You're not going to believe this!

Once AGAIN, Alex has strep! It started Friday after school. We were on our way home when she told me her throat hurt. I thought there's no way it's strep. The kids have been awesome at taking their medicine. We haven't missed one day or one dose. We all have been taking penicillin, 3 times a day, everyday, since the 19Th. Later after Will's birthday party she started running a fever. She's had a fever ever since. Of course, it's a holiday weekend so we only have one choice for service, the E.R. Well we're going to try and hold out until Tuesday and go and see the doctor. I was telling Clay that the doctor had mentioned to me that we may have to take her tonsils out. Alex overheard and is terrified to have another surgery. So since then, her throat miraculously doesn't hurt at all. When I look in her mouth with a flashlight it is bright red with the tell tale white bumps all over it. I can tell it hurts her but she insists that it doesn't. At least she has a long weekend to rest and recover. Sydney has been such a big sister. She'll get Alex glasses of water, remind me to take her temperature and to give Alex her medicine. She gets Alex a blanket when she needs one and even helped her get in her Jammie's last night. What a good nurse! We'll see what happens next. I thought for sure we were through with strep, I guess not.

They are so different.

It still amazes me how different two siblings can be. They can be raised with the same rules, same amount of love, same opportunities, and still turn out so different. I for one, am very thankful my two little girls are so different. I have one that's tough and one that's tender. I have one that's kind to everyone and one that is very independent.


Sydney is so much like her dad, it's crazy. She sleeps, eats, laughs, walks and looks just like him. She would rather sit and read a book quietly by herself than play with a group of kids. Sydney has always been so sweet and tender. When kids called her dirt in Kindergarten she cried, when her friend had an accident in her pants in first grade she was crying with her, and now even when the smart kids make fun of her for doing her math a little slower than them she cries. The pictures below are of her watching Brother Bear 2. She bawled. Alex was watching it also. She had no idea why Sydney was crying. I am so proud of Sydney. She is so caring and loving to everyone, even those who are mean to her. I wish I could be more like her in that way. The majority of her friends at school are the ones who are always made fun of. Kids can be so mean to each other and can say the cruelest things. I'm so glad Sydney is not one of those kids. She may not be the most popular or the smartest at math, but you can bet if anyone gets hurt in any way she's the first one there to make sure they're ok.
Then there's Alex! Wow what a difference. She doesn't worry to much about what others think of her. She doesn't really go out of her way to make friends or concern herself with others feelings. She is very independent and smart. Loves to be a leader and can sometimes be a dictator. Alex was reading a book the other day with these glasses on (pictured below). Clay got the video camera out and filmed her. We were laughing so hard. When she finally realized we had seen her and were laughing, she just smiled and waved and went right on reading her book. She didn't care how she looked.
This is hard for me as a parent to accept sometimes. I like her to look her best for school. We go around and around some morning about her choice of mismatching outfits or her choice of hair do's. She is very hard headed, I think she gets that from her mom. Alex is so much like her mom, it's scary. Her looks especially, how outgoing she is, her temperament, her sense of humor, and of course her crooked eye. It takes an awesome kid to make the other kids want a crooked eye just like hers! I sometimes forget she's only five. She's so mature and smart.
They are so different. I'm so thankful they are. Without their individual personalities, we would have a very boring home life! I am so glad I have two little girls to teach me something new everyday.

Happy Birthday Little Brother!!

Today was my little brother Will's Birthday. He turned 27 today. We weren't the best of friends growing up but now that we're both older, I can honestly say we actually get along very well. Most days when he gets off of work, he'll swing by to say Hi. The minute he turns our corner and you can hear his truck coming, the doors fly open and the girls are running outside screaming Uncle Will's here!!! My girls love their Uncle Will. He's great with them too. He'll listen to their stories about their day, take home pictures they've colored for him, and always give them plenty of high fives. When Uncle Will is here there is always plenty of fun and laughter going on! So my parents came up and brought some gifts. We had pizza, and soda, and cheesecake, and Ice Cream. It was fun to hang out. Clay and Will talked a lot about work, shared stories and pictures. Clay even cleaned up after everyone left, what a guy! The Birthday bag pictured below was from me. I never called Will any of those names ( I was always afraid of Will and his temper and his muscles). I can't help but get excited when he comes over too, he's really a cool guy now.
Will isn't so little anymore. I still love you Little Brother, Happy Birthday!!

