damage has taken place in a week. Can you guess what these spots are? Spilled blueberry bubble solution

Bit of old squished banana

Green marker

Small spots of mud

Crushed chocolate doughnut with a background of red kool aid

This is my favorite this is a small yogurt stain that looks like a blue and purple tree. It is framed by the very large water stain that was, ironically enough, caused by the carpet cleaner leaking.

Spilled paint

Pasta sause?

That's just one week of stains so in a month or so it will look like I never cleaned the carpets.

We also decided to go ahead and have another BBQ. So here are the pics of the family and two of Jeff's co-workers.

Butterflies, soap boats, volcanoes, and spinning paint

These are a few of my favorite things. Well, actually these are some of Cam's fun summer projects from week one of school vacation.

We watched caterpillars turn into butterflies and then set them free.

We made a volcano that was supposed to erupt but it only leaked red goo out of the bottom. It was still fun though.

Cam made a soap boat out of a bar of soap a nail and a leaf. Why I don't know but he really wanted to and it looked pretty good. He is a creative kid.

Taking the soap boat for a spin.

Spinning paint machine. Cam made lots of art work with this.

I almost got squished

Whats left of the branch

Yesterday I got up early to bring in my doctor release to work. It had stormed the night before so everything was still a bit wet out side but it didn't look too bad. I pulled back into the driveway and was about to get out of the car but I hesitated for a few seconds because I was listening to something being discussed on the radio. Then I heard this big CRACK and another branch from the oak tree fell on the car. The whole car shook. If I had gotten out a few seconds earlier I would have been hit by the branch and flying glass.

The branch actually fell on both cars. The Avalon (that I was in) was scratched up but really looked surprisingly unharmed. The Suzuki got hit with the heaviest part of the branch. The back window was turned to a million tiny shards of flying glass and the trunk has a big dent in the top of it now.

I called Jeff and he came out to drag the branch off and assess the damage. Our neighbors across the street came out because they heard the impact from inside their house. The glass is covering the driveway in both directions and went into the yard as well. Thank goodness I hadn't put the kids in the car because the backseat and car seats were covered in glass.

Back seat covered in glass

We took the car over to Mom's garage because it was raining. Now it is over at Binswanger Glass getting a window replacement. I hope they can get all the glass shards out of the seat. It will cost around 300 bucks. We will just live with the dent.

Broken window dented trunk


I had to rush back home to take Cam to his 6 year check up. He is doing great. 75th % for height and 50th % for weight, he is 46 inches tall and 46 pounds. What are the chances of that? This is just another little example of Cam magic.

Later that day we got our economic stimulus check. It looks like it will go to disaster repair (new tire, window, and termite treatment). I really hope we are finished with accidents and odd infestations for a while. We did go buy some food though. Eating is good.

On Sunday I used one of the carpet cleaning machines from Jeff's work to clean all the carpets in the house. He gets free rentals on the machine. The carpets look so nice, for the moment. Cam already spilled paint in the kitchen again but that is life around here.

On Monday we had a Memorial Day BBQ. It was fun having everyone over. Some of Jeff's co- workers even stopped by.

Some exciting Emmy news

No I wasn't nominated but my friend Rachel was.

The Daytime Emmy Award Nominations
Outstanding Performer In A Children's Series:

BINDI THE JUNGLE GIRL DISCOVERY KIDS BINDI IRWIN, AS BINDI IRWIN

JACK HANNA'S INTO THE WILD SYNDICATED JACK HANNA, AS JACK HANNA

JOHNNY AND THE SPRITES DISNEY CHANNEL JOHN TARTAGLIA, AS JOHNNY

SESAME STREET PBS KEVIN CLASH, AS ELMO

SIGNING TIME! PBS RACHEL COLEMAN, AS RACHEL

How cool is that!? We knew Rachel should have an Emmy all along. Nice to see Signing Time finally get recognised. Maybe she can sit next to Elmo at the awards.

The Daytime Emmy Awards will be telecast June 20, 2008 on ABC at 8:00 p.m. (ET), Live from Hollywood’s’ Kodak Theatre. I just know she will win.


While we are on the subject of the amazing Rachel Coleman let me tell you about GoodSearch. Think about how many times you do a Google search to look for info on the internet. Wouldn't it be great to help a deserving charity just by using a search engine. Log onto GoodSearch and you can do just that. It is so easy all you do is visit the site and fill in the charity you want to help then add the toolbar to your computer. When you use the search engine the site donates 2 cents to the charity you designate. 2 cents adds up fast and it takes no work. You are already using search engines so put your searching to good use.

I desegnated the signing time foundation but you can also desegnate your kids school if they are members. If they aren't members tell them to sign up. It is an easy way to generate school funds.

So tell everyone you know to hop on over to http://www.goodsearch.com/ and help make a difference for some deserving charities.

Rachel just returned from a second trip to Africa where she and the Signing Time Foundation are making a difference in the lives of Deaf students.

Injury update

I went to the doctor on the 23rd and he released me to return to work on June 2nd.

