Christmas

Christmas Eve gifts from the Pate Party. I don't remember who had Elias's name,but he got this cool car that can drive on the wall. And a toy wrestler from grandma.Little cousin Harley had Megans name and she gave her the glam girl makeup set. And grandma gave her some cat statues. Elias was TIRED!!!!

On Christmas Eve I gave the kids the quilts I made and a webkinz. Elias a frog and Megan a mommy and baby cat. And of course new pj's. They both already had a webkinz,so they were excited to get more!!

Grandma gave them this little tree for their room, so I put a few little things under their little tree. Good thing I had extra stocking stuffers because before they went to sleep they asked if I could leave some presents under their little tree.

Presents under the tree.


Kids FINALLY sleeping. We won't discuss how many times Megan was up during the night. I will just say that I was exhausted Christmas day!!!!

Grandma gave Megan a cupcake maker , and Elias a skateboard.

Megan with her stuff Christmas morning.

Elias with his stuff Christmas morning.

So we had a great Christmas!!! Our smaller budget for the kids went over very well. I don't think they even noticed that they got less. Especially considering they had gifts from other family to open Christmas morning as well. Thats why it looks like alot in the pictures. Our 3 gift thing worked great, the only thing that really happened different than I planned was the nintendo DS situation. I was planning to get a used one for them to share,remember? Well, Chris thought that wasn't such a good idea, since there is so much that comes unknown with used electronics,you know? And also, he thought they each needed their own because he did not want to hear them argue over whose turn it is,etc. I admit it would have been a daily battle to keep it running smoothly. So I gave in and they each got their own DS,cases and one game each and 3 other gifts. Elias's star wars action figures all counted as one, and megans petshop stuff counted as one...bakugan stuff counted as one. I did it that way simply because it made sense to me. For their Christmas morning pictures they arranged all their stuff, including stocking stuffers,gifts from great grandparents and gifts from my family.

I didn't get a picture of Elias with his skateboard,which he got from grandma peggy Christmas day,and his star wars stuff from timothy ( who had his name to buy for on the Deaver side). Megan got a petshop winter wonderland set thingy from Carolina who had her name on the Deaver side(also no picture).I forgot to bring a camera to the family parties. Thank you timmy and Carolina,they loved their gifts!!!!

And Nephi is with his dad so I don't have pics of his Christmas yet. I wish I could see his face though. I sent him a HUGE box full of stuff. A camera,webkinz,blanket made by me,clothes,dvd's,some books,and a stocking stuffed with goodies!!! I can hardly wait until I see him again!!! Few more months to go until I bring him home!!!! Thank goodness for phones and webcams!!!

Ugly fat rat

Look at this thing.

I just happened to be standing at my front door the other day....

NOT spying on the neighbors...

when I saw this gigantic ugly rat just strolling down the lane. Like he owns the neighborhood. Like he doesn't have a care in the world.

Gotta love North Carolina wildlife.

....Fat ugly muskrat who ruined the little pond in my inlaws backyard.

gross.

I hate the school bus

So when the bus driver drops the kids off yesterday,she calls me out there to talk to me. When I got to the bus I saw Megan standing there crying.



There is a kid on the bus who bullies the other kids. Not physically, but verbally. I have the pamphlet on bullying that the school gave all parents at the start of the school year, so I KNOW that what he is doing is bullying.

I read the pamphlet.

And come to think of it, he does hit other kids on the bus,but has never hit mine.

SO anyways, the bus drivers explains to me that this kid,his name is Nick, was telling Megan "yo mama so fat..." jokes. Now I realize that to some people this is funny, and the "yo mama" thing is really..."cool" right now. And in some cases the words "yo mama" are ok to play around with. But not to sheltered and overprotected kids like mine. Megan thought he was actually directing these insults at me. And I understand how she could misinterpret this. Because I am overweight right now. And Because my kids are not allowed to use "yo mama is so fat..." jokes. So Megan lost it. she didn't do anything physical to anyone,she just cried.

And yes, she got in trouble for freaking out on the bus.

And I talked with her about how some people think inappropriate jokes are funny but we don't etc,etc. And I had actually let the whole thing go until this morning when the neighbor girl came to wait for the bus with us. She told me how Nick bugs the other kids and how the bus driver won't do anything about it because "Nick has freedom of speech". Ya.