For you Twilight fans

We rented a movie called Penelope tonight. The first preview was for the movie Twilight and it even has about a 5 minute sneek peek. It looks good. I hate to say this but Sara looks like you're right. I'm going to have to read these books. Chalice I stole your Twilight picture, thanks! Just F.Y.I. Also, the movie Penelope was a hit! Sydney picked it. It was a modern day fairytale in ways. It was about a girl that was born cursed. Her curse was she had the snout and ears of a pig. Sounds weird but it was excellent. In the end the curse was broken and she found love. Alex says, "Mom, that's just like me and my crooked eye. Now I had surgery and can love." LOL, kids are so funny. I told her she wasn't cursed with crooked eyes she just got them from her mom. Anyways, it was a good movie. No sex, no bad language, and a good morale to the story. My kids loved it. I think we'll have to buy this one.

Tag~ you're it!

OK, I was tagged by Nora on her blog. Thanks Nora! This was actually kinda fun except for the messy house and the horrible self portrait. Here's what you do: You have to take a pic of the 10 different things listed- and you have to do it right away. No cheating. No cleaning up, rearranging furniture, doing dirty dishes or laundry! No posing kids doing what they should be doing, like chores or homework.Next you have to tag five people, and hope they play along. We'll see how this goes.

1. The Refrigerator: Mine is a total disaster right now, but hey at least we have plenty of leftovers to live on! 2. The Laundry Room: Oh my, Oh my! what a wreck of a room. The laundry gets cleaned, that's about all that gets cleaned in this room! It's on my to do list I promise.
3. The bathroom: I should have taken a picture of Clay's bathroom because it's always super clean but I thought that was pretty close to cheating. Most of our morning is spent in this room. And yes, our toilet seat is up!
4. The Closet: Notice it's only Clay's side. Mine looks just the same except for a few more dresses and shoes. Nothing to exciting so I thought this picture would do.
5. The Kitchen Sink: OK excuse time, I've been sick. Clay was awesome and did all the dishes last night, then I go and dirty more! This is pretty good for us! If you didn't know, I don't have a dish washer and I hate doing dishes but some how they always get done.

6. Self Portrait: This is absolutely GROSS. No makeup, no shower, still in Jammie's and not feeling well. It's the best I could do today.
7. Favorite Room in the House: My favorite room in our house is the living room. We spend so much time in this room as a family. I love all the family time I can get!
8. What Are Your Kids Doing Now?: My kids were playing a bingo game with the neighbor girl. They aren't playing by the rules but all three are constantly giggling so it must be fun.
9. Your Dream Vacation: My dream vacation would be to go anywhere there is a beach. I love the beach. Clay wants to go to Argentina again and visit everyone from his mission. Since it's a dream I have no picture:(

10. Favorite Pair of Shoes: This is not my favorite pair of shoes to wear but I do wear them occasionally. I chose these as my favorite shoes because Clay bought these for me. All by himself he went to the mall and picked out these shoes for me one Christmas. What a guy to go female shoe shopping. They are comfy but I don't have much to wear with them.
Now I tag my 5 people. It's not hard, you can do it. I would do it for you!! I tag Chalice (good practise for a new blogger), Emily(because you're cool), Amie (because I want to see what your crazy boys are up to), Linda (because I bet your house is always spotless) and Sara (I know you're always super busy but your house is awesome!)

