Summer has come

Summer has come.  Kristyn and I have been busy with girls camp (now done and over).  Miguel and the boys have been busy with trying to stay cool while still playing soccer.  And we are on to buying a new house in Moreno Valley CA.  Hopefully that happens in the next three weeks.  

Bugs day 2 &3

Day 2 of Bugs went well.

We made bug stained glass (using glitter glue and puffy paint)  This was supposed to peel off the wax paper and stick to a window.  It didn't, but the kids had fun.

 We then listed questions we had about bugs and went to the library for research (and to turn in their summer reading logs).  They were much more interested in their prizes for the summer reading program then the information they learned about bugs.

We came home to Bug sandwiches - thank heavens for lady bug and butterfly cookie cutters!

Quiet time was at the neighbor's house.  They had fun using the magnifying glasses to locate bugs and the parts of a bee.  I lost energy and finished the day bug free and at a church activity.

Day 3 of Bugs:
  We were supposed to watch Bugs Life, through the summer movie program at the local movie theater.  However, there were too many people and there were no seats where we could sit together.  The manager comped us 4 tickets for another movie and we got to see Madagascar 3.  Lucky us!  We did have to wait an hour which has thrown off our schedule but it was well worth it.
  This afternoon we will be making our own Insect feeding station.  We hope to have a variety of bugs to look at tomorrow.  And we'll be making our own play-doh bugs (I'm sure bugs will turn into cars, but it's worth a try.)
We'll be having Boo Bugs for dinner (http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/bite-size-boo-bugs-with-bug-catching-dip/e7dc4a2a-cb95-44aa-ab68-87271c1bc611 ).  Possibly with Wormy  cheese dip ( http://www.squidoo.com/BugPartyFood#module96544391) 
We have daddy home with us early today so we'll possibly be playing BedBugs after dinner. I love the DI and the Salvation Army! They have helped me gather my supplies for this week.  My movies, my games, and some of my craft supplies all came from there. 

Bugs

1st week of summer vacation, and those who know me and mine, know that I have two kids with ADD/ADHD and possibly a third (the psychiatrist thinks Ben should be on medication, and she's only seen him for 30 minutes!).  So, that mean that even though I am not working, I still work.
This week is BUG week.  I hope to post as I go, but it may be once a week.  I've been the typical teacher, who begs borrows and steals my ideas from others and whenever possible I will site my resources.

Today we:

Made bugs (http://katherinemaries.com/blog/archives/9459) 

Went on a bug hunt (hats and bug kids courtesy of the dollar store).  We found more bugs when we got home then at the park.  The kids were disappointed, but feeding the ducks made up for that.

Stopped at another park for lunch (Thank-you Val Verde district for summer food program!), where Ben did find a caterpillar, though wether or not it was a live when he found it...well, I think he enjoyed using his tweezer a little too much.

We They watched ANTZ, while mommy tried to nap.  (although I think now, that this movie is a little too grown up for my kids).

And had a fun dinner- wormy burgers, cucumber caterpillars, and lady bug crackers, with bug juice to drink.

Tomorrow promisses to be a buzy day as well. 

Posting

So I'm a looser when it comes to posting with pictures. Now that my camera is fixed I've lost the USB cord so I can't down load pictures. I'll have to have them all burned to a disk. Ugh. Besides. Ben has pulled cords in and out of the front USB ports, it probably wouldn't work anyway.

School is a disaster for both kids. They are struggling, which makes me struggle as a teacher and as a mom. I want to see my kids succeed. The teacher in me gets frustrated that they don't find education fun and exciting. That they aren't as readily learning as I think they should be. The mom in me just wants them to be happy, and hates to hear the frustrations. But I think I've resolved some of my issues with ticket to read. Those of you who know about it yeah for you. Those who don't check it out.

http://www.tickettoread.com

It is fabulous. I love that it goes from phonics to full out reading text. It reviews what good readers do. It does: think alouds, vocabulary, comprehension instruction, and even fluency reads. It does it in such a way that my kids love it. They are excited to read and earn points. There are some games they play, but it is mostly reading and the kids don't even realize it.

