Soccer Pictures

Mesa had her second game of the season last Saturday. Here are some pictures. I'm not quick enough to get her actually kicking it! Mesa is enjoying playing. She has great coaches! She plays on the same team as the kids in my first grade class so I get to watch them every week as well.

Date Night

Yes, I said, "Date Night." Matt and I feel like we never get time to see each other. (We went 8 whole days straight without eating one meal together this past week.) For a date night two weeks ago, Matt helped me fold this heaping pile of clothes. I can't believe I'm admitting this, but it's been two and a half weeks later and sadly, I still haven't put it away. It is much easier to shut the door and KAAPOW the house is clean again (okay maybe not clean but I don't see any laundry). I really enjoyed my time with Matt. Since the kids were already in bed we got to chat the night away just the two of us. I learned a couple of new things about my husband of 9 years. Usually after 9 years you think you've heard all of each other's stories! I love him for choosing to help me fold the overwhelming loads of laundry. What a guy! My goal for tomorrow is to put away all of the clothes and have a clean guest room. Oh did I mention, I added 5 more loads to that pile in the picture?! Oh well. At least I'm caught up at school. Can't be caught up everywhere, I guess. And tomorrow---there is also still more laundry to wash---*sigh*

ABC...XYZ

My friend Lindsay posted this and so did Michelle. I couldn't resist....

A - Age: 32

B - Bed Size: Queen. We had a king when we were first married, when we moved into a smaller home we had to get rid of it. THEN, we had children, not a smart move to get rid of the king after kids!

C - Chore You Hate: LAUNDRY! I really hate the folding and putting the clothes away. In fact that is what my evening entails...loads that need folded and put away.

D - Dad's Name: Rod

E - Essential Start Your Day Item: Coffee with vanilla creamer!

F - Favorite TV Show: none, at the moment we do not have TV, which is okay because we don't watch much of it anyway. I switched it all over to be "digitally ready" but we only get one Spanish version of ABC. I guess I will have to save up $ for a roof antenna.

G - Gold or Silver: Silver

H - Height: 5'7"

I - Instruments You Play(ed): I took piano lessons and horn instruments. I played the french horn in jr. high and switched to the trombone because my friend played it. When she moved away, I switched to the trumpet in high school because it was easier to pack back and forth. Two years ago, a man at our church helped me learn guitar. What a great guy, once a week he'd patiently sit and help a couple of us who wanted to learn.

J - Job Title: Mom, Wife, High School & Elementary Teacher

K - Kid(s): Mesa (5 1/2) & Mylie (2 3/4)

L - Living Arrangement: 4 bedroom house that we built a year ago on 7 acres. The four of us share it with 2 dogs, 3 cats, and 14 horses. It's 5 miles away from a very small town. We live in the middle of farm ground next to the BLM hills and are surrounded by wonderful neighbors & family.

M - Mom's Name: Patti.

N - Nicknames: Kels, honey, teacher, Mrs. Z, and of course Mommy, Mom, Mooooooom!

O - Overnight Hospital Stays Other Than Birth: nope.

P - Pet Peeve: Clutter that I can actually "see" in my house. Shoved in a drawer or cupboard--no problem!

Q - Quotes You Like: There are some I like, but I'm not really a quote kinda girl who can rattle them off on her blog without looking them up somewhere!

R - Right or Left-Handed: Right.

S - Siblings: None

T - Time You Wake Up: 6:30-6:45.

U - Ultimate Dessert: Jamocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream or Boston Cream Pie

V - Vegetable You Dislike: Maybe tomatoes, I'll eat them but I don't like them.

W - Ways You Run Late: Oh there is not enough room to tell all the ways I run late. I run late for everything!

X - X-rays You've Had: teeth & ankle

Y - Yummy Food You Make: according to my family...Mylie said I make "cheese" good, Mesa said, "my favorite new thing is carrots & broccoli," Matt couldn't think of anything, he stood there with a blank look when I asked him. I guess I don't make yummy food!

Z - Zoo Animal: zebras, tigers, & penguins

I Never Thought

I never thought I'd be the mom who would:

• forget picture day at school (and I work there!)
• let the TV be my babysitter
• be nervous for Mesa's first day of kindergarten--again, I work there and am across the hall!
• le her kids eat coco puffs with marshmallows. (That has to be the unhealthiest cereal in the entire world.)
• lets her kids stay up until 10-11:30 every night of Spring Break. Don't worry they are napping, that is probably why they can't get to sleep at night.
• forget soccer sign ups are due. Luckily, I was reminded by another mom who forgot and we got it in with minutes to spare.
• let Mylie wear her PRINCESS DRESS in public. Yes, I did it. We had to take Mesa to the after hours clinic for an ear infection. Mylie was in her princess dress and I wasn't about to fight it. So we went to Wendy's for dinner afterwards. I kid you not, people were looking at me like I was crazy to let my child wear her dress with pink fat baby cowboy boots on the wrong feet. She did look ridiculous. My mom was with me and noticed the looks, too. Thinking she could help the stares my mom said, "Maybe we should put her shoes on the correct feet." I had to laugh because I knew that wouldn't help.

