first week!!!

Well, the first week has come and gone and we are all still confident that this plan will work. Taylor studied Spanish, Physics, Algebra, and American History with me throughout the week, among his own educational endeavors, and the babies had a great week at their "schools". On Wednesday and Friday morning Trevor told me, "Mom, I don't have to go to school everyday." But, didn't fuss with me when I dropped him off. Trent was home early Wednesday, so he picked up the babies and cleaned the kitchen and living room, which gave me a chance get some homework finished that night. Thursday night he went to the Bucs game with his Dad, so Taylor and I stayed up late watching Algebra I lectures and doing my homework for my Algebra class. Jewel was a little clingy Wed. night, and they seemed a little tired by Friday afternoon, but other than that the babies are adjusting fine. Which we expected. We still have to piece together a routine that works and gets all of our "chores" finished, but we will finish painting Taylor's room and I have some but not too much homework left until Wednesday and I feel pretty ready for my first couple of quizzes on Wed., so we are keeping up fine so far. Of course, we didn't run all week, so we will try to fit that in next week. This morning we got to play a wonderful game of "AAAh! Daddy's a monster!" This is how it goes. Jewel, at some point in a round of family play, this morning it was a little pillow pounding on Dad, decides it is time to begin. She jumps, crawls, climbs, or tricks her way into my arms and yells, "AAAH! Daddy's a monster." We run, Dad roars, we hide and Dad finds us. Then, I try to hold off the "monster" while the kids escape. This morning while Jewel climbed over Trevor's bed and ran to the door she called back, "Run, Hogan, Run." So funny!

first day....

today was my first day as a full time student, jewel's first day ever in daycare, and just the first day of trevor's second week of preschool. i really do feel bad that the babies are in daycare, and i thought about them a hundred times today. but, i am glad to be making progress toward a degree, and they both seem to enjoy their time in daycare. i hope that they continue to enjoy it. jewel actually didn't want to leave with me, she wasn't finished playing, apparently. but, she did run over to me when i got there. i was home for just long enough to see dinner served before i had to run again. taylor had a pretty productive day, he is going to have to step it up, though if this is going to continue. we don't have the game ready, so it forced him to find his own activities. he does this for shorter periods, usually and by lunch claimed he didn't know what to do. dad gave him a few suggestions and later i gave a few more, he managed to get a few activites accomplished and watched two lectures. and it's pretty cool that tomorrow is more relaxed, so let the school year begin...

just some stuff...

Proof that Mommy still "wins" sometimes...

what else is up....

Aside from the crazy day, the last few days have been great. I managed to get out of the one inconvenient math that started at dinner time and found it open during the day. Then, I snatched up one opening in the Physics class I was originally registered for. I picked up all my books today, so now I am starting outlines for some of the texts. Sadly, that is something I really enjoy doing. I know, I can't believe I am admitting that either. Anywho, Jewel has really missed the boys the last two days (Taylor went to my parents' for a few days). In fact, when she saw Trevor tonight she said, "Bubba, hey, I missed you!" He gave her a big hug, it was very sweet. She was pretty good at finding things to do, but she did want me to participate in her play more than usual. She did seem to enjoy not sharing the trampoline though. I stopped by her daycare a few days ago and she didn't want to leave. She was saying, "want to play mom, i want to see fish (there was a fish tank), mom can i go play, want to play mom," all the way home. So, I imagine that she will be thrilled Monday morning when she gets to stay. I don't know if she will still be thrilled come 4pm when I finally get there to pick her up, but I am not too worried. After Trevor made it home, he helped us by cutting the grass. I made a few videos. (Hmmm, youtube changed some things, it's been a while since I looked at it.)

what a day...

