My mantra...tomorrow will be better.

I wouldn't have thought a 4 and 6 year old could have so much control over my emotions but, again, I would be wrong about something!
This ultra shitty week is a culmination of my kids being extremely picky as well as unappreciative and me being uncommonly sensitive to the crap they're throwing my way.
I would like to think it will all end when the week ends tomorrow, but really, that would be a dim light at the end of a dark tunnel.

I now am holding on to the hope that something comes along to lift my spirits and/or help me look at the bigger picture.
Because right now, I'm not only feeling sorry for myself, but I'm also beating myself up for being such a sissy and feeling sorry for myself.
Dammit.

Tomorrow just has to be better.
I hope this weekend is half as good as last weekend.

On a happier note, I quenched a thirst I'd been having lately and it feels so good! On Wednesday I started decorating the house for Christmas. Not the outside, just the inside. The funny little thing that started my Christmas craving was those kids toy books that came in the paper Sunday. Damn those retail stores! I remember as a kid how much I used to enjoy looking through the JCPenny or Sears toybook and just get lost in dreams about all the cool things I wanted. The girls did the same thing with the books that came last weekend and Madison has been looking through them all week.
I also baked cookies with the girls on Wednesday and watched Home Alone.
We baked some more cookies this morning, watched Polar Express and also got some more decorations out of the attic.
The girls are becoming quite the little kitchen helpers.

Chloe learned how to crack an egg.

And she did fantastic!!

When the cookies were baking, Mark spent some time with them with what he enjoys.

Other than that our weekend was filled up with me having a Tastefully Simple party for a friend on Friday night, going to the local zoo/museum with Madison and her Daisy troop Saturday morning and then going down to a neighbor's house Saturday night for dinner and cards. Today was the cookies, decorating and baking. As well as Mark washing and waxing the car and watching some football.
What a wonderful weekend!

Madison’s school does an award ceremony after each semester and award kids for Super Citizen, honor roll and perfect attendance. We hadn’t realized she had perfect attendance the first nine weeks, but she did! We promptly ruined her chances for that award in the 2nd nine week period though with our recent trip to Disney. She made A honor roll and got a Super Citizen award! I’m honestly surprised at how well she’s doing in school. I know she’s smart, but things come so easy for her and yet she still complains at how hard it is.
This was her the afternoon of the awards ceremony.

Her school had spirit week last week too and this day was crazy hair day. She really got into the whole spirit week thing. She mainly liked that I colored her hair on hair day and red, red, red day. For some reason I didn’t get a picture of red day though. Well, actually by that day last week I was a ball of stress so I know the reason I didn’t get a picture. More on that later.

The girls kept with their pirate costumes for Halloween and had a great night hanging out with friends and pigging out on candy.

This was them at our door. Mark stays behind and hands out the candy, they even treated him with a not so nice trick or treat song.

The stressful part of my week was concerning our transportation. Back in June we had to put 4 new tires and get new brakes for the truck before heading to my cousins wedding. It wasn’t a big deal because the truck was paid off and was our only vehicle, but still the bill was a big one to choke back. Then over the summer some lights started coming on that couldn’t be explained. After 3 trips into the mechanic putting the truck on their detection machines, nothing could be found wrong. Now, the truck was at 111, 000 miles so it’s done it’s fair share of running, but then last week the transmission went up. By went up I mean it took a while to catch into reverse or drive. I had to crawl my way up to 45 mph and this saga lasted only one day before we were borrowing my parents van. Again, we only have one car, we only need one car, but that one car HAS to be dependable. We got the truck up to the mechanic and got the news we were expecting, but not wanting. So, we made the decision not to pour more money into the truck by replacing the transmission all the while not knowing what will go wrong in another 4 months or so, and put the money toward a new car instead. I am not a vehicle person. I don’t care what I drive as long as it drives. So car shopping for me was like a trip to the gyno. Uncomfortable but necessary. I’m glad the car sitting in my garage works, but I’m not happy we’re back to a car payment again. It sucks quite honestly.

While all this was going on, Mark got a call that his granddad had passed away. Most of his family is in Maryland and while we would have loved to all go up there it just wasn’t feasible. So, Mark flew out yesterday and will be back tomorrow. The girls are not good with change. Madison’s teacher told me she’s feeling the effects of her Daddy leaving. She said Madison has been real needy and seemed consumed with him leaving. All week the girls have been asking endless questions about his trip, the airport, the plane, dinners without him, when he’ll be back, the funeral and everything else concerning these two days he’s gone. They really miss him. Not that I don’t, but there’s so much going on here and he’s only going to be gone two nights, I’m pretty distracted lately. The girls had dance last night, I’m bringing the car to have the windows tinted this morning, we have Chloe’s school festival tonight and they have friends coming over Saturday morning at 7am thank you very much! I’m watching a friends kids while she runs a local 5K. Mark was supposed to run as well since it’s a benefit for fallen law enforcement officer families, but he’s not flying back until Saturday afternoon. We do have a date planned when he gets back though. That same friend is taking the kids for the evening!

