Trick or Treat

The 1 and 2 years olds went trick-or-treating yesterday on campus. They were so stinkin cute, especially mine :). Alyssa would take a candy from someone, put it in her basket, reach for another one, and say "peez" with an innocent look on her face. When I finally made her walk away, she would sign thank you. One lady gave her 5 bags of teddy grahms. They all loved her and said they couldn't tell her no!

Emily also had a party at school yesterday from 2:30-3:30. Andrew attended and reported it was a fun but long hour. Imagine that!

Today, we are hanging out in our jammies. I can't wait to trick or treat tonight.

It's official

Today I had my orientation to sign all the paperwork for the school district. I am now an official employee of the Washoe County School District. My first real job..haha! Today was also my first day spending time at one of the centers. I have been there once or twice a week, but have only been learning the system and the paperwork part of the job. Today I got to just hang out with the teachers and the children. I also got to attend a work study group that the teen moms are required to go to. I was introduced to all of them, and they all seemed to be very welcoming. We fed them pizza and asked them if they had any parenting issues they wanted to talk about. It was really cool because after Jill told them that I was about to graduate with my Master's in Child Development and I have 2 kids of my own, they were amazed and kept asking me all these questions about their children's development and parenting. What a perfect fit for me! I am excited to officially start Monday.

Pumpkins!

Tonight, we all got home around 4:00 together. It was so nice!! We went and picked out one big family pumpkin for all of us to decorate. We let the girls just explore with it for a while. Emily's mild sensory dysfunction kicked in big time. She couldn't get past the smell and wouldn't touch the inside of the pumpkin without a spoon. Alyssa on the other hand loved it, and her favorite was to jab the little knife into the soft part of the pumpkin over and over. We have not finished carving it yet, and will post again when we do.

Andrew and Emily also made her costume. She wanted to be a robot. I was worried this year that since we have let her begin watching a few more disney movies, she might want to be a disney character instead of something super creative for her and Andrew to make. So I was delighted when she stuck to the Robot idea. Andrew still has to add the finishing silver touches, but it's so cute. Emily has a party at school tomorrow and I am going trick-or-treating with Alyssa's class on campus! Halloween is my favorite holiday because it is the ONLY holiday all year that is all about the kids and what makes them happy! I can't wait for Friday!

IT'S DONE!!!!

I sent my thesis proposal to my advisor at 1:34 this morning. There are literally no words to describe the feeling. There is still a lot to do, but my advisor assures me that this is 2/3 of the entire process! I am so exhausted from the long term sleep deprivation, I am going to bed tonight at 9:00! YAY though for this accompishment and the new chapter to start. I am almost done with school and this step definitely signifies the beginning to an end, and that is bittersweet.

The happiest girl.

Most of the pics I take on my phone of Alyssa lately are blurry because she doesn't stay still for 2 seconds. She was saying hi to the camera just as I asked her to, but it lasted all but 1.263 seconds..haha! She was happy to see us today when we came home, as was Miss Emily. We seriously missed Alyssa's personality so much. As soon as we got home at 2:30 this afternoon, Andrew and I both rolled on the floor with them, chased them, and gave them horsie rides for a good 1/2 hour. It's so rejuvenating to come home to them after a break.

Andrew and I got to Sacramento yesterday around 5:30! Pretty amazing considering we did not leave the house until about 3:30 and we stopped for gas and played the lottery for at least 20 minutes :) As soon as we checked into the hotel, we went to

dinner at outback. It was SO delicious. We came back to the hotel and studied/wrote from 7:30-10:30. We actually went to bed at 10:30, which I have not done in quite a while. We woke up at 5:30 so Andrew could get some last minute studying in. I dropped him off at Cal Expo by 6:30, then came home to get cracking on my thesis. This hotel is very business friendly with free high speed internet access and the coolest work area. There is a desk with a little table underneath so you can pull it out for more work space. This is where I have been since 6:45 AM and where I will stay at least until 10 tonight. I can't believe how much I can get accomplished when I am away from home and the office! We will go somewhere else yummy for dinner tonight!

I live out of a box..