ok, so my van is being repaired, so we have been sharing a vehicle this week. and, we had a busy day. trent had a dental appointment, two separate appointments for our house (termite and bug prevention), and yes, trevor was at daycare. so, i couldn't leave to take trent to the dentist, his appointment ran 2 and a half hours late, and because of that he had to make a mad dash to pick trevor up, 10 minutes late! i was calling him and he couldn't answer, so i didn't know when he would be finished, and i couldn't find a ride to go get our boy. Needless to say, next time daddy will listen to mommy and pick trevor up before his appointment (and mom will have a vehicle). by the time trent arrived, trevor was very glad to see him. trent said that he didn't think trevor was going to let go of his neck to get in his seat. but, the coolest (kind of, i guess) part is what trevor told me while getting his bath tonight. he said he accidentally pooped in his underwear at school. (remember this? it has gotten much better...) so i asked him, "did you ask for help?" he said, "no, i was scared the teacher would be mad, so i just cleaned my underwear and butt myself." now, normally at home he refuses to put his underwear back on with even the hint of an "accident" in them, but he did. i don't know how i feel about him being afraid to ask for help or wearing "dirty" underwear all day, but i understand him not knowing how the teacher would react. i am however, very proud of him for handling his problem all by himself and doing something outside of his comfort zone to get through his day. what maturity! he said that he had a great day, too. so it must not have affected him much. but, he did tell trent that he was "daddy's boy" when trent finally got there, so i know he must have been ready to go (he has refused to say that for months). luckily he was not the last kid there. i was living my "worst" nightmare however and will not let us get in that situation again.

forward momentum....

Finally posted pictures of the sparkles on Jewel's wall. Trevor is enjoying his second day of preschool, I hope. The first thing Taylor did when he got up was go to the driveway to practice skateboarding. Yesterday Jewel got out of bed and went straight to her computer for some Reader Rabbit Toddler. This morning, she went directly to the crayons and markers. When we were picking them up (and having dinner) at Mimi and Big Daddy's Jewel was pretending to sleep on the floor. Taylor likes to tell her, "Try to say" this or that. He said, "Jewel, say 'I'm sleeping beauty.'" She said, "I'm sweeping the booty." Ha ha ha ha Little story about Trevor that they relayed to us: Trevor found a ladle and earlier this week he had learned what it was called in my kitchen. He showed the ladle to Big Daddy and said, "Big Daddy, what is that." Trent's dad said, "It's a big spoon." Trevor didn't say anything else about it. But, a little while later, when Mimi came into the room, he said, "Mimi, Big Daddy thinks that ladle is a big spoon!" Hee Hee Hee that just cracks me up! The yard has achieved "total conformity" with the sod down. Yep, sod, we had no choice. The weeds that I was picking by hand exploded, figuratively, and Trent dug out all the grass. And, with a little help, put in all the sod. Now he gets a little break to spend the day at a trade show complete with omelet breakfast. I hope he gets to relax, he deserves it! Now we have a "beautiful" if you like that sort of thing, yard with fresh mulch. I love to hate it, but really it looks so pretty! Because he dug the grass out, we didn't have to kill the whole yard with herbicide. (That seems to be the standard way.) Although, there will be some fertilizing done to the grass, that is unavoidable for us right now. But, the best part is that it will be easier to mow with the reel mower and to weed by hand. Sometimes the reel skips the weeds and I have to go back with the gas mower. I really still miss our old yard, but this one isn't all bad. It is pretty, and the back is private enough and the neighbors aren't out a lot in the front, so I don't get trapped into too many conversations. And, we have a little room for a garden, if we could just focus on it for a minute. The painting has almost stopped for the past almost week, because of the daycare/physicals/college debacle and reformation. I really thought I had it all well planned, but then it fell apart, and then I pulled it all back together! I still have a lot of little things to do, but nothing that will keep me from attending full time during the day. Night classes just don't work for us. I really will be glad when classes start, because being home even for just a few hours without Trevor (when he isn't with his Mimi) is very hard! Mostly I am worried about how he will like "going with the crowd" because he is so used to making his own decisions. He does still have some choices, though, and we humans love to conform, so.... Jewel misses him, too. Taylor, I think, is enjoying the uninterrupted time. Trevor really pestered him all day. I did my best to keep distracting him with fun things, but often you just had to let him have some Taylor time before you asked him to play alone. I am sure that he is enjoying the time with the other kids, but he really always plays with older kids, so I wonder how that is going. When I picked him up yesterday, his teacher said that he cried once and didn't take a nap but was quiet while the others slept. I told her that he quit taking naps a year ago, but he always lays quietly while sister naps. I asked him, what did you have for lunch, he said, "Some food that I don't know" then said it louder when I didn't understand him the first time. I said, "Was it good?" "Yes." "Did you eat it all?" "Of course." (Seriously, I laughed out loud when he said that!) I asked, "What did you do while everyone took a nap?" He said, "Oh, you know, dreamed about stuff." (Jewel just interrupted this post by coloring on the classroom wall and herself with the marker that just moments ago was being properly used. While I was wiping the wall clean she noticed a moth. She said, "Ooooh, lookit the bug." "Yeah, it's a moth." She said, "No mom, can't be moth, that's a butterfly." Hee hee hee) I had all my classes for this semester in the morning, but now they are all in the afternoon. That is going to reduce the afternoon playtime I get with the little ones, but next semester I will be all set up and can register early again. I am still watching the free classes to see what opens up. So that is what is going on, I probably left out some things, I'll be back. In the meantime here a few pictures of the goings on. I call the first three, "total rebellion".