I have 3 more PT sessions then I see the doctor again in 3 weeks then we should be done. I have to go back though if I feel more pain when I return to work.

Mom had an MRI done because her sciatica has been really bad lately. They told her today that she has 2 bulging disks and 2 of her vertebra in her lower back are narrowing. She has to go see a surgeon for a consultation and possibly have back surgery. It is pretty scary but she is one tough lady so I am sure she can beat this.

Birthdays and end of school.

For my birthday Danielle and Russ gave us the VIP treatment. We got to go see Indiana Jones on opening night. It was sold out but they held a couple of spots for us in the balcony which are the best seats. A waiter served us dinner and drinks (I had 2 margaritas) while we watched. I really enjoyed the heated and cooled seats. My back felt much better after a few hours of heat and cold. The movie was pretty good and we enjoyed having a grown up night out. I can't remember the last time we went out without the kids.

So a big thanks to Grandma for childcare and baby sis for entertainment.

Cameron had his big 6th birthday and last day of kindergarten on the 23rd. He was born on the last day of school 2002 so it was funny that both events fell on the same day again. It was a big exciting and busy day. They had a pizza party for end of K and cupcakes for Cam's birthday.

Kay and I went and had lunch with Grandma at Boomerang. Then after school we went to visit Sarah and Courtney at their house. They had cupcakes for Cam and we stayed and had Sarah's yummy bean burgers. Friday is bean burger and organic fries night at Sarah's.

The central air conditioner is not working at our house and today was pretty hot. We have been fine with the windows open and the fans but that wasn't cutting it today. The AC is broken at Sarah's too and I think at Dan's as well. Mom just had hers replaced because it died. Pretty much anyplace I visit the AC is broken. I think It might be a curse. It is just miserable and only going to get worse. Oklahoma summers get into the triple digits pretty quick. So the best policy is to be other places as much as possible.

We came home around 7:00 and Cam got his gift. A collection of Skippy John Jones books. If you haven't read them you should and read them aloud. They are very funny and really give you a workout trying to say all the funny words and rhymes. He was very happy. Then Jeff got the AC to work again for the moment and that made everyone happy. It was a wonderful hectic happy day.

What is the world coming to?

My friend Aly was mugged in a crowded grocery store parking lot in the middle of the day. She had 5 bucks in her purse and this woman hit her in the head with a metal pipe, twice. The police caught her and Aly will be OK. This is just so unbelievable that someone would be willing to injure an inocent person for 5 bucks.

Here is the news story:

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=5a600079-ba49-435e-b561-fe7a60ec1d11

Taylor Awards

Taylor had his school award ceremony tonight. He got his writing contest award certificate, a certificate of excellence for contributions in language arts, a certificate of outstanding academic performance for scoring in the top 5 % of all students in 8th grade on the ACT explore program in 4 core areas, and a medal for being on the honor roll all 3 years of middle school.

It was a really nice way to spend the evening with all of us together. We took him to his favorite resturant for dinner afterwards. I think he is a great kid. It is nice to see others agree with me.

How can I be so busy and not be getting anything done?

I have been spending a lot of time in PT and doctor visits so even though I am not currently working I am still too busy. I see the doctor once a week and the physical theripist three times a week. Plus I am supposed to do the exercises at home every day and sit with alternating heat and cold packs on my back. Did I mention the muscle relaxers they put me on relax me so well that when I take them I fall asleep for hours. No wonder I have no time.

We have a ton of projects going on but at the moment we are focusing on trying to clean out the garage so the termite barrier can be put in. We have been needing to do this since we moved in. The garage got a lot of stuff dumped in it and we still haven't unpacked those boxes. It seems to be a lot of toys and clothes and holiday decorations. Seriously, where do all these toys come from? They have been packed so long the kids forgot all about them so it's like Christmas around here. I have to wash all the toys then organize them into the proper bins. I just have to, its the OCD. The kids then go dump them all out and yell hey new toys. It looks like Toys R Us vomited in my house. The really scary part is I gave away a ton of stuff and it still looks like I haven't made any progress.

Of course there is the never ending battle with the typical house hold chores. I spend so much time on laundry and dishes. Taylor even washes all the clothes but just getting all the clean stuff put away is a challenge. It is the most unsatisfying type of work. You finish and it just needs done again the next day. I really wouldn't mind doing dishes and laundry if I only had to once a month.

I could not attend our little planned reunion in Utah the 16th-18th. I really wanted Mom and I to get to go this year. I need to re-pay a loan first though and Mom couldn't miss the time this close to the end of school. It sounds like all my wonderful friends had fun though. They sent us a cool shirt so we won't feel too left out of all the fun. We have got to make it to the next one.

Here are the camera pics from the last few weeks.

New Baby

I have a new nephew. Ethan William, son of my step brother, Eli and his wife Holly. He was born on May 13 at 10:42 PM in Seattle and weighed 8 lbs. 9 ozs. All are doing well and we are so excited. The best days are the days babies are born.

Isn't he cute!

