Thanksgiving Break Continued

Thanksgiving break was GREAT! I got my kids a couple of extra days for the holiday. We went to the park on Monday, the weather was so nice. I raked leaves and mowed my lawn. I hope that's the last time I have to mow the lawn! We mostly just hung out and enjoyed watching Christmas movies together. On Wednesday I drove to my parents house to spend the holiday with them.  My sister Kelsey runs a fitness class in the community a few times a week and I joined her at her class Wednesday night. It was really fun. I wish I could go to her class all of the time. That night Kelsey came for a bit and hung with me and my parents, she hosted her in laws for the holiday so we only got to hang a little bit. On Thursday I rode with my parents to my sister Trisha's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so yummy and she had her tables decorated so cute. I was lame and took a nap and watched a movie while everyone else had a ping pong tournament. After a few hours my parents and I drove home. The next day Trisha came for the night. We worked on puzzles, chatted, and watched movies all day, it was great! My mom also made me my favorite dinner, "Sunday dinner." IT'S AMAZING! I went home on Saturday and enjoyed a few days at home. Waking up and going back to work tomorrow will be rough. My kids come back tonight. Yay!

My mom made my favorite dinner in the whole world!!!! No one can make it like her!

I got some sister time over the break.

Charly came to cuddle while I was on the computer. SOOO CUTE!

Such a nice day at the park!

Cute kids.

I got some new Christmas decor for my bookshelf. I love them all, especially my nerd bird!

Thanksgiving Break!!!

It's Thanksgiving break! It's the most wonderful time of the year! Thanksgiving break is my favorite! When I started working full time I gained a whole new appreciation for Thanksgiving break. I love it because we get a whole week off of work which is amazing and I have all the fun and none of the stress of Christmas time. I started putting up Christmas the first weekend of the break a few years ago so I could relax and enjoy a festive cozy house all week! It is the best tradition ever. I love being in my house right now! Speaking of "my house" let's keep putting that in the universe shall we?  The community rallied around North last week and various schools and the PTO supported teachers and staff with coffee, breakfast, lunch, flowers. It was really thoughtful. With the divorce decree Scott gets the kids for Thanksgiving but I also get them for part of the break as well so I get them for a few extra days and I am stoked. We are already baking and watching Christmas movies. They will head to Scott's Tuesday night and I will head to Eastern Idaho for a few days to spend the holiday with my family there. It should be a great break. I intend to enjoy it to the fullest!

Ryan helped me make some monkey bread.

So easy and good!

Christmas!

I put up my tree and banners in my classroom.

I had some Thanksgiving decorations up for a few weeks. I loved them but it was time for Christmas!

Ryan earned a free dinner and was patient for us to finally go get it! It was a fun Friday night date!

It's Our Birthday!

We celebrated Ryan's birthday last Sunday. I took the kids to jump time and we had cake and presents that night. He got a pogo stick and he's getting pretty good at it. He is using it quite a bit which I love. He is so cute and funny I don't want him to grow up! My birthday was Monday and that night we went to Gabe and Christy's for birthday dinner. Christy made the biggest bowl of chicken alfredo I've ever seen! She's insane. The leftovers fed us all week! Because of my birthday and Scott having meetings in Utah I got the kids extra! I dropped them off Friday morning and they come back tonight. What a treat! 

Ryan got a fever and threw up Tuesday night so I put in sub plans and called in sick for Wednesday. It was a much needed break honestly and was the best case scenario because Ryan woke up feeling much better on Wednesday morning. All of the kids didn't want to go to school since Ryan and I were staying home and I went with it. It was a much needed rest day for all of us. I cannot wait until Thanksgiving break. 

Work has been rough lately because there have been 2 suicide deaths in the last month. 2, 8th grade girls from the cross country team. I didn't know either of these girls but I teach some of their close friends. We are experiencing trauma as a group and the teachers and students don't really know how to handle it. On top of that a 19 year old with a gun was arrested on Thursday at North last week. He was high as a kite and supposedly got on a school bus thinking it was a city bus. He supposedly didn't have any intentions of being at the school or harming anyone at the school but that was also very upsetting to everyone. I threw out my lesson plans last week and we cooked and watched a movie. We are all holding on until Thanksgiving break.

My friend Brooke came to Boise from Twin for a combined birthday celebration. Our birthdays are 3 days apart. We went to a movie and out to dinner and then came to my house for cake and to hang out. She invited her friend Michael to come and we had a great time. She spent the night and left early to go on a long hike somewhere today. I am  resting and getting ready for the work week. One more week! Thanksgiving break is my favorite. Christmas stuff is going up next weekend. Haters can hate!  

Pumpkin Cake!

Presents! Ryan has gotten pretty good at jumping on his pogo stick!

Kid invasion!  

Yes!

Ryan's Veteran's Day Program. Scott was able to go attend.

AVID7 Rake up Boise. My AVID students raked a few yards on Friday. It was like herding cats. I was a drill sergeant trying to get these kids to work! Ha. 

I heart Roy Kent! I'm obsessed with the show Ted Lasso. My friend Jenny made me this sweatshirt. She has a matching one. Cutest!

It's our birthday!

Woot!