so....

jewel woke up at 3:30 in the morning and before waking me up, colored on the game board that was about half finished. combined with the last ditch effort to salvage my semester (thanks to a second look by the powers that be, we are 99% sure we are going to have daycare) it is going to be a few more days before we get to start playing the game. we have been a little distracted by some interests of taylor's (binary, parasites, light). but, i expect the pace of the game design to pick up when we get the babies into daycare, so there is that to look forward to. i hope i can find a couple classes open in the next two weeks, so i can get out of the night classes. mostly though, i will just be glad to be off this roller coaster of emotion, waiting, scrambling, and wishing. yippee! i get to go to school again!

tidbit to remember why ....

Jewel's language explosion the last month or so is so entertaining. Not only has she started telling Trent and me what to do all the time, and "stealing our noses", but she has also begun to try to say the name of everything. "Momma, what's that, oh, a tandill rain (sandhill crane)." When we are driving anywhere, she names everything she sees through the window and when we are home, she brings you everything she finds and any book that catches her eye, to play the "what's that" game. This morning she told me to "you pettle it mom, you pettle hogan"; she meant "pet". Too funny and so much fun to watch it happen. Trevor is actually starting to get bigger words right, well he uses some of them in the correct context. He is beginning to understand that words have specific uses, but he used to use big words to mean any old thing he wanted. "Mom, my lunch is annoying." Now, he says, "Mom, Jewel is annoying me." Ha ha progress!

the good and the bad...

Well, the good news is that despite last minute disasters, I will still get to take half of the classes I wanted to eliminate this semester. And, I actually don't have to take two of the classes I thought I would (the school finally evaluated my transcripts, from January!). Also good news is that I get to stay home with the kids for at least 4 more months. I may actually get time to steam clean the carpet, because I wasn't going to try until the holiday break before this change. And, maybe I can get a little sewing done. The bad news, is that I don't get to take physics for a few more semesters now, trevor is really upset that he isn't going to "school", and I don't know how it is going to affect my finances for next semester. I am mostly frustrated with it because we don't know that Trent will be home in time for my classes every night, so we will have to inconvenience his mother for babysitting sometimes. (She volunteered to cover the gap for us, and we are really grateful. And, she says she is glad to help, so we're glad for that too. But, I hate that she may have to interrupt her job to help us.) Also, I feel pretty bad that two nights a week Trent has to work all day and then handle the night time routine alone, too. (He of course, says it is fine, but I know how much work it is.) And, I will have to watch the kids and do my homework, now. I was looking forward to having some help with the babies during the day, so I could focus on my classes. But, I am sure I will still be able to handle the classes, and as long as I can get them in daycare by next semester, I will still finish my first degree in two years. And, the very best part is not building debt. We know before this is over we will have debt, but by waiting one semester we will avoid creating any new debt for ourselves for a few years at least. That is just something that we both agree about (a rare thing, trust me), we both hate having debt and almost refuse to use credit cards. I really got lucky that I was able to get into two of the classes I needed, because all of the others are full. I was registered for months for my other classes, so I really didn't think I would get to switch classes at all. I am trying really hard to be happy that I get to go at all, but I am really let down that we have to make it work this way. The night class over the summer was not too hard, but it did disrupt our routine pretty good. So, as usual, I will make do for now and dream of next semester.

goofing...

This week we saved the life of a tiny, probably over-heated, spiny soft-shelled turtle. The kids stayed with Aunt Stephanie for the first time since she moved, so Trent and I got a night alone. We played in mud and rain, took a different path on every run, and played on the zip-line at mimi and papi's. (Trevor did it alone!) We also started painting the last two bedrooms. Both of them are going to take a while. I also started painting sparkles on Jewel's wall (I even made the stencil myself). So, even without recalling everything we had a fun week. And, it isn't over, Trent and I have none of the children again tonight, so we expect to get a lot accomplished. Oh, Trevor made the number four all by himself (out of Lincoln Logs) and Jewel can recognize some colors and most shapes now. So, here are some pictures from this week. Yes, she is using the pillowcase from that pillow as a sleeping bag! Brilliant!