I think I'm going to rename this blog, "The Journey of a Grad Student's Thesis Writing." I feel like that's all I talk about lately, like I have no life outside the topics of this study. And this box, it really does go everywhere with me right now. The sleep deprivation is catching up big time. Last night, I seriously slept from about 3:15 to 4:30 when Andrew woke me up to go to work. I went back to sleep when he left at 5 and when the girls woke up at 6:30, I wanted to die. You can see the bags under my eyes. I was so tired, I didn't want to drive. I gave an exam to 106 students and was totally cranky. I charged them .25 for a scantron to embarrass them for being so irresponsible..hehe. I am getting SO close to having a well-written proposal.

On a different note, Emily and Alyssa love having so much time to play together in the mornings. We don't leave the house until 9:10, so they get a chance to play, or fight, depending on the mood. :) Do you remember this outfit mom? I thought t was hideous at first, but then loved it. Everyone at the CFRC couldn't believe how cute she was. One of my practicum students from last semester saw her and came to my office today to tell me how "stinkin adorable" she was in her schoolgirl outfit. Going to get some zzzz's..Good Night!

A few pics

I am up again and exhausted, but I needed a mental break. I thought I would post some pics. The two of Alyssa are from this morning, actually yesterday morning. I put her hair up in a pony and she actually kept it in all day. She is such a goofy kid. Too bad the second pic is blurry. This is what she does when you tell her to smile. The last one is Em in Katie's friend's glasses a few weeks back.

Our afternoon.

So Emily's story about the grown up candy...it was a condom and I did not realize it until she had been holding onto it for at least 5 minutes in front of everyone! How embarrassing! I guess I should have been prepared for that before I took her into the student health center. I later explained to her that it was like mommy's medicine that helps her to not have more babies. haha.

I had to get two shots, the TB test and a flu shot. You all know what a baby I am, but having Emily there forces me to be brave. I am taking advantage of the 1:20 release days this week by running errands with Em. I have to renew my TB, my sheriff's card, and then my CPR, first aid, blood borne pathogens, communicable disease, and abuse and neglect trainings. All before I go to the school district full time next month, which by the way, I have an interview for tomorrow even though I have already gotten the job and have been doing some work already. It's going to be a bit weird trying to be all professional. It's weird how this system works. I feel bad for the people who do not have an "in" and must compete against those who do. O well, I'm fortunate.

I also had Emily's parent teacher conference today. Emily is meeting every benchmark of course. The only thing she did not meet was writing her name in uppers and lowers, which she can totally do, but is too stubborn. She also had about 3 other high kids in the class, so Emily is grouped with them for certain activities. Her journal writing is amazing. Robyn says she is her "star sound/letter journal writer." I also got one of the students I know pretty well in there to student teach next semester, and 2 of my practicum students started yesterday in there, so I am thrilled about that, as is Robyn.

Emily's recap of our afternoon.

"We goed to the Wal-mart in the afternoon and Brittany showed up while we was there. And she was following us and then she stopped folowing us.

We goed to the Doctor after school and I picked out a candy which was a grown up candy and I bumped my head while we was going into the Doctor and I got candy for it. And then mommy had to sit down and get 2 shots then I watched her and she got candy too."

My To Do List..The condensed version

1. Submit final draft of thesis proposal to advisor..due October 27th
2. Submit final final draft of thesis proposal with ALL instruments and documents to my thesis committee..due October 30th
3. Submit final final final thesis proposal with ALL instruments and documents AND 20 page IRB application for IRB approval..due November 15th.
4. Spend the rest of my freaking life with my family....no more school!
5. Sleep, sleep, and sleep some more.
6. Watch T.V. for endless mindless hours!

A weekend at the coolest house in all of Reno with Jen and our theses.

Our thesis proposals are done next Monday the 27th, and Jen and I still did not have a literature review or a theoretical framework section. We are freaking out. Conveniently, Jon (her fiance) was out of town and Jen was housesitting at his parents house all alone and invitied me to come stay with her and work all weekend. The house was amazing. The picture above was my view from the seat I sat in for about 24 hours this weekend. They have like 3 acres off of Plumas and this is my new dream neighborhood. It's surreal and doesn't even feel like you are in Reno. Anyways, we sipped redbull all weekend and only stopped working to sleep between 1-8 AM and to go get lunch (take out) both days. It was very productive. I now have 9 rough pages of my literature review and I read through all my actually studies again and organized them VERY well. I'm getting there. The next 8 days are go to S-U-C-K, but once they are over, I am going to be so excited. I can't wait to just work 9-4 every day and be done!!