So when the bus came, my blood was boiling from the fact that she has such a passive attitued about kids who bully other kids. SO I walked to the bus with the kids and called her on it. You should have seen her face. I wish I had my camera. I asked her how this is ok and she replies"well, I can't just make the kids sit and behave". "Um.... ",I said to her,"excuse me? There are things called rules? Don't you think it is kind of rediculous for every kid on this bus to have 'freedom of speech' where they can do and say whatever they want without consequence? Don't you think that will cause problems? And maybe and accident, because it has to be distracting? " She says" yes". I said "ok, well I am going to go in the house and call the assistant principle and see what she says". Well, the bus driver politely dismissed me and drove off with my kids and 50 other kids who are doing and saying who knows what and maybe causing an accident. By now I am BOILING OVER with anger. I cannot believe the attitude of this bus driver.

I used to like her because she was so punctual and comes at exactly 7 am everyday. I have no choice but to have the kids ride the bus. Chris gets home too late in the morning to drive them to school and I don't have a drivers licence. Ya, I know, don't judge. Bad experiences which have made me terrified to drive and therefore don't anymore. But that's for another day.

Hopefully she will return my call. And if she doesn't I will keep calling the school until she speaks to me. Because I want and explanation as to why this kid has so much freedom of speech on the bus and can get away with bullying and hitting but my kid gets in trouble for crying on the bus.

If they don't do anything about it I am calling "5 on your side". The news chanel that gets answers when no one else can. Yep, I am.

Oh, and go here to enter Devri's giveaway. I was sure I had already linkied to it but obviously I did not.

Halloween

ok, so it was a rough week.

Monday teacher work day, so kids at home which means no relaxing time.Tuesday was the day of the yelling. Wednesday Elias got sent home sick from school. Thursday I was worn out already and stressing over Halloween costumes. And of course Friday was Halloween.

But we won't talk about that anymore.Just put it in the past,right?

Ok, so Halloween. It was a busy day. When Chris got home from work in the morning he decided we needed to go buy new tires. Good thing we did because when we got to the tire place,we noticed one of the front tires starting to split. That would have been a disaster having the tire split with the kids in the car,and to get anywhere around here you need to drive awhile. SO we got the tires. Took 2 hours.

Then we stopped at Walmart. I had never been to this particular Walmart because we don't really go to Clinton at all. So we went. I have to say that this walmart had the BEST craft section I had ever seen!!! I think I counted 6 aisles of craft stuff. Plus a sewing and fabric section!!! Plus the back walls. SO more like 10 aisles. It was amazing. They had everything! Of course I couldn't leave without getting something. Or a lot of somethings. I won't say how much money I spent, but lets just say I did not get a cart on the way in and so I had to grab a basket from the basket section and even after that was full I was overflowing and my arms were numb by the time we got to the checkout. Ok, so about 1.5 hours in Walmart. Then home.

By now it was 1pm and I had not slept really at all the night before and I was really hoping for a nap. I tried but could not fall asleep because I knew I still had costumes to finish.

I didn't get any Halloween cookies made. I am still going to make them because I promised them to the kids. So what if it is after Halloween. At least I will be able to say I made them.

Trunk or treat started at 6:30 so at 5 I started getting the kids ready. Elias changed his mind about his costume 20 times just while getting ready!!. Can you say STRESS??!!!! And I had to put an entire new elastic in Megans lady bug tutu. So good thing I started getting them ready early.

We were ready barely on time. SO I did not get any pictures.

And by the time we got home their makeup was all smeared. But a friend of mine took pics at the trunk or treat so I will have some,just not today.

I did however get a few pictures of Booboo while the kids were at school that day. He decided to be a bumble bee. He wore his costume willingly. I think he knew he was being spoiled by getting a fancy costume when the other cats did not.

Anyways, now to battle the sugar rushes. We used to take the candy,hide it in our closet and only let them have 2 pieces per day but that seemed to go on forever and into the next year before all the candy was gone ,so now we just let them have it and in less than a week it's gone. I hate candy so this just makes it be over faster. I don't ever buy them candy so the kids really look forward to Halloween and Christmas and Easter.

This coming week will hopefully be ok. We are having our primary presentation next sunday. Other than that I don't have too much to worry about this week,thankfully.

Unless someone gets sick.

Knock on wood.

Bad Mom Tuesday.

It is only 7:03 am and I already wish the day was done.
I just put my kids on the school bus and I think I will go cry after I write this.

Yesterday was a teacher work day.
Megan had homework on friday. They NEVER have homework on friday.
She did not tell me she had homework, and therefore I could not remind her to do it. You see where this is going.....

So this morning she has an all out FIT because I did not remind her to do her homework. 5 minutes before the bus comes she decides to cry over this. She WAILED about how she needs to stay home now,her life os over,she doesn't want her teacher to me mad......

