the things that make me happy

After batting my little eyes at Rick I finally convinced him that we needed a new vacuum. I must be getting old if a vacuum excites me. But our entire marriage we have had crappy vacuums and having 3 boys 3 dogs and a bird I needed a good vacuum and I have heard nothing but good things about this one. Although not cheap I did get a great deal. Sears is offering these Dys.on vacs for $40 off the original price.

Thanks for all your great comments about my little stinker. After alot of talking I think he understands I am serious about the consequences he will suffer if the attitude doesn't stop. So far so good.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I have alot of vacuuming to do :)

10 year old drama

Where do I begin. I am so frustrated with my 10 year old right now. I feel like everything has to be a fight with him. I am absolutely terrified for his teen years. He actually had the nerve to get right up in my face and yell at me this morning. All I wanted to do is backhand the little stinker. Seriously though
he fights us on everything his chores his homework pretty much anything we ask of him. His attitude really stinks right now. He doesn't want anyone telling him what to do. This morning ended up with him barely making it to school with only 2 bites of breakfast in him all because he chose to fight me all morning over whether or not I would let him eat his breakfast in his room. While I don't usually allow them to eat in their rooms I have allowed it at times but last night one of the kids spilled something in their room and Rick and I decided that we needed to make a new rule to not allow anymore eating in their rooms. Well Adam informed me that he can do whatever he wants and that the rules evidently don't apply to him because he is older. So all morning he stood in the kitchen with his plate of food staring at me with the "evil" eye while I was trying to get deshawn fed and ready for school.

After Deshawn was ready and off on his bus Adam informs me that he is not going to school. I told him he is going to school even if he has to go hungry and in his pjs. That's another thing he has already missed 1 1/2 days of school this week telling me he is sick when he really isn't. Thing is the kids is a great actor. I honestly thought he was sick yesterday but come the afternoon miracles happened and he was miraculously cured. He knows how to play me bad.

The thing I don't understand is that he is really a sweet boy. But for some reason lately he has been so defiant. He has even got right up into Rick's face before. Have you seen Rick he is 6ft 2in. I would have never treated my parents the way he is treating us. I can't figure out if it is just pre teen crap or if there is something really going on with him.

Any advice?

to be or not to be...

I am feeling so confused and a little overwhelmed. I am at a place in my life where I am done having kids and they are all going to be in school full time next school year and we really could use extra money but a huge part of me really wants to go back to school and I know I won't have the stamina to go to school,work, take care of the house and be a mom all at the same time. So to me I need to choose between work and school but when I talk to my husband he seems to think I should go back to school but also thinks I need to work too. Personally I think the reason he wants me to work is so he doesn't want to be the only one responsible for all the financial responsibility. That may not be a fair assumption but it is the way I am feeling right now.

Both of us have been looking at different options for what I could go to school for. I have finally decided that I would like to become a respiratory therapist. With this particular degree I can actually start working at a decent wage after I get my associates. Then I can go on and get more certificates and then get my bachelors.

I have always wanted to work in the medical field and I think that is the reason I got my MA (medical assisting) but I was never excited about that degree for some reason. I thought for awhile I wanted my RN but I just have had a hard time committing to that too. But after hours of research I think if I could make it work I would like to be a respiratory therapist.

Like I say I am confused and I have no idea what I will end up doing but I thought I needed to vent and what better place than my blog right?

Do any of you know anyone who is a respiratory therapist? Do they like it?

Happy Birthday Mom!

I just wanted to do a quick shout out to my mom. She turned the tender young age of 51 this year. We just got together tonight for a quick dinner. The grandkids did a fantastic job of singing happy birthday to her. My niece also added a little dance to go along with the song. It was all too cute.

On the drive to my parents house my kids were talking about how excited they were to get cake. Well I sat there thinking we probably weren't going to have any cake because....well my mom usually handles things like that and since it was her birthday I highly doubt she made her own cake and I highly doubt my dad did. So I told the boys when you get older you usually don't have cakes. Needless to say they were NOT having any of that so I hit up the market before we got to my parents house and found some cupcakes in the bakery that I thought would satisfy everyone. I think when all was said and done everything turned out.