The Strep Saga Continues

Once again, I have strep. This makes twice in the last month and a half I've had it. Alex has also had it twice. This time around our wonderful Dr.P has given us all a prescription of Penicillin to hopefully eradicate the strep from our household. We are going to be taking our medication for a full month, then we'll all be tested again to make sure none of us any longer have Strep. This whole thing started in July. I will be so happy to be rid of this sickness and not have to worry about it coming back any time soon. Thanks to my awesome friends/ visiting teaching partners, my family had their first good meal since Friday. I have never tasted a better homemade chicken noodle soup! Not to mention all the other homemade goodies she always sends my way, Thanks Sara! The whole wheat rolls were a hit. My kids each had two and were still asking for more when they were all gone. I've never learned how to make a good dinner roll. Thank goodness for friends that can cook! Thanks for the rolls and ice cream Camilee!
Not that I need any more ice cream, that's practically all I've eaten since Friday. Anyone that knows Roxy, knows she's an ice cream lover. Good thing Camilee brought some over, we were starting to run low and I don't feel up to grocery shopping yet! I'd love to say I'd like to get sick more often because of the good food I get from friends but, I think I'll just ask nicely if they can teach me how to cook as well as them. Please no more Strep, we have our fingers crossed that this is the END.

Aaahh-mazing

I am so amazed at how selfless and how caring children can be. The little girl I work with in Kindergarten has so many friends, some days I wonder if I'm even needed. There is always someone holding her hand, someone reading to her, coloring with her, singing with her. Some of the roughest toughest boys will even drop everything to help her out. I am blown away every day to see how mature and respectable a 5 year old can be. If only they could stay that way. I have to say, some of these kids are more mature then the adults in their life! Oh, and did I mention, I LOVE MY JOB!
Yesterday we had a massive monsoon storm. The thunder and lightning was intense. Many of us were going on little sleep because of the storm we had had over night. I know I was. With two little girls in my bed all night wanting to tell stories to keep their minds off the thunder, how could I sleep. This storm yesterday brought hail (I couldn't get a real good picture of it because we were in class and it would come in the door every time I opened it), tons of rain, and even classrooms with no power.

This was one of those storms that just pops up out of no where and turns into a major cloud burst. Sidewalks flooded, rain even came in under the doors in the preschool wing of the school. The thunder was so loud the kids couldn't help but scream every time they heard it. It was so loud, and it went on and on. We tried to go outside and gather up a cup full of hail for the kids to show it to them, but the lightning and thunder was so bad we just grabbed what we could from in front of the classroom door. It was an intense and long lasting storm.

A quick funny!

You can decide for yourself what kind of parent you think I am. This is something I can totally see my mom doing to me when I was younger. I personally think my mom was the greatest, most fun, most creative mom ever (remember the windsocks mom?). This began this morning. Alex got dressed and I noticed a small hole in the Capri's she was wearing. I asked her if she wanted to change and of course she said no. Well, by the time school got out the rip in her pants was up to her knee. I can see why, these Capri's are hand me downs 2 generations over! So Alex was sitting on the couch playing a video game and I thought we're just going to throw these pants away why not have some fun. I walked up to her and ripped the hole all the way up her leg. Wow, was she mad! Mom, why did you do that she yelled. I just laughed. She wore her pants with one leg ripped all the way up for a few hours.
Later I called her over and ripped it some more. She was so excited to have a Hawaiian skirt. She wants to keep the skirt. I told her she could. Now, think real hard, what would your mom have done? Would she have yelled at you for ripping your pants? Would she have made you throw them away the minute you got home? Would she have pulled out the sewing machine and made a pair of shorts? Would she have been so embarrassed you wore ripped pants all day to school that you would have to pack up and move to another city that night? My mom, she would have done the exact same thing that I did for Alex, only my mom would have invited all her friends and family over, had a big pants ripping party, and turned the music up as we all danced around in our cool homemade skirts..... I know it!

First day of preschool!