So, our last two weeks have been busy, stressful and unfortunate. I’m hoping the next few are different.

Silly cousins! The girls were very happy to see their cousins.

Chloe's first pin trade!!

A glimpse into the future perhaps?

Grandma and Madison on Aladdin's carpet ride

Poppop and Chloe on the carpet ride

Our pirate girls headed out to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

The beginning of the halloween parade

Daddy enjoying a dance party with his girls

Waiting for the fireworks show

The whole gang in front of the castle

The girls got such a kick out of me getting my face painted with them. Madison picked my design and Chloe gets to pick next time.

Can't leave for the night without saying happy halloween to Mickey!

The girls weren't doing bad for 12:45AM!!!

Up bright and early the next day taking advantage of our last morning there. Notice Mark's morning beverage...it helped a little.

Chloe's new favorite ride....Goofy's Barnstormer rollercoaster!

More pressed pennies on this trip as well. Thanks to Nonny and Pops hookin' the girls up with rolls of quarters!
Nothing like paying 51 cents and getting a mangled penny in return

One last happy parade on our way to the exit.

On our way home Saturday from a birthday party Chloe went to, the girls and I headed to the pound (a different one) to look at cats. I’m more of a dog person, but I certainly find cats adorable, and after the last year fiasco with Bella I have come to realize the girls personalities are more suited for cats or maybe just an old dog who wants to lay around all day and be loved. I’m a little gun-shy so to speak about bringing home another dog just yet though. They want a playful friend who will also cuddle. The animal’s size may have something to do with it too since the girls aren’t rough and really hated when Bella ran into them knocking them down.
So, after taking a few kittens out of their crates and testing their personalities, the girls fell in love with not just one, but two kittens. They are 5 months old, brother and sister, and they are the most adorable and funny little creatures. They have already accomplished many things including distracting my sad thoughts, making us all laugh with their crazy little antics and as far as cats go, these two are really great. They’re already litter trained, they get along so great with each other, they loved the girls instantly and I hate to admit it, but I can see the girls have more of a connection with them in one evening than they had with Bella after a year. They are so in love!

The girls slept together last night and when Mark went in to check on them, he found both kittens sleeping by Madison. Madison has claimed the girl and named her Daisy (Madison is a Daisy girl scout) and Chloe happily claimed the boy and named him Dewey. She has always liked my parents cats and one of them is named Dewey.

I still miss my Bella girl very much but it was sure great to wake up this morning to these little cuties playing with each other and then purring in my lap.

Since the plants in there are all new, it's not that filled in, but next summer....look out! The birds already go nuts over there and I have yet to look over there and not see butterflies flitting around. Well, I should take that back. I was out on the patio at 4:30 this morning having my coffee and I didn't see any.

Madison is enjoying school a lot more this past few days. Her class however has gone through a lot of changes for little guys. The original teacher, as you know, went out for maternity leave. Then they had a sub that was supposed to be there for the 6 week duration, but she was offered a full time permanent position at a different school, so her last day was last Friday. No loss at all in my book. I don't usually like to judge teachers because they have a very tough job and honestly I've never walked in their shoes, but I judged her as terrible for teaching a first grade class. She'd be better suited for high school, or maybe a prison guard. A new sub started this Monday and she is fantastic! She is so much like the original teacher and the kids warmed up to her almost immediately. She has a son in first grade and she doesn't take her job too seriously. I think that's very important if you're teaching 6 and 7 year olds. Have fun people!
I know I'm her mom and I'm biased, but Madison is really a good girl in school. At home is a different story, and a different Madison, but at school, she's a serious little student and a smart little peanut. The first day the new sub was shadowing the old sub was last Thursday and I was there volunteering. She came up to me and commented on how helpful Madison is and what a great reader she is. I didn't care what she said, I cared that in one day she seemed more observant than the other sub did in 3 weeks.
Madison is doing much better this week and I'm looking forward to going in to volunteer today since I won't feel like I'm walking on egg shells with the drill sergeant.