"FORGET IT " I yelled. Yes I yelled. I yelled About how she better lose the attitude,go to school and face her consequences ( silent lunch-sitting at a table by herself in the lunch room doing homework) or Halloween is cancelled.AT 6:55 am. And I am sure the neighbors heard me.

Then Elias starts crying because my yelling scared him. And he does not want me to cancel Halloween.

I stood my ground. I once again yelled that if there are any attitudes when the bus comes,NO HALLOWEEN.

Trunk or treat is friday and in our ward its one of those ---you can't miss it--- parties. Contests,treats,games,the whole shebang.So of course the sobbing and the wailing continues because I am threatening to cancel Halloween. I didnt know what else to do. It is my only amunition at this point. Their beloved Halloween.

So then I beg them to stop crying by saying I will make Halloween cupcakes today so they can have a nice tasty snack after school.

Silence. Sheesh, if only I had thought of bribing them from the start.
Silly mom.

And maybe she really did forget. But still. She needs to be responsible. She is,after all, 11 years old.

So I hope and pray they have a good day.
I hate sending kids to school after yelling at them. I feel like they are going to be sad all day now. I don't normally yell at them. I only pull that one out when I need it to stop NOW, which in the last few months is rare. Because they have been really good.Which makes it worse. Because now they probably went to school feeling like mama doesn't love them. Which is heart breaking. It has been forever since the last time I had to yell at them before going to school. And the last time I did I ended up calling the school and asking how they were. And telling the secretary how we had a rough morning and I yelled and they cried.And telling her how if Megan says anything to anyone that the reason is because I yelled. And I could feel her thoughts through the phone. She probably thought I had beat her. Which only made it worse. Because I do not spank let alone beat.
So I won't call the school this time.

I feel like a terrible mother. I wish it was tomorrow.

Tagged by Laura

5 years ago...
1. Running a Daycare out of my house by day and working at Western Wats by evening.
2. Preparing for Nephi's Baptism
3. My sister was living with me in Lethbridge Alberta
4. Elias was 3.
5. Megan called me at work sobbing because she and my sister found our guinea pig Bernard dead in its cage.

Things on my list for today
1. Get appointment with Dermatologist
2. call/email everyone and cancel choir practice
3. get recipe for homemade laundry soap
4. laundry
5. clean the litter box
6. hopefully go to Elias's cubscout meeting
7. clean bathrooms

5 snacks I enjoy
1. salt and vinegar chips
2. chocolate ( but not dark)
3. pickles
4. cheese
5. apples

5 things I would do if I was a millionaire
1. Pay off all debt
2. Buy a new house
3. Buy a new car
4. put aside money for kids college and missions
5. Buy a really nice ring and a bunch of new clothes
oh....and let Chris open a R/C hobby shop

5 places I have lived
1. Regina, Saskatchewan
2. Raymond, Alberta
3. Lethbridge,Alberta
4. Brooks,Alberta
5. Mount olive,North Carolina

5 jobs I have had
1. A&W ( I was the early morning weekend onion ring maker)
2. Wendy's (on and off for 10 years)
3. Western Wats ( market research)
4. Daycare (on and off for 10 years)
5. Office manager

Tag 5 people......
1. April
2. Holly J.
3. Ailyn
4. Karen S.
5. Devri

sicky cold and motorcycles

I feel like Poo today.
I can't breathe out of my nose,and therefore cannot sleep well. I woke up during the night with snot running down my face.

Sorry about the grossness.

My face feels like a blown up balloon.
I don't feel good.

I haven't posted for a few days so I thought i should write at leat something.

Chris went on a motorcycle trip to the mountains. I worry when he goes riding on that thing. I was not in favor of him buying it in the first place. But it really does save on gas. He has a 40 minute drive to work every night,which HURTS financially with the gas prices so high. He was driving a company truck for awhile but he was told he would get a significant raise if he didn't drive the truck home everyday. the gas was free with the company truck. And he still uses the truck at work.But when we sat down and looked at the numbers,we realized that it would be worth it to get the raise and have the motorcycle to drive to work,and everywhere else that he goes without me. And we got it for a great price,paid for it upfront and did not have to go into debt to do it. Which is a huge plus!!
So he and his buddy took a trip to the mountains this weekend. Chris's parents have a cabin in Burnsville. So that is where they are until tonight. I have worried nonstop. He likes to drive fast on the winding (NARROW) roads but he promised he would be more careful on the motorcycle. He called last night and he is still alive so hopefully he will come home that way. I'm still worried though. praying every second.

Beverly Hills 90210 is airing old reruns on soapnet so I'm going to plunk my fat butt on the couch and and relive the early 90's and will myself back to health. And watch General Conference. Happy saturday everyone!!!