Pictured below is the view out of the kitchen window and the driveway.

I meant to post this the other day just for andrew..alyssa eating with her right hand...by choice.

"The walk."

As promised Peg, here is a picture of Alyssa's walk. Not a video, but you get the idea. For the rest of you, I was telling Peg how Alyssa is known at the CFRC for "her walk." She trots around with such confidence. As soon as we pull up at school, she says, "out, out" and then when I get her out of the car, she holds her hand out and says, "lunch." She has to carry her own lunch. She takes her lunch in one hand, and with the other arm swinging, walks off. Notice she is way ahead of me and not bothering to turn around to see if I am coming or not. She then runs down the hall-way to her class, and does not stop unless someone happens to be in the hall, in which case she stops to wave and say hi.

Tonight, Alyssa spilled a little bit of milk on the floor during dinner. When we were all finished and she got out of her highchair, she ran into the kitchen. I thought she was running to the sink to wash her hands like usual, but instead she grabbed a towel, ran back over to the spilled milk, and cleaned it up. It was really cute. If only they kept that enthusiasm throughout the years!!

The funnier thing is that after she did that, Emily was all excited and said, "Alyssa, you could get some allowance now!! And we could put it in my allowance jar!" She then turned to me and said "I will share my allowance jar with her now." So she thought Alyssa was going to earn allowance that she could spend. Of course just yesterday the jar was off limits for Alyssa :)

Today, I got yet another new job! I was offered a part time instructor position in the department and am teaching my own class next summer. Not as a T.A., but as a real instructor with M.S. after my name!! I am SOOO stoked. And, because instructor's choose their own schedule, I got to pick which summer session and time for the class. So I chose to do evenings of course so I can still be home with the kids in the day all summer. So basically, it will go 5 weeks, 5:30-7:30 M-Th. 40 hours total plus a little grading on the side=$3,500!! And also, it is a class that I am T.A.ing for this semester so I know all the material well, which means not much planning. I'm on a career high today!

Recaps from the weekend..

Friday night, Andrew and I got our first overnighter without the kids in longer than we can remember. We were trying to count and think it has only happened 4 times now since Alyssa has been born. We really enjoyed it. We met up with Jen and Jon Friday night and had dinner at Silver Peak. I had the best grilled cheese EVER! We stayed up until midnight, which is no different than usual, but we got to sleep in!! We woke up at 8:45!

Saturday, I graded a crapload of papers students wrote defending their position on the use of physical punishment with children. Intersting! Andrew brought the girls home around noon and we all played for a while. The rest of the day was spent relaxing. Andrew and Emily took a nap. They have been doing this often and it is so cute. I guess they are never too big to cuddle. At least not yet :) While they were sleeping, I was working on my thesis and Alyssa was entertaining herself drawing and coloring for quite a while. I glanced over and noticed how well she was holding the crayon. She already uses the tri-pod grasp! She does this at school with pens and pencils too.

Today, I met Jen in the office around 9 and we worked on our theses until 5:30. Andrew was at home playing with the girls all day. I'm sure they got in a lot of wrestling. I'm drained and cannot think anymore so I am going to bed.

A family survey.

We stole this initial idea, but expanded on it. Andrew, Emily, and I sat around tonight surveying each other. Here are some funny excerpts:

My questions for Emily:

1. What do you love about mommy? "That I shared chocolate with you." About daddy? "That he wrestles with me." About Alyssa? "That I get to spend the night at grandma's with her."
2. What do you not like about mommy? "I don't know." About daddy? "when he doesn't be nice to me." About Alyssa? "she spilled my milk.
3. What is mommy good at? "Um, doing your sesis." Daddy? wrestling and throwing me on the couch." Alyssa? "Wrestling with us."
4. What does mommy do for work? "you go to class." Daddy? "He makes plans." Alyssa? "She goes to class and learns signs.
5. What does mommy do when you're not with her? "Be worried." Daddy? "Just want to wrestle."
6. How do you know mommy loves you? "That you be nice to me dude."
7. What makes mommy happy? "When daddy cleans the house." Daddy? "When you change Alyssa's poop."
8. What makes mommy sad? "When I don't listen to you, did you spell y-o-u?" Daddy? When I don't listen to him."
9. How old is mommy? "25." Daddy? "28." Alyssa? "um, 12 (hides her face with a big smirk)..she's 1."
10. What is mommy going to be when she grows up? "A teacher." Daddy? "A rock-star, no you're gonna go to the moon." Alyssa? "Poo-poo."

