More Lego creations

We bought Caleb some more loose Legos and they came in the mail yesterday. HALLELUJAH! 

He has been waiting and waiting for these to come in so that he can continue building all of the Super Mario characters. 

After school yesterday, he created 4 new characters: a large Mario, a large Fire Mario with a fireball, a Koopa Troopa, and a star. He is so excited! This lights up his life!

He just kept saying, "Take this picture. Take this picture!"

We are so going to go broke buying loose Legos, but his creativity and excitement is worth it!

Vandalism is for jerks!

Last weekend I got a phone call saying that our PTO storage facility had been broken into. 

Evidently, someone had broken in and clipped all the padlocks on each unit in the hallway. Those jerks!

Sparing you all the details of the insanity that ensued as I went to try to clean it out....


This is what we were left with...

They stole and/or vandalized rubbermaid containers full of prizes, Fall Festival supplies, and destroyed our large wooden structures. 

Tacky. 

Lego Mario creations

Caleb is a self-proclaimed Lego genius. He makes me smile!

This week, he has been on a mission to create as many Mario characters as possible. He got about 3 characters in, and told his dad, "If I am going to create all these characters, I am going to need a lot more Legos."

What a way to schmooze your dad, kiddo!

So he has created quite a few with the Legos we have....

Creativity at it's finest!

Teacher Luncheon decorations....the beginnings....

Ok, I have decided for sure to go with a primary color, school themed teacher luncheon. 

To begin, as part of the table centerpieces, we will have these little plastic photo frames with print offs of cute "teaching" sayings. 

The dollar store didn't have enough frames so I have to check back later in the week.

I know we will include primary colored balloons and streamers, as well as green and yellow table coverings. 

Well, that is one project down. Now to decide on the food, desserts, raffle prizes and other decorations.

Look out May

The craziest time of the year is coming up!

So let's visit my calendar:

I have one more test and a final on May 6th and then my college semester is over. Then I can focus on the hundreds of activities at my kids' school as my final weeks as the PTO President comes to an end. 

In May, we have Teacher Appreciation Week: we are giving the teachers an extra 30 minutes of lunch that week and are still trying to get all the volunteer slots filled. We are also going to be providing a candy and sundae bar for them on Friday, May 10th...which is the same day as the Fun Run. That is the same week of the Mother's Day Shop. The following week is the final PTO meeting of the year...of which I have some surprises up my sleeve. That week we also have to decorate the stage for the 4th grade Jungle music program (my kiddo is Safari Guide #8). We have the Reading Team party where all the kids that made the Reading Team get to spend 30 minutes on water slides and obstacle courses. We have the 4th grade "end of elementary school" party, a field trip to George Ranch, a slip and slide event, End of Year prize assembly (where the PTO purchases about 200 prizes for the kids who have earned enough tickets), a PAWS beach party for the Positive Behavior Initiative, Field Day, End of School parties, the End of Year Teacher Luncheon....and I KNOW I am forgetting a few other things. 

Today, while I procrastinate and do not study, or clean house, or even take a shower, I have been planning the end of year Teacher Luncheon. Last year we had a Hawaiian theme, but this year I wanted to do a "School" theme with primary colors and school supplies. 

Of course this is all in my head at the moment, but I have at least created the invitations. We post an invitation in the teacher lounge and also send invites to all the retirees. Now I just have to decide what type of food we will serve, what type of dessert, and work on the decorations. I am thinking of lining each cafeteria table with bright green table cloths, yellow runners, and having crayons sprinkled all over the runners. Then I want to print out various teacher quotes, and put them in inexpensive plastic frames, and have them arranged on the tables. And finally, I am thinking of blowing up a bunch of primary colored balloons and anchoring them to the tables and to the doors. We always have a raffle as well, so when the teachers enter the room, we hand them a raffle ticket, and we draw for prizes while we eat. We are thinking 5-10 $10 gift cards to Walmart, so they can get whatever they want. 