A Tribute to Mom

June 2nd 1978 Kindergarten diploma Mom and Jen after graduation.

In honor of Mother's Day I thought I would share a few things about my wonderful Mom.

When I was a kid My Mom and Dad got divorced when I was pretty little. My Mom managed to take care of everything even though she was a single Mom. She got a job working for the telephone company and my Grandma helped out with watching me when Mom was at work.

A lot of times things were really hard for her but she always made sure I was taken care of. When I started school I really struggled. I didn't want Mom to leave me at Kindergarten. That first year was a bit chaotic because my teacher got sick and passed away from cancer. We had lots of substitutes so I think my problems kind of went under the radar. In first grade it became more apparent I was struggling. I could not read even simple words or identify many letters.

In 2nd grade I was tested and we found out that while my IQ was in the 125 range I had dyslexia. I started to get extra help in the special class for kids with learning disabilities. It wasn't much help and I still couldn't read very well at all. Mom worked with me at home and that did help. Having someone who was focused on me and who knew me so well made the difference and I started to make progress. I know it was not easy. We both felt very frustrated a lot of the time but Mom never gave up on me. And because I loved her and wanted to make her happy I didn't give up either.

I wonder how many hours we spent going over words and trying to decipher books. She would show me the word how and I would read who. I kept writing my J's backwards and mixing up b's and d's. I couldn't write an S to save my life. I could read the book Whose Mouse Are You because I had memorised it. But I still couldn't really read.

Then one day after so many hours of trying not to loose her patience I read a page from Dr. Seuss's ABC. You would have thought I had won the Nobel Peace Prize. She was so thrilled. I was so happy. She brought me to read to everyone we knew. It was quite the celebration and a turning point for me. Once that wall was broken down, once I figured out the trick nothing could stop me. I started to read everything. In the next few school years I caught up with my classmates then passed them. By the time I started 9th grade I was reading and writing on college level.

Mom taught me so much with her patience and endurance. Sometimes life is hard but you can't just give up. She learned something about herself too. She has a gift for helping kids. She returned to school and got her degree in Special Education. She has been teaching for 15 years now and her contribution to the lives of her students can not be measured.

Teaching Special Ed is not an easy job. Many people who go into the profession burn out after a few years of frustration, low pay and feeling under appreciated. Mom is still there helping kids. Sometimes she has to tell parents things they don't want to hear, sometimes she has to deal with very difficult parents, she is always buried in paperwork and many times trying to teach grumpy somewhat unpleasant children. She doesn't give up but I know she wonders if she really makes a difference.

I know for a fact that she does make a difference. Many of her students will never be able to tell her but her very first student can. Mom you perform acts of magic and wonderment every day. You make the world a little better place to be for kids who have learning differences and physical differences. The fact that I am able to write this story is proof.

I LOVE YOU!!

Caution Under Construction

You may have noticed I have been a slacker lately and not posting any new blogs since the end of March. We have had much going on. I have been taking notes I just haven't had computer time. It was getting to the point of no return. I knew if I didn't get the posts at least organized and added I would never catch up. So I kicked Taylor off the computer today and had a marathon posting of outlines and pictures.

You have been warned. All posts from April 3rd through today were added all in one day from my notes. I backdated them to the date of my notes. They are not finished they are just outlines. I will work on getting them complete as quickly as I can.

two more weeks

I saw the Doctor today and he said I had to be out for two more weeks. I haven't told the girls at work yet. I really wish we could get some people hired so we would have staff to cover for injuries, illness, and emergencies.

I saw the PT yesterday and she was totally freaked out by me being able to turn my feet around backwards. She said I should not ever do that unless I am being paid to be in a freaky freak show.

Andy Alligators celebration

We went to Andy Alligators because I had been wanting to take the kids to check it out since I heard about it opening. Celebrating Taylor's contest win seemed like a good reason.

They had a blast. It wasn't crowded and the staff were friendly. All of the machines worked and you don't need tokens. Everything runs with card readers. You load up a card with the amount you want your kid to have and they swipe it at each game or activity. Nice to not worry about keeping track of all those tokens.

Taylor had a blast and could do all of the activities on his own. Cameron could do most of the activities as a passenger with Taylor. He could even drive the bumper cars all on his own. Not much for Kay to ride because she is too short at the moment but she had fun bowling and playing a few games.

Taylor used his tickets to get Kay a light up butterfly wand. He is so sweet.

By the waterfall.

Is this a cigar store?

The Doctor's buggy.

Bumper boats.

This is me and Kay spraying them with the water gun.

This is fun!

Cam driving his own bumper car.

BUMP!

Taylor on the go cart. Cam coulden't go unless he road with a licenced driver. It's hard to tell because the picture is small here but he is signing I love you.

Bowling.

Kay gives it a shot from her stroller.

Taking a break.

Kay tries some games.

Turning in tickets at the self serve machine.

Kay's two is showing. She didn't want to stop for a picture she wanted to run. She has the wand Taylor got for her. Cam got a football.