Divine Nature #1

Assigned reading: "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", 2 Peter1; Alma 7:23-24; Doctrine and Covenants 121: 45

Qualities a Daughter of God should have (x = repeated several times)

faith
humble
submissive
gentle
hope
temperance x
patience x
virtue x
knowledge
kindness x
charity xx


For those whom I've called recently, you know which of these qualities I've definitely been working on. Patience is definitely number 1, next to temperance (had to look up this word). Being a single parent is hard, having a spouse that is not consistently around is just as hard. This week has been such as one as I needed this particular value this week.

Monday was great! My first official FHE dedicated to making my family run more smoothly (another value experience). My kids were happy, we painted chore markers for our family chore chart. This took no patience at all.

Wednesday everything changed. It's very hard to teach the kids I teach. I have been greatly humbled this week. I've considered myself the behavior specialist of a lot of the places I've been, because I can almost always come up with a solution to behavior problems. I've been struggling because I can't with a group of the students I teach. I have been told that I will get used to the foul language, the disrespect, the lack of parent assistance in these matters. But I'm not sure I want to. The thing I have learned is that I must turn heavenward and let the Lord guide me.
After some serious prayer, I went back to work somewhat renewed with a new idea and low and behold, my behavior problems have all been suspended for 5 days, for other things. This gives me an opportunity to implement my behavior intervention with the good kids and get them trained, so they can help me train the others. The Lord works in mysterious ways and this was certainly one of the ways I needed most.

So how do I develop these qualities of a daughter of God? Through life. I learn through my mistakes, by trial and error and definitely through faith in the Lord. I love this gospel and love knowing there is a Father in Heaven who will help me when I'm really down. What an amazing blessing I have been given.

Personal Progress Conference

Saturday was our Ward's personal Progress Conference for our Young Women. One of our young women organized it and the leaders helped her make it successful. It was awesome. We completed 7 of 8 values, and the last one was a family home evening that each girl got to take home to do. I was glad that we had the number we had. We had almost all of our active young women show up, on a saturday at 8:00, it was impressive. Thanks Kelsey for your work!

Divine Nature #2

As I begin my journey through Personal Progress experiences, again, I decided to really focus the remainder of this year on Divine Nature. I've been having a really rough time balancing all my duties to my family, as well as my duties to my job. I need the reminder of who I am and I thought this was the perfect place to begin. (If you hadn't guessed I'm back in the young women's presidency, this time as first counselor.)

So what does the church publish about being a mother? The Family: A Proclamation to the World is a great piece of reading, that helps establish exactly what it takes to make a successful family and marriage. As a mother it states that we are responsible to raise our children "in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live."

Wow! That's a lot to take in and it's not even everything. I've got the easy stuff down pat: the providing for their physical needs-easy. Even raising them in love easy. It's the rest that I can't do alone. I can be the example of righteousness, of loving and serving others, and even of how to be a law-abiding citizen. I can directly the commandments of God and of the laws. I can pray that they will head my teachings, but ultimately it comes down to them. Will they make the right choices? This is the part I have a hard time with. I have to learn that if I've done all I can do to teach them the "right" ways, and they still make poor choices, I'm not responsible for their choices. How do I not feel guilty, how to I accept that I did everything I could?

Thus the reason for my choosing this value to work on first--I can't do everything. I will feel guilty, there is no getting around that-probably every parent would. But here's where the Lord comes into play--He will help. I have to ask Him for the comfort, for the guidance even before they may their decisions. I must ask Him for the "right" way to teach my children. To make sure they are getting what they need. I AM NOT ALONE!!!! And as long as I keep praying for His help, I'll get it. Thank-you Father for the many blessings I have, especially for my monkeys-they do make me so happy.3322333'2hgfffwss

File Folder Games

So my next big goal is to create a file box full of church file folder games without spending a fortune. I've found several sites, and thought I'd start sharing them. So I've created a link list for children's activities. If anyone has any great sites to share of file folder games or other church related QUIET activities, I'd love to have them to share. I'm planning a day with some of my church girl friends to create some for our young families. I'm looking forward to adult time.

I must be a prude!

I decided that I certainly must be a prude. I recently chaperoned a school dance at my school. I spent the whole three hours telling kids to give each other space, and shining a flashlight at their lower halves. If I had been in charge I probably would have turned off the music and told them the dance was over if that kind of dancing didn't stop. The sad part if it all is that if their parents had been there to see them they probably would have done nothing about it. Dancing close is one thing, grinding is another.