My girls are becoming little divas too. Both girls love looking pretty, having hair accessories and wearing jewelry. Madison is a lazy fasionista though. She won't pick out the outfit but she wants me to make her look cute. Chloe on the other hand not only tells me what she wants to wear, but she always matches quite well. She'll search her drawer until she finds socks that match her shirt and she'll only wear the shoes that look good with whatever she's wearing, even if it's just shorts and a t-shirt, her shoes matter to her.

Chloe wanted to wear this hair scarf thing and would not leave the house until I found the missing dress that it went with. I had a different outfit picked out that went just fine with the scarf, but nooooo, it had a specific dress and it had to be found. Thankfully Madison saw it a few weeks back hanging in the extra closet in Chloe's room. Right now that closet is storage and a few random dresses are hanging in there, but I have a feeling Chloe is going to want to claim both closets as she gets older.

Well, I'm off for another morning of fun at Madison's school and then groceries and cleaning. The cooler weather has me inviting people over again so Madison's teacher is bringing over her new little girl tomorrow for a playdate and Saturday we're having a cookout with my friends Melissa and Wendy and their families.
Good stuff!

It's all gone down now and while the yard is still a bit messy from it all, I'm hoping we can go out there today for the girls to play.
Madison's class missed outside recess everyday this week except Friday because of the rain. One day it was taken away all together, meaning they couldn't play in the room or watch PBS Kids during the recess block, because the class had it taken away. I swore to myself I was going to leave her teacher alone during the maternity leave, but on Tuesday when I saw her in the parking lot picking up her other daughter from school I found myself complaining about the substitute's recess punishment deal. As soon as the words left my mouth I wished I hadn't said it, but her teacher was surprised and on Friday (when the rain finally stopped) only a few kids had to sit out recess for acting up rather than the whole class. Her teacher had come in to see the sub on Thursday and Friday so I'm assuming something was said to her. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? Well, I squeaked.
So, between finally getting to run around outside at school, knowing the weekend was here and she didn't have to write for two days and then seeing her Nonny in the car at parent pick up, Madison was having a fantastic afternoon yesterday!

And as for Chloe bear she's pretty much always having a good day. She has the occasional fit, but life is still really sweet in her world. She did however break down when Nonny was leaving. She cried and cried and wouldn't let go of Nonny's neck. We worked through it and reminding her of our Friday night movie and popcorn deal helped.
Mark works DUI checkpoints just about every Friday night so we have a girls night cuddled up together watching a movie and pigging out on popcorn. We all love it!

We got Chloe's room done last week, here’s her room all put together with new yellow walls and blue bedding and curtains.

It took me the entire week to put their rooms back together. I pulled out every toy, book, game, puzzle and stuffed animal they own and put everything back with the right box, the right pieces and in the right room. I feel like all I do is look for things for them and hopefully for at least two weeks they can find their own crap in their own rooms! I’d like it to last longer, but I’m not stupid.

Here’s Maddy’s room put back together and everything put away. I think I took the pictures just to prove how it can look and remind myself of all the hard work I once did.

On Wednesday we painted our bathroom. Here’s the before with the same dull gray the whole house was built with

here’s the after picture

I took that picture before all the chocolate colored accents were added. Like a rug, towels and shelving. The curtain will be a dark brown too, but I haven't found the material that screams out at me yet.
It was bit lighter of a green than I thought it would be, but Mark likes it and it’s growing on me.

So, we've stayed busy the past two weeks powering through all the rainy days, Madison got an excellent progress report and as silly as it sounds, football season started! I love Sunday football and the feeling of lounging around all day smelling the pot roast or other yummy lazy day meal in the oven.

I love that family time!

On a slightly different note, I am loving my volunteering jobs this year. I go in Mondays and do pullout reading groups for Kindergarten. There are six classes and I pull out about 6 kids at a time from each class to teach some reading comprehension and small group work. I work with the high groups first and then go back around to each class and pull out another 6 kids (average) at a time for the medium/high level.
On Tuesdays I run the Sunshine Math for Kindergarten. Which is an enrichment program to teach kids problem-solving skills as well as critical and creative thinking. Again, I pull out a small group of kids from each class and work with them.
Then, on Thursdays I work with First Grade doing their fluency testing and helping individual kids when needed so they get some one-on-one reading and writing help.
I enjoyed volunteering last year, but this year I feel I'm being given more substantial tasks and I love it!

And, like I said before, being involved in the school helps me have a very good idea of what Maddy deals with and I like having the first-hand knowledge on some things that I wouldn't have otherwise.
It doesn't change what she goes through and it doesn't change how she feels about school, but it helps me be more sympathetic.

Yes, I'm the dork who has to take a picture of her hand touching the stage!

The girl with us took this picture of Kenny's backside and I'm so glad she did!

Kenny and Miranda singing a song near the end