Andrew's questions for Emily:

1. What does mommy do first thing in the morning? "Go pee-pee." Daddy? "Comb his hair and do spicy stuff and shave his chin hair." Alyssa? "Go diarrhea" (followed by giggles).
2. What do you think is the first thing Anna does when she gets up in the morning? "Play with her doggie."
3. What's the most trouble you have gotten into with Anna? "We both shared the toilet and each of us was on one side and we both peed on the floor and we had to change our panties."

Emily's questions for daddy:

1. What's you favorite toy? "probably, uh, toy, probably a computer."
2. What do you like to do with me? "I like to wrestle and take naps with you." Emily's response.."I knew that!!"
3. What's your favorite thing bout lyssa? "That shes very cute and she likes to play."
4. What is your favorite thing like you, wait, what do you like to do with the birdie? "The birdie, I like to put him on you and have you go mmmmm(whiny).
5. What's your favorite pants, those ones, your boxers (points to his boxers and cracks up)? "Probably thongs." Mommy's response..."um, inappropriate Andrew!" Emily and Andrew's response..they look at each other and crack up. What am I going to do with him?
6. What is your favorite thing you have done with Anna? "Spend the night at grandma's."

Trainings usually lead to some realizations..

Yesterday, I got to go to a 6 hour training designed for owners and directors of early education programs. While it was very interesting, it certainly made me doubt my ability to ever be in a supervisor position! Now I am totally terrified to be taking over a position in which I will oversee 6 classrooms and about 12 staff members. Starting next month, my blogs shoulg get very interesting..haha.

On another note, yesterday, I got some pictures of Alyssa at school over the past couple of weeks and thought I would share a few of them.

Its SNOWING!!

I thought I would blog real quick to say to the world that it is snowing.. See picture. Bye bye.

blah blah blah

Nothing exciting happening here. This week has become pretty routine, with a 7 hour training in store for me tomorrow. With nothing to blog about, I looked through pics on my phone to find one worth posting. This one's pretty cute. Those girls LOVE their Aunt Katie! And yes, Emily is hitching up her 4T high water pants because they are falling off..this too has become routine in the poor girl's life.

Emily in trouble?

Emily had to move her magnet at school yesterday for the first time (which means they have already had a warning). I was really disappointed, even though I understood why she misbehaved. She has been having a hard time following directions during whole group discussion. I think part of the reason is because she's bored as they do some very basic stuff. They also have to do this literacy block for 45 minutes, which I think is way too long for 5-year-olds, but is part of the stuff they must do. Plus, she's a total follower so all it takes to distract her is one child messing around with her and she jumps in. Its frustrating going from having one of the most well-behaved children in the class who did not get into ANY trouble for 2 years, to one who jumps right into the trouble. I'm sure she'll get over it and adjust to the rules and structure sooner or later. Regardless of the reasons for her misbehavior, it is still disrespectful to the teacher, so I suggested last night that she write a letter to her teacher. She said no, but this morning told me she was really sorry to hurt Mrs. Clyne's feelings and she wrote a letter by her own choice, which made me proud again. (sigh)..kids!

(if you sound it out, her letter says, "Sorry for not following directions. Love, Emily).

Alyssa's pet

Smokey was originally Emilys pet, but Alyssa loves him more than any of us. We let him out now often so he can wander around and alyssa knows how to pick him up by putting her hand out under his feet. Its so cute!!

One of Emily's creations this weekend..

Once again, Emily was busy all weekend. She spent tons of time at her table writing, drawing, and creating. She wrote a bunch of little notes for all of us, including one that said, "mom I luv yoow." She made a cool bag, a game she spent about an hours and a half on over 3 separate sessions, and the coolest was a boat (pictured). I thought it was the coolest thing. According to Emily, it is a boat with a town on it. (I think she's thinking of a cruise ship). The yellow building is on fire. (This may have come from the Ariel book). Then my favorite: she said the first guy pictured is the worker and he's standing and the second one pictured is sitting because he's not a worker. I seriously wish I had been encouraged to show my creative side as a child. Her stuff amazes me.