No New Pictures

It is amazing how destructive kids can be. I now have a laptop with half of it's keys missing. A desktop with a broken disk drive thanks to a screwdriver that fit perfectly into all the USB ports in the front, a printer that has a default error due to kids pulling papers off the printer before they were finished printing, and a digital camera that has been taken and dropped so many times it has to be kept together with electrical tape. Of course all of this had to happen right after the holidyays when there is no money to replace them. But, I guess I know where some our tax refund will be going. So, No New Pictures for a while.

New Links

I just added a couple new links on the right. I've a goal to make sure that Family Night becomes more of a family home evening, where we are actively trying to have a lesson and prayers, not just spending time together. So, I've found an awesome site I thought I'd share with FHE ideas. I've also added the link for a Story a Day Until Christmas, with the ultimate goal of making this Christmas a more Christ centered Christmas. Hope you enjoy them!

A Light Among You

Our road show is over. After only 3 weeks of rehearsals two-three times a week, the Lasselle Ward pulled off an amazing road show. We went a little over our time limit, which docked us points, but we still came in Second, and we recieved the Best Music award. Our director was awesome, having three kids and being pregnant she did some absolutley amazing things to make this event happen. I wouldn't have been able to take part if she hadn't found babysitters to watch all of the children (at times there were more than 9 children!). The music was awesome. Our lead character, Thomas Edison, was played by an amazing actor and dancer, Dustin Ciethamer (I'm sure his last name is spelled wrong--Sorry Dustin!)

We were extremely lucky to have so many of the young men to participate.

Our amazing young women definately followed through.

Our Relief Society President, really got into her role as the candle lady.

My friend Tamara stepped up to fill in where needed.

Halloween

Ben wouldn't keep the hood on, but doesn't he just make the cutest Lion ever!

Kristyn has truly been personifying her costume in every facet of her life right now. She made a wise choice in her costume.

What, you may ask, is he supposed to be??? Well it was Bumble Bee the transformer, but he kept washing off is face make-up, so he looked more like daddy than a transformer. Oh, well.

The kids had a great time trunk-or-treating. Last year we extended it and continued bringing the kids around the neighborhood by our apartments. This year the kids were too tired to do anything in a kind way and so we went home and put kids to bed. Let me tell you, excitement from Halloween and Day Light Savings, don't mix well. Church was not fun the next day.

Weightloss update

Down another 5 pounds, but frustrated. I'm up to 6-10 miles a day of movement (says my pedometer). I bike 4 miles a day. I've cut all carbs, except for once a week (when I don't overly endulge). Why am I not loosing faster!!!! I see a preventative medicine specialist next week. I've had so many blood tests a vampire wouldn't even want me as a meal. I do have much more energy though. The kids love the walks, especially since they almost always end at the park. They don't like that it gets dark too early.

Anthony's Birthday

He's 4!!!! But not any less whiny. He seems to have actually gotten worse. Anyone have any ideas about how to deal with this??? I don't do well with whiners.

Transformers are still his favorite



Transformers may be his favorite movie, but we still can't get him away from anything Cars related.

I'm not sure what's up with the push the face in the cake thing that Miguel's family does, but I wish they'd listen because my kids don't like it.


It's amazing how little kids can be as blunt as possible, or extremely rude without really intending to be so, and as a parent you have no choice but to apologize later for their behaviors. Anthony was thrilled with all of his birthday presents except for one. When he opened the present is said, "oh, this." and quickly put it aside to open another present. It was an exact copy of what his cousin has so he knows exactly what it does, and now he is thrilled when he gets to play with it, but at that moment...well, you can imagine.
Overall, it was a fun but exhausting day. I spent the entire day at the park, even though the party didn't start until 3:00. We had to make sure we had a pavilion at the park and only one was not reserved. First come, first serve. I was first! It feels good to come in first in something:)

Picture Day

So once again we had pictures taken without Miguel. I really think he has a phobia of photos. The kids look cute, me...not so much. I have to do something with my hair. Keeping it long is not a good idea. I just pull it back in a ponytail all the time rather than actually doing something with it. The kids actually did great! I was surprised.