OK!! Many of you have been asking why I went so dark with my hair color this time around. It's the same color as last time (as close to my natural as I can get), only this time there is no swimming pool chlorine, endless sun exposure, or any fading yet! I love my hair this color. Clay has come around nicely. At first he was a little freaked (I started dying my hair blonde when I was in 9Th grade). For as long as Clay has known me I have been blonde. It was getting a little hard to keep it up not to mention a little pricey! So here I am, a dark brunette and loving it. My little clone Alex is still pretty upset that we no longer look like each other! Now, on to the exciting stuff. Preschool has started, and boy oh boy did it start with a bang! I'm super excited about working with all the kids. If you don't know, it's a special needs preschool. In past years it has been mostly kids with speech issues. Not so this year. We have a wide variety of kids and disabilities.
We have three kids from last year coming back. They're going to be the easy ones. They know the routines and the rules. The little girl below was Alex's favorite classmate last year. She was a selective mute. She never talked to the teachers or her speech helper but would talk a mile a minute to Alex. We had a few play dates over the summer. She will be in the preschool again this year. What a difference a summer can make. She talks up a storm now!!
I will once again be working with the autistic boy below. His younger brother is also attending this year but only as a speech child. His brother is pictured below. My little girl from the morning kindergarten class also comes in. We are in for one exciting year. We have a few more students but I couldn't get them to hold still for a picture. This job is the best thing ever. I not only get to be with my own kids all day at their school but I get to help out others who need it. I am sooooo loving coloring time!
I am so comfortable and happy being at the school and having the job I do. It's like it was made just for me. I couldn't have asked for anything better! I am so blessed and so thankful to have the opportunity to work with these amazing kids!

Gone but never forgotten

My best friend and pet of 15 years passed away today. My cat Bonzo has been such a special part of my life. She was always willing to listen to my problems, knew all my secrets, and could always make me feel better just by purring. Bonzo was so old yet she still loved to play. She would chase me up and down the hallway as the kids looked on laughing. When you would rub her under her chin just right it would make her sneeze. Whenever the dogs would bark outside Bonzo's ear would straighten up and she would growl. She never really liked little kids much but she was always tolerant of the girls. Over the years the kids have grown to love her as much as I do, if not more. Clay was the first, of any of my boyfriends, who was not allergic to her. I knew he was a keeper! He loved Bonzo as well. Whenever he would call mish mish mish (pronounced me-sh, that's how they call cats in Argentina where Clay served his mission), she would come running. Bonzo had cancer, a fish hook in her shoulder, a missing front tooth, and was once bitten by a rattlesnake. After surviving all that, her life came to an end after being hit by a car. Bonzo will always be greatly missed by me. I'll never forget the joy and happiness she brought to my life.

Meet My Girl

Wednesday I started my job at the school. I worked last year as a paraprofessional with an Autistic boy in our preschool. I will continue to work with him three afternoons a week. I was only supposed to work with this girl in Kindergarten 3 hours a day, but after a trial run on Wednesday the school hired me to work with her full time. I'll be working with her in the mornings and when preschool starts she'll go with me. She is beautiful and smart and funny. I worked with her in preschool a few years ago when I was just volunteering. It's amazing how much she has changed in just a few years. She's taller, she can speak now, and she knows so many people. I swear she's related to half the school. The kids in her Kindergarten class amaze me also. They accept her, include her and love her. Never once have they been mean or hurtful.
She can't say Roxanne so she calls me Rox. My Rox is what she calls me. It's so rewarding to me to see her face light up when she sees me and yell My Rox! She gives the best hugs and kisses. She has come such a long way since preschool. I'm excited to work with her this year and witness firsthand the learning and growing she'll do.

Missing our main man

School started Wednesday, Daddy hasn't seen the kids since Tuesday afternoon. Here's our schedule. You can see why poor Daddy is really starting to miss his girls.

4:30AM Mommy wakes up

6:00AM Girls wake up, get dressed, do hair, eat breakfast, pack lunches, and pack backpacks (or pack pack as Sydney still calls them)

7:30AM head out the door for school.

11:00AM Daddy gets up.

11:30AM- 1:00PM Mommy heads home for lunch, takes a short nap, packs Dad's lunch, and heads back to school.

1:00-2:45PM Mom and Girls at school.