I am heading to the dollar store this evening to start looking for supplies. It is swirling in my head....hopefully it will turn out like I am imagining. :)

Elementary school play decorations

The first graders are going to putting on a musical for our families on May 2nd, but needed the stage decorations ready by the 24th. Well, state testing is the 23rd and 24th and we are not allowed to be up there so pretty much today was the only day we could work on it. 

I.am.exhausted.

Five of us worked on it all day. We are tired, but it is finished!

Yay. 

The title of the show is "Texas!" and the first line is "Welcome to the Chuck Wagon Special!"

One more musical for the year after this!!! WOOHOO!

Living in a boy's room...

First let me say...yuck. 

I don't know about you, but I just don't even want to look in my oldest son's room. It is truly disgusting. Now I know that there are people out there who only post the beautiful things about their house, and really care about how their house looks every second of the day. That is not me. I try to keep my house picked up, but there are many things that I just don't care about. 

I am not obsessively clean, but we are not filthy either. There are times when I don't wash the dishes for two days, I throw my clothes on the floor, and leave expired food in the fridge. In reality, I do not care about my son's room. 

He is the one who has to live in it. Every few weeks, I go in and tell him to clean it...which consists of him throwing everything in a bin or shoving things in the closet or under the bed. I don't really go in there much because he brings me his dirty laundry and puts away his clean laundry. He puts himself to bed after kissing me goodnight in the living room. He lives in there...not me. 

But I have been dying to get in there and get it cleaned out! Thanks to his total misbehavior this weekend, I was able to do this. 

Without going into details of what he did wrong, his punishment was to have all video games, his tv, toys, books, legos, etc removed from his room for a week. I made him help me. We just took several bags and started chunking stuff. There was so much trash, dirty socks, old wrappers, forks, cups, and just junk in his room and it was amazingly wonderful for me while being agonizing for him. 

He will have to earn only some of these things back. 

Here is what we began with. 

There are a bunch of random cups, clothes, and junk thown on his book case

I can't even try to comment on this

yuck

Yuck.

And here is what we ended up with. 

we kept this because it plays music that helps him get to sleep

empty bookcase

cleaned up the desk and under the bed

no toys in this room

He feels totally punished and I feel so much better having that room cleaned out!!!

And here are the massive numbers of trash bags full of junk...

Incidently, house cleaning has taken a back seat to school work and spending time with my kids when I am not doing school work. It is paying off, because that test I was so worried about last week???  I got the highest score....108! Only 3 more weeks!!!

It's a sad, sad day....

It is truly a sad, sad day. Today, Annette Funicello passed away. 

This is like dagger through my heart. 

As an only child to very overprotective parents, I was only allowed to watch shows and listen to music of their generation. This was not really a problem to me because I think it created a joy in me for the things that are quirky, less traditional, and generationally unpopular. 

My walls were covered in posters and pictures of Lucille Ball and Annette Funicello. I had the Annette Funicello ultimate box CD set. I watched the Mickey Mouse Club, Mr. Ed, My Three Sons, Donna Reed, and later, Gilligan's Island, I Dream of Jeannie, and the Mary Tyler Moore show. I watched Beach Blanket Bingo, Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Muscle Beach Party, and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, in rotation, every day. I recorded and watched I Love Lucy and have seen every single episode. I listened to disco, the Beach Boys, Frankie Avalon, bands from the classic British Invasion....

I wanted to be Annette Funicello so bad. I wanted her olive skin and her dark hair. (My mother incidently has both of those things and I took after my dad....pale and red headed....not that that is a bad thing). But as a kid, I wanted to be something totally different than what I was and Annette Funicello was that person. 

The silver lining was that she is no longer suffering from the ravages of Multiple Sclerosis. What a devastating disease that was to her...no longer able to walk, talk, or swallow. Just terrible. 

So, tonight I study for the big test on Wednesday. And while I study, I will watch Back to the Beach, which I have EVERY SINGLE LINE of dialog memorized. 

Yellow and grey cupcakes

I work the nursery at my mother's church. It is a small Baptist church made up of mostly older adults. They have a small group of younger children for Sunday School, which is ideal for my kiddos. The preacher's oldest daughter is getting married next month and some of the ladies are hosting a wedding shower for her this afternoon. Her wedding colors are yellow and grey! While I am unable to attend, my mom asked me to make a few extra cupcakes for the shower. Evidently they ordered a cake but anticipate more people than the cake can feed. 