Amazing how handsome he looks in his suit. I just wish it'd last more than 30 minutes.

Her hair started out nice and neat and curly. She's such a tomboy.

He's too cute for words. He was quite upset about his tie. He'd just thrown it at me. He was not going to wear it!

Day 7

So I used my goal of weight loss to help my students understand setting goals, and they all set a goal for themselves for the time between now and Christmas. We will look at these goals again after we get back after the break. I can't tell you how motivating it is for me to hear my students say, "Mrs. Vega, I had water for lunch instead of that soda!" I think that it is more motivating for me not to hear the, "good job" for myself, but the changes that they are making. I connect two dots tomorrow! I've dropped 4 pounds. Yes I'm sure the first 10 pounds is water weight. But I don't really care:)

Weightloss and the Beginning of the School Year

So, I've realized that the beginning of a new diet and the beginning of the school year should never coincide. I've started a diet that is the 4 day diet. The idea is that every 4 days you change type of diet you are eating, there by tricking your body into working harder. It's basically the same idea as why you change your excercise routine on a regular basis. Anyway, this is not the easiest thing to do--eliminating all sugars from your diet, natural or not. The beginning of the school year is always a stress, and that's when I want chocolate and coke the most! I guess it's all for the best.
I've decided to use my students at school to encourage me on my new road to health. My school district has decided to do a miniture "Biggest Loser" with the teachers, with the intention of making students healthier by having healthier examples in front of them. The only way to make students healthier is to encourage them, to encourage you. Then they learn from you by what you tell them about your trip to success. It's a great idea. I've decided to graph my pounds lost, without showing my weight. Then my students can graph my pounds lost the day after my weigh in each week. They'll get to see the before and after picture. I'm excited about it. I just hope this works. I think with having so many people depend on me, and expecting to see a change, it will work more. It's the public aspect of things. I'll post before and after pictures as well as my students' graph, when the district's program is finished. Wish me luck!

This week and my little monsters!

Kristyn isn't too sure about this teacher, but she isn't hating her. Always a good sign. She has had her breakdowns, and we are handling them the best we know how, with hugs and love. She misses her "Utah family." I dont' blame her, I miss them all too. She hates being the only girl, and the oldest child. She told me the other day, "I hate being the oldest! I hate being an example! Why can't everyone stop watching me!" The only time she gets peace from her brothers is when she's in her room and they are outside playing with daddy--then she's jealous and wants to play. Oh, the stresses of being a 7 year old girl!
The boys are doing well. I think they really like being with daddy all day. Anthony is obsessed with the boys across the street and their two dogs. Ben has taken to tantrums, though Love and Logic is great about giving the choice of where he wants to throw those tantrums. They usually don't last long.
It's been so hot around here that the kids decided to help water the lawn. How nice you say? Well, 10 minutes later, when dishes were washed. I had to wash my 3 monsters who watered the grassless part of our lawn. I thought my kids were brown enough--but they didn't. I wish now my camera had been working. I'm glad Miguel wasn't there, he'd have been mad and ruined the moment. I laughed, let them play for another 15 minutes before I hosed them off, stripped them down, and bathed them all. It was a great end to the day. I'm really glad I have tile in most of my house.
Kids are great! I've started back at work and I love them that much more! Amazing how absence really does make the heart grow fonder. I love hearing, "Mommy!" as soon as I open the front door. I love that I can sit down and relax with three kids in my lap telling me all about their day, and how thoughtful they can be when they ask about mine. It's really the little things that matter in my life, and these three little "things" make me so much happier than I could ever imagine.

Sod

Today Miguel and I laid 1000 square feet of sod. My arms and shoulders hurt more than I've ever had them hurt before. I was the one moving all the sod. Miguel did the easy part( less labor intensive)-piecing it together. I am burnt, but I am so very happy to have a yard with grass. I'll post before and after pictures later. There is still work to be done, as now we have a retaining wall that isn't complete enough for me to have my garden. For those of you who are thinking it's awefully late in the season, remember that I live in CA and have been learning about cold weather veggies. So I can plant and harvest all year round! Cauliflower--all winter! It's a good thing my kids like veggies.