This yummy drink is officially wearing off and I am finally off to bed. I got SO much accomplished, yet have so far to go. I say that as I want to cry! Good thing I love my thesis topic or I would certainly drop out now :) Good night, or good morning?

I so LOVE Saturdays!!

We had nothing going on today except Emilys soccer game. We got up and lounged around for a while. Around 9:30, Andrew and Emily left to go to her soccer game, and Alyssa and I left to go grocery shopping. When we all got home, we had lunch and Alyssa went down for a marathon nap (3 1/2 hours). While she was napping, Emily literally sat in the room and made things for 3 hours. I graded about 94 papers while Andrew made us the best batch of monkey bread yet. Andrew ended up falling asleep on the couch for a good hour. About 4:00, I got up from the table and Emily had crashed on the floor next to the couch in the position pictures above. I didn't even know she was there! I was exhausted from grading my papers, and I wanted a little snoozer myself. Of course, as soon as I laid down, Alyssa woke up. Andrew was nice and took her for a drive so Em and I could get a little nap. When everyone was awake, we had a nice diner (courtesy of Dream Dinners) and then we went to Scheels. Andrew had not been yet, and boy was he impressed. It took us an hour to make our way around the 300,000 square foot place. By the time we got home, it was off to bed for the girlies and I immediately started on my thesis. I am so stressed about getting my proposal in by the end of the month. I cracked open an energy drink about 10:00 and now I am up jittery as can be (notice the time of this post). This blog is my mental break before I get back to it again. I am going to work until my eyelids won't stay open anymore, and then crash until about 10 AM. Overall, it was a wonderful Saturday. A little productivity, but more lounging around. The day lasted so long that I kept thinking it was Sunday! Anyways, this is a pathetic excuse to avoid my thesis, so I'm signing out :) I can't wait to read this in the morning when the taurine wears off.

Last night, my grandma took my mom, aunt, and me out to dinner at Red Lobster!! Even though I don't like seafood, I love Red Lobster for their delicious rolls. I had 3 of them, and brought 8 home! While they all had the ultimate feast loaded with sea animals that were still intact and complete with legs, tails, inards, and god knows what else, I enjoyed a garden salad, New York Strip steak, rice pilaf, and of course the warm chocolate chip cookie and ice cream dessert. Plus, since we were all 4 together, I was a blotch and brought up Cabo, and we finally committed to a date (its about time mom! haha). We are officially going to Cabo June 6th throught the 13th, YAY!! What a great graduation present to myself!

Nothing too eventful here today. Emily had to go get her 2nd dose of the chicken pox vaccine. She was so proud of herself for not crying. Andrew took her to the store this morning and bought her a whole bag of gummy bears to eat after she was done with the shot...so she may get cavaties, but no chicken pox here!! :)

Something cute and something exciting.

First cute: Yesterday Emily and I went to drop off my glasses because I am getting new lenses. I was really sad when the lady told me they wouldn't be back until Monday. When we got in the car, Emily asked why I was so sad and I explained to her that mommy's eyes are so bad that I can't see unless I have either my contacts or glasses and that my contacts hurt my eyes when I wear them for too long. So this morning, she asked me to look at something and I told her to come closer because she was too far away for me to see her beautiful face. A few minutes later, she said, "mommy, how many days until Monday, 2?" Thinking she was asking because there was something exciting going on at school on Monday, I told her to count them. After saying the days of the week she said,"but five's too long." I asked her what was so special about Monday and she said "because I want you to see me better again." So sweet and meaningful..looks like she is outgrowing the egocentric stage of development! (that's nerdy I know:)

Next exciting: As most of you know, I am doing some part time work for Washoe County School District this semester. Well, I had a meeting today and she said that if they wait until January to give me a teacher position, I won't get full benefits because it will be considered a half-year contract. Plus, they want me start like.. yesterday. So they are opening up a teacher position now and hiring me to replace the infant/toddler director who is on leave until fall 09, and may never come back. First, this is such a good fit for me. There are 3 centers I will be working with and they are located at high schools and the moms are actually teen moms finishing school. So my HDFS background will be utilized as much as my ECE background. Also, full benefits means that I will get to stay home with my children next summer with pay!! I am so excited with how that worked out. I can't believe I'm actually starting my career!!! Scary!