The drive home was HELL. Deshawn has a serious problem with people touching him and Adam fell asleep and kept leaning into him. So the entire way home Dee was screaming and whining driving everyone completely insane. I just don't know what to do with him sometimes. I guess I just love him until I go insane :)

valentines and sick kids

Our Valentines this year was not as fun as we had expected. We were supposed to go to Salt Lake and go to the clark planetarium and go out to dinner as a family. But it decided to snow so we didn't want to travel up there so we kept it local and decided to do lunch and then take the kids to the movies. Well we were running late so we decided to just get some fast food before the show started. After we ate we went over to the show house and all of the kid movies were sold out. I knew of another place about 20 min from there that was showing the same shows so we hurried over there and there was a line throughout the whole parking lot so we knew they were all sold out too. So we ended up going home :( I was bummed but what else is there to do in that situation. The boys did get a little gift from their secret admirer whom the little ones think is the easter bunny. They got a tub that is all decorated in hearts and stuff. Anyway the tub had some crunch n munch and some candy and the movie space buddies. They thought it was great.

Sunday my parents came over to give the kids a valentine from them. Thanks mom and dad for sugaring them up and leaving :)

Today I spent the morning helping out Adam with his report he has to do on himself. We finally finished about noon. I hopped in the shower, did dishes, fed the kids lunch all before I noticed Parker was sick. What a terrible mom. So I took him to the doctor around 3 and I just got back. He has infections in both his eyes and he has a terrible ear infection in his right ear. Poor baby is completely miserable. He keeps holding his ear and saying it hurts.

So that's what has been going on lately. I am still looking for work to no avail hopefully something will fall into my lap soon.

kids are funny

Rick was thinning out his goatee today and the trimmers stuck and ended up cutting a big ole chunk of hair out of it. So he tried to salvage it but to no avail he ended up shaving off his goatee. Well for Deshawn change is very hard for him and when he first saw Rick he was to say the least mortified. Deshawn told Rick to put it back on. He also can't stop staring at him. It is hilarious.

Other funny. Adam came up to me last night with the most puzzled look on his face and said "mom, I saw on tv there was a man that had a baby. How?" Well I didn't quite know how to handle this one. I mean really these are not things I ever dealt with as a child. I couldn't relate any feelings with him on this. I just had to explain to him that the man was actually born a girl so he had all the parts he needed to carry a baby. I really didn't go into much detail considering he is only 10 and he seemed satisfied with that answer. I am sure when he gets older I will have to do my best to help him understand it all. But I have some more time to think about what to say. I was kindof put on the spot last night.

As for other news the whole family has been sick. I have pretty much stayed in bed today. Hopefully we are all on the mend. Today is the worst I have felt and I was the last one to show any signs of getting sick so hopefully we will be in better shape tomorrow.

The job hunt continues.....

I just got back from my interview and it went well accept for the fact they didn't have the hours I needed. So I guess I continue on. I really wanted the job that I interviewed for today. It was more email work than phone work which would have been better. But for now I have to think of my kids. I can't stand the thought of daycare. Plus for three kids day care would be insane. Especially during the summer. I am just disappointed because when they called they told me they had evening jobs available and I seriously spent hours on testing, applications, resumes (which by the way they never asked me for).

Oh well I guess I can spend the rest of the afternoon searching out other possibilities. I also have deshawns parent teacher conference tonight. Yeah me :)

superbowl fun!

We were invited to our friends house for the superbowl. They had a pretty good turnout of superbowl freeks :) It was alot of fun and we ate till we were stuffed and by the end of the night we took home all the money. We all went in around $20 and we had a score board thingy, anyway we had a half time prize of $60 and a final prize of $120 and we won the $120. It's always fun to win.

So I have a pretty busy week. The boys are out of school today and tomorrow I have to catch up on my laundry and housework. Wednesday I am meeting with Adam and Parkers teachers to see their progress this quarter. Thursday is the big interview. I also have to meet with Deshawns teacher and I believe we will be making some decisions as far as his placement next year. Keep you fingers crossed that we will be able to place him in mainstream 1st grade. I think he is ready now. His verbal skills have improved significantly this year and his anxieties are not so hard on him.

Anyway I have a full plate this week so if you don't hear from me that is why.