4 days and the Parenting I have learned!

Parenting is new for me.  I like to jump right in so I currently am caring for two Jr. High aged children.  They are a joy to be around.  Here are some lessons I have already learned:

1. Bed time is never easy!
2. Siblings will argue ALL THE TIME!
3. It is the small thank you's that mean a lot.
4. They will always try to talk you out of what they do not want to do.
5. Silence is AMAZING!
6. There are no early bedtimes for the "Parent".
7. If practice starts at 6, you will be there for at least 2 hours.  Plan dinner wisely.
8. Having a plan of what to cook for the whole week is GREAT!  No one ever ask, what's for dinner and I always know what to cook when I get home.
9. Even as teenagers, they have a secret desire to learn.  I don't even believe they realize this ;)
10. I love hearing laughter coming from their room.

I know there is so much more, but right now I am just tired.   I will take all the advice I can get on this new adventure God has put me in. 

Single

Being single can have its benefits, but of course it can have its down falls.  Like today!!!  My dryer needs to be reconnected and I have to do, I need a man to do this job!  Okay that is all for right now LOL!!!

All in a weeks work...

So this has been one busy week for me.  After working for 13 hours on Monday and getting home after 8, I come home to a busted hot water heater with part of my living room collecting the water!  So I flipped the breaker, climbed back there and turned off the water valve.  

Today I decided I would clean the lint from my dryer, so I watched a video and then, took that thing apart and vacuumed some lint out!  Then I went to put the clothes in the dryer, only to realize that my washer is not spinning or agitating.  So I took the front off that thing and still not fixed!

Okay God, I think I am ready to get married now.  I prefer someone else to do all this stuff.  I am suppose to be relaxing and crafting today!

Washer

Dryer

 

 

A relaxing afternoon of crafting.

After spending time with family, I decided to do some crafting.

I started by taking apart a stool I bought that needs to be redone.  I now need to get the material for it. So I worked on something I had material for.

First I redid a frame to use for planning meals (maybe I will use it):

I also bought this metal board, that had a quote a long time ago.  I was going to put paper on it or something for magnet board.  However, today, I finally decided to do something with it, and I painted it.  However, when I read the quote, I found it funny that it was from Sarah Palin, who I had no idea who she was at the time (that's how old it was).  

My parents anniversary! Happy 32 years!

August 23rd was my parents anniversary!  They have been married for 32 years, what an example they are to others.  Marriage is not easy, but NEVER give up.

Naturally being a Pinterest addict and loving crafts, I wanted to make them a gift.  So here is what I made. 

The left picture has the dates of all the family's birthdays and their wedding day.  It says at the bottom "what a difference a day makes".  What a true statement, those five days where life changing! 

The right picture is a wedding picture of my parents.  I printed on paper and mod podge it to a piece of wood, and then added ribbon.

WOW....It has been long!

 

Wow, it has been a very long time since I last updated my blog!  Since I have last updated a lot has happened.  I have finished my masters and now will be teaching technology applications!  I am very excited!  My brother, Ricky, got married to Amber and I have a niece Kayleigh who is 5 and a niece due at the beginning of December that we are very excited for!

This summer I took time off and did not teach summer school!  It was a great time!!!  I went to California for 10 days with family.  We had a wonderful time as my aunt and uncle showed us the great state of Cali. 

I also spent a lot of time doing crafts!  This is very therapeutic for me and love to do it. I went to yard sales, which I had not been to in forever, in hopes of finding things to do for crafts.  I will be sharing some of my summer crafts below.  I hope you enjoy.  I believe I may make this blog more of what my crafts are, but who knows what I will do.  Hope you enjoy looking as much as I enjoyed creating!  ENJOY!

This was created with crayons this spring, but thought I would share.

Got this cross from Hobby Lobby.  It is one that you can decorate how you want!

My wreath.  I decoupage the crosses with scrapbook paper.

This was a Pinterest project!

My reward jar for work.

My letter M I painted and blinged for my classroom.

These are "attention getters" I created for two co-teachers.  It has a joke to go behind it.

My new bathroom shelf.  I have the smallest bathroom they make, I do believe.

Server or whatever you want to make it.  It is a glass plate and candle stick I got a garage sale for $0.50 each.  I spray painted and glued together. 

My blinged "attention getter".

Colorado 2010

We left town Sunday morning and drove to Amarillo where we ate at the Big Texan.My dad outside of the Big Texan. It was a neat place to eat, the food was okay but not great.



This guy got great joy of embarrassing me by singing to me! No that is not red from heat but from pure embarrassment :)



This was the start of Day 2, Monday! A quick stop at the Cadillac Ranch and then off to Colorado.



After getting settled into the hotel we headed to Garden of the Gods it was beautiful!The following pictures are from Garden of the God's the first is Kissing Camels.



Day 3, Tuesday we went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, this is a place where Indians have dug out their homes in the Mountains. No they do not live their still, but you can go back in them and walk around it was really neat.
This is me standing in one of their very small "hallways".
After the dwellings we took the Cog Railway up Pikes Peak. It was very neat. This is from the top of Pikes Peak. It was beautiful!
My mom and I at the top. See we really did make it. Mom did not adjust to the altitude very well. So she was not feeling well at this point, but was a trooper :)
While at the top for a total of approximately 20 minutes and storm rolls in. It is rather strange being beside lightening not below it.

It is hard to see, but the white spots in this picture appear to possible be snow, but NO there was a hail storm while we were at the top of the mountain.Day 4, Wednesday, we spent some time in Denver, Colorado walking the Mall, which is a really neat place, we visited Hammond's Candy and saw how it was made, and then headed back to Colorado Springs. That night we visited Flying W Ranch where we ate chuck wagon food and had great entertainment.


Day 5, Thursday, we leave Colorado, but before leaving we went to the Royal Gorge. NO I did not walk across this suspension bridge. I though I could, but I chickened out about a third of the way across :) However I did ride the Incline Railway down into in and then back up and was very fine with that, but that bridge moved a little much for my comfort. Did you know that only 1 out of 5 boards are attached (that means 80% are not screwed down). That is part of the reason it can with stand so much wind force.

Day 6, on our way back home. On our way we detoured to the Palo Duro Canyon in Texas. It is known as the Grand Canyon of Texas. You can actually drive down into it, even camp if you would like. It was really neat and BIG!