But of course, I got very sick this week. When I have a major exam and quiz this coming up week. My mom decided to make the cupcakes. She brought them over, along with some dark grey decorations, and asked if I could make some buttercream and decorate them. Thank goodness, by Saturday, I was feeling much better and was able to make them. 

I wish that I was able to help decorate for the shower, because I had a TON of really cute ideas we could have done. But it is probably good that I didn't, as I got sick anyway and lost 2 days worth of studying. 

I must get off the computer now and force myself to study. There is so much information in these 5 chapters...and I am so far behind. Less than a month left of school for the semester!!!!

New puppy gift

Unfortunately, while we were on our cruise over Spring Break, my parents' dog passed away. 

Rudee was supposed to be a miniature schnauzer, but I think he was on the larger side of that spectrum. They got him when I went off to college, surely to fill the void of having an empty nest when an only child goes away to college *wink, wink*. 

He was a wonderful 13 year old companion with a sparky personality. As a puppy he chewed up both my wedding headpiece and veil as well as my unity candle right before my wedding. He would come in my room when I was home for weekends or over holidays and poop in the doorway. "That will show her!" I am sure he thought!

Here he was as a pup....

And here he was last Christmas...

I wish I had the chance to love on him before he passed.

Now my parents have decided to buy another dog. They are bringing him home today and are naming him Lexxus. Everyone knows you can't come to meet a new family member empty handed!

So I came up with this "Welcome Home" gift. 

Hobby Lobby, you are my friend. Their glass containers were half off, and the letters are rub-ons. I would have loved to cover this container in cute rhinestone paw prints, but he is a boy, so I had to tame it down some. 

I filled it with some cute tiny milk bones...and kept a few for my cutie poodle, Tatum. Voila! 

Welcome to the family new schnauzer puppy Lexxus!!!

April is for Autism Awesomeness

Well, maybe not necessarily "awesomeness" as a disorder but I think my son is pretty awesome. 

April is Autism Awareness Month! I wish we didn't have to celebrate it, but I don't really think that there are many people out there with party hats and noisemakers proclaiming an Autism party. But if it brings more attention to the study, the treatments, the supports, and the understanding of Autism, it would be awesome. 

None of the kids would be there without ear muffs since they have so many sensory issues, but the parents would champion for them. 

I love my son fiercely and whole heartedly. I am doing my absolute best to not allow him to retreat into a non-social, non-functional world of his own. I have been struggling, motivating, and working with him since he was 2 and he has made some amazing progress. 

It is a constant balance...to nurture who he is as a person and give him the support he craves but to also empower him and foster as much independence and "normalcy" as possible. The world doesn't have to roll out the red carpet for him...although I think it should :). 

So let's hear it for the people with Autism! Let's hear it for the quirky kids and adults who are not marching to the beat of a different drum, but who ARE their own drummers!

College progress

Let me just say....there is only 1 month and 4 days left of my Spring semester of college. Oh happy day!

my lab note cards just for the quiz. This stuff isn't even going to be on the lecture exam....

Now it isn't all bad. The best part of college is that I am totally interested in the subject matter. The material is very difficult but it is really interesting.I also have something that is just for me. In the time since I have had our children, I haven't had something that was just for me, so that is awesome! 

But get this...1 month and 4 days left and we still have 3 tests and 8 quizzes. We have been in school for 3 months and have only had 2 tests. Dang! It sure would have been nice to have things spread out a bit throughout the 12 weeks. 

Oh well.....let the studying commence. If I can get another A on this test, then I can take a breath. I will be one step closer to getting that A and moving on. 

In 2 weeks I can register for Summer and Fall semesters and be ready to apply for nursing school. And by the way, I am getting ready to sell a kidney because next summer (if I get accepted....I mean, I am putting it out there that I am going to get in) I have to fork over $10K for this thing. 

Fundraising anyone?! Anyone?! crickets......