What about you? What did you think you would never do as a mother?

What a week!

I can't believe the week we had. I'm not complaining in any way, I am just so glad the stress is over. On top of our busy life anyway, I also had major projects such as:

• figure grades
• report cards for 68 students
• help Matt get ready for his mustang challenge
• an evening and day of parent teacher conferences
• budget for next school year for elementary and high school classes
• score writing on Friday night/Saturday all day
• type up stuff for our church's upcoming revival
• do all the "outside chores" since Matt was gone

I can't believe it all got finished and I only cried once from all of the stress. That was the point when I was trying to fix lunch, talk to Matt on the phone, and Mylie peed her pants! I think I broke because I just didn't see how I was going to fit laundry into the mix for that day. But after a couple minutes of tears, I kept chugging and Mylie promised me she'd never pee her pants again. Yeah right, she's two and accidents happen, but it was sweet of her to say. :) I must have had someone praying for me because as I look back over this week, I'm truly surprised I made it through with only 2 headaches and yipping at my kids once. I couldn't have done it without my mom, too. She takes care of us all!

The great points of the week were

• having friends over on Sunday night to create a "crowd" for Matt's mustang horse
• listening to Matt's excitement as he placed 1st in his in-hand, 4th in the riding competition, and 6th in the Finals performance with his mustang (okay so he wasn't thrilled about the 6th place--but at least he made it that far)
• being proud of him for getting voted top professional trainer by his peers at the competition
• making extra money (Matt and I both!)
• watching a Netflix movie!
• taking a nap today
• being excited to have Heather visit us from California for a couple of days
• giggling with my kids
• getting to spend more time with my parents than usual
• having a week off, yeah Spring Break!

See there were definitely more enjoyable things about the week than there were stressful! :)

Dressing Ourself---

This was Mylie's outfit of choice today.

Nemo jamies--check! Green leggings--check! One clear jelly shoe that has PVC primer on it--check! (We couldn't find the other shoe.) And one swimming suit--check!

Why fight it?

Besides, the only one who is here today is Tyrell (our friend who is just out of high school that we love to pieces) and he doesn't mind. Heck--when he was here last night for dinner she was in her Nemo shirt and undies--this is an improvement!

Friday's Fave Five Mar. 5th

Here are my top five things that happened this week. Visit Susanne's blog if you want to share your own. http://susannesspace.blogspot.com/

1. BOWLING Last weekend my mom went to Women's Retreat with our chruch. I had to work on Friday night and Saturday, so I stayed home. My dad was home alone so we called him up and went bowling with him. We had a fun time! My dad and Matt tied the first game, Mesa got a 94 (with bumpers), Mylie an 87 (with bumpers) and yes---me with a 78 (no bumpers)! I can't believe I lost to my 2 and 5 year old! So the next game I was all about "THE FOCUS" and came back to almost beat everybody. Matt beat me in the 10th frame. But at least my confidence went up again!

2. BASKETBALL This week we traveled to the state playoffs to watch our high school girls play. They lost their first game so it put them in the consolation bracket. I listened over the internet at school on Friday with the 2 other teachers that were in the building. In a small school, everyone was gone to coach or watch. The three of us were clapping and cheering them on as our girls won in overtime! Then today was full of tears. They were playing their final game for 4th place. They were playing a team that is actually in their league and they had already lost to them 4 times this year--they only team they lost too before state I think. The girls were doing GREAT! They were ahead the entire game. I had tears in my eyes at the beginning of 4th quarter because it was obvious they were gonna take 'em in this final game. Then in the last minute and a half of the game I had tears in my eyes because the other team caught up and in the final seconds our girls lost by 1 point!! 6th place isn't too bad though. Way to go girls!

3. BONDING AS A FAMILY This week we actually sat down and watched a movie together as a family. All four of us rarely do that (probably because Matt doesn't like to sit and doesn't like movies!) It took two nights to get through an hour and a half show, but that just meant two nights of cuddling up on the couch under some blankets and laughing together!

4. BEING WITH FRIENDS I got to see my friend Kristen and her parents, Carrie and Ross, at the state play off games. It was so good to see them and catch up. We sat down in the commons area to chat and my kids ran around like crazy animals. I really miss seeing her all the time. Also, we had LIZZY here yesterday. It's always a day full of laughter in the house when Lizzy is over. Here is a picture of them being robots with the pots and pans. I love how Jen got in the picture, too!

5. BECOMING MORE EFFICIENT I learned how to use our grade book system in the high school this week. It was finally put on my computer and I finally sat down to learn the system. It's going to make my life so much easier. I don't know why I didn't learn it last semester!? What was I thinking? It's so easy!