2:15PM Daddy heads to work missing us by just a few minutes. :(

8:30 PM Mommy and girls read books and go to bed.

2:00 AM Daddy gets home from work, Mom gets up to keep Dad company and fill him in on all the days events, make him breakfast, then hurry back to bed to get a few more hours of sleep before the alarm clock goes off. I'm not the only one bummed about school starting. Daddy is having major withdrawals from his little girls. There's no one home to play Guitar Hero with, no one home to tell stories about work to, no one home to help with the chores around the house. I think the thing he misses the most about his girls is their laughs. Their always laughing, telling stories, or playing pet shop in the living room while Dad watches t.v. This weekend can't come fast enough. Not only do we get to sleep in a bit (Happy Birthday tomorrow Mom!), but we also get to see Daddy! We miss you Daddy, thanks for working so hard for us. We love you!

A Great First Day

I started my day at 4:30 AM, getting ready for school and packing lunches. By 5:30 Sydney was wide awake. I told her she still had time to sleep. She was too excited to go back to bed. Last year I picked out the girls outfits every day. This year, I let them pick their own clothes. This is not what I would have chosen for them to wear for the first day, but grown up girls can be so hard headed! Alex was so excited to go to school. On the way home she said she stayed warm because her hair was so short! By the end of the day Alex's hair clip was gone, bangs in her eyes, and glasses all smudged but she came home happy so that's all that matters.
Sydney picked her clothes and her hair do. Not what Mommy wanted but she has become very opinionated and very independent this summer. Despite her begging and pleading, the minute I had to say goodbye I was a big boob. I still had to drop Alex off at her class! I'm not sure why but it was a little bit easier to drop off Alex compared to Sydney. I'm not sure if it is because I know Alex's teacher very well and I know how her classroom is ran, or if it's because Alex has so much confidence in herself that it makes me worry a little less.
As you can see, hair clip in, meeting new friends, looking a little scared but being very brave. These two kids by Alex happen to be in our ward so I think that was a major plus for being such a big brave girl on the first day of school. I think it also helps that we volunteered every day in Sydney's Kindergarten class when she had the same teacher!
End of the day, a very tired group of kids looking forward to going home, hair messed up, clothes not so crisp anymore, and starving because lunch was hours ago. I have to say the teacher even looked a bit relieved when the bell rang. I don't like this part of school. I didn't get a wink of sleep last night. All the first day worries and concerns running through my head. We survived, and we're looking forward to getting up early in the morning and doing it all over again tomorrow! (Mommy barely survived and is NOT looking forward to it again!) Knowing that it gets better and better every day is the only thing that gets me out of bed!

Getting ready for the big day.

It has been a long week already and school hasn't even started yet. I started back to work at the school on Monday. We had a long day of training with our new superintendent, we met all the new principals, all the new staff had their introductions, and we did many getting to know you activities. I'm very happy with our new superintendent and I think she's going to make a huge difference in our schools! Our new Principal at the elementary school is a hoot. He's very laid back, friendly, and ready to work for the students.
Monday evening we had Orientation at the school. The girls had a hard time waiting all day for it to be time to go. Alex already knows her teacher very well. Mrs. Smith was also Sydney's Kindergarten teacher. Alex is so excited to go to school she's been having a hard time sleeping for the past week! Sydney also met her 2ND grade teacher Mrs. Nelson. I have heard so many great things about her. I'm sure Sydney will do amazing. Sydney loves school so much we had to do some sort of homework all summer long.
Today was haircut day. Alex picked the style she wanted. I absolutely love it! I'm so jealous, I wish my hair was that cute. She kept telling our hair dresser to make it shorter. It still isn't short enough for her but I finally put my foot down and say NO MORE!
Sydney didn't want her hair cut, just trimmed. She loves her hair long. She kept telling the hair dresser, just a little bit OK. She was very pleased with the end product.
We love our salon days! We have the most fabulous hair dresser ever! Thanks Tamara, you rock! School starts in the morning. We are all so excited I know we aren't going to get as much sleep tonight as we should!