Birthday Celebrations

This past week felt kind of insane. It was just too busy and there was not enough downtime. This next week might be even worse. I am SO ready for Thanksgiving break. I need it for sure! Ryan's birthday was last Sunday and my birthday is tomorrow so the kids and I are celebrating today. I made Ryan pumpkin pancakes for breakfast as requested and tonight I will make a pumpkin cake unless I guilted Corbin enough to make it for me. I took the kids (minus Corbin, hence the hope he will make a cake) to Jump Time. I took my laptop so I could kill two birds with one stone, my favorite! 

Tuesday was Halloween! Corbin stayed at Scott's that night so he could hang with his friends and I took the 3 kiddos trick or treating. We had a great time going around my neighborhood. It was a little weird as it was their first time not doing the exact same loop this year. We went for an hour and they got a ton of candy and it was perfect. 

My friend Jaynee invited me and the kids over for a soups night on Friday night and asked me to bring rolls so I made rolls Thursday night which was a little crazy for a work night but I did it. Ha. The soups were so good and we just watched re-runs of Friends, super sad to hear about Matthew Perry's death. 

On Saturday I met my friends at Kyotos for my traditional birthday dinner there. I love going there and I love traditions and my friends! 

Pizza man! Shark Attack! King Killer Stitch, obviously.

Boo!

Blurry pic but we watched Gar-Halloweenfield while the kids traded and sorted candy.

My co-worker knows that I'm obsessed with Ted Lasso and my new name! Haha.

I heart Kyotos! 

Red Ribbon Week

 Last week we had Red Ribbon Week and everyday was a different dress up day. I definitely enjoy dress up days! Christy needed help with Luke so I last minute took Friday off. I was able to go volunteer at Ryan's school that afternoon as well and it was fun to see him. That night I chaperoned a school dance. Saturday night was Krista's annual Halloween party but it was kind of a bust in the best way. Everyone bailed and it was just Lisa and Krista and Riley. Sometimes a small group is the best! We watched a scary movie that was not scary and I of course fell asleep during. Lisa and I dressed up like Paulette and the UPS guy from Legally Blonde. Lisa was SO on point! Today is Ryan's birthday and he celebrated with his dad but we will celebrate next weekend. I did make him pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and hung up birthday decorations. 

I'm applying to be a surrogate. It might not work out but if it does it might be crazy. Christy planted the seed over the summer and I decided to go for it. I applied with one company but was on pause for awhile until my divorce was final. I proceeded with the application process after that but was rejected after the social interview. I didn't expect my personality to be a problem and that certainly surprised me. I went ahead and applied with a company that seems like a better fit for me. The pay is not as good but it just feels like it would be an overall better experience. I had my social interview with them last Friday and did not get rejected. Now it's a matter of gathering tons of documents like my medical history, background check, etc. At any point something might not pan out and the journey may be done but I will continue to try until I get rejected, succeed or I don't feel good about it anymore. I just think it could be an empowering thing to use my body to take care of myself and my children AND to do a really good deed to some future family. The fact that is seems really challenging is appealing to me on some level as well. I like doing hard and challenging things. We will see what happens!  

I got to help Ryan's class make Idaho salt maps.

I went to the dance in a llama onsie. It was warm and perfect for working outside.

70's day! 

Piper sent me a pic from her dress up day!

"Bend...and snap!"

Parent Teacher Conference Week

Wahoo, I made it through the dreaded parent teacher conferences. I always worry a parent is going to come at me (hasn't happened at parent teacher conference...yet) and it's just tiring to work 2, 12 hour days in a row. It wasn't bad though. They feed us dinner and I'm able to do work on my computer during down time. I usually have quite a bit of downtime since parents aren't generally too concerned about their child's grade in Teen Living. If the parent is quiet and the kid is doing great I have nothing to say and that can be awkward but I got through. I asked Scott to keep the kids on Tuesday night to help conserve time and energy resources. I also asked him to drive the kids to my house on Wednesday night to again save time and energy and he did and that was so nice. We always get a day off of work during parent teacher conference week and that is the best. I ran some errands. I tried to get a new license thinking my new social security card would be sufficient but no, they needed to see my divorce decree. That was a big waste of time. I will have to do that next week. I went ahead and got the regular flu shot and the covid flu shot. We will see if it helps. I couldn't talk any of my kids into get them. I just figure it might help so why not. I am around a million germs everyday and need all the help I can get.

I have the kids and we are mostly just hanging out this weekend. I think we might go to my brother's climbing gym today and clean the house. I take them to Scott's tonight. I wish they could stay with me all of the time. 

Ryan is earning a free Wahooz pass by getting exercise through his school. He is very diligent and makes sure to cross things off of his chart everyday. 

You can't read it great but his teacher said Ryan is doing great. At first I thought she had a giant list of concerns for him but then I noticed there wasn't one check mark next to the areas of concerns. Good work Ryan!

Gabby asked me to make cookies Thursday night. This was such a good batch! 

Pictures are Up!

 I don't have much to say from this past week. I got my canvas family pictures and I hung them up. Yay! The quality is not amazing but for the price it's good! On Friday in class we made pumpkin pancakes while I played Nightmare Before Christmas music and it was Friday the 13th so that was fun. I had various meet ups with friends this weekend to keep me from being totally alone all weekend. I have had the perfect blend of rest and productivity so that's good. Today I am going to make a few dinners so that my week will be easier-ish. My kids come back tonight and it's parent teacher conferences this week so it should be an extra exhausting week. I can't wait until Friday. I will have the day off and will have survived parent teacher conferences. So here's to Friday...may it come swiftly and somewhat peacefully.