Easter Basket Preview

This year Kaleb's Easter basket is going to be really fun. He's at an age now where he can play with toys and try new things without me freaking out that he's going to hurt himself. So here's what we're planning for his basket this year:

 Play-Doh because he's never had any before. I've been too scared he'd eat it.

 A monster truck...obviously. We've actually already bought this from Cracker Barrel. It's not this exact one, but it's something similar, only yellow.

 A bat and ball. He played Wii baseball a little bit and thought it was super fun and now he's using a drumstick and bouncy ball to play. I think it's about time to get some a "real" bat and ball.

 Skittles are his new favorite treat (wonder where he gets that from). He gets them when he goes to the potty. He just saw the picture on the blog and asked for some. I don't really want to chock his basket full of candy, but he needs a little something.

We also already got him this. It's a big boy cars cup.

Depending on how full his Easter basket is after all of this, we may add some other things like bubbles, some clothes, and books. And who knows? He may get really interested in something between now and then. I can't wait to put his basket together and show it to him. Since I got rid of my fancy Internet phone and my camera doesn't quite work right now, pictures are on hold til I can work something out. :( sorry

At A Loss

Well, it's happened. My sweet, perfect little boy has become a biting, kicking, screaming, crying, stomping, hitting toddler. It started a little earlier when he would hit us or someone at daycare occasionally. We would reprimand him and tell him it was bad and that he should be a sweet boy. It has now become a more and more frequent occurrance. Today he got in trouble for it so much that I had to go get him from daycare. I don't want him to be the kid no one wants to play with, but I can't figure out what's going on. Right now we have two theories. 1- We spank him when he's acting out so maybe he thinks that hitting is acceptable when someone does something you don't like. When we ask him why he hits or bites he always says because s/he (insert something he didn't want to be happening). I guess in his mind if Mommy and Daddy can hit so can he. 2- He wants attention. Eric's gone alot for band stuff and I have homework and schoolwork so maybe he feels like he's not getting enough one-on-one time. In either case, what we're doing isn't working so we're going to have to change something. Instead of spanking or pinching we're going to try a different form of punishment. Anytime he hits, kicks, bites, etc., he's going to go straight to time out. If he gets a bad report from daycare or continues to do a behavior after being in time out, he's going to lose priviledges. He lost his trucks and Cars movies today. I don't know if he's old enough for this type of "grounding," but we're going to try it. When he's being good we're going to give him a lot of good attention. Eric and I are going to try to be more deliberate about the time we spend with him. We'll try this out and reasses at a later date.

Updated House in Picture Form

 This is our guest bathroom. We've had the shower curtain for a little bit and now we have some towels that match. Thanks Happy!

 This is the guest bedroom. It's yellow, black, and white. Such trendy colors these days. There are a couple of black and white Ansel Adams prints on each side and a side table beside the bed. In the corner there is also a chair with a red cushion.

 This is our kitchen with our new dishwasher~ yay! We've got things pretty cleaned up so it looks like there is a lot of room.

 In our living room, we took out the loveseat and put it in the office (scroll down a little further). This makes the living room look a lot bigger. We're going to have a hard time trying to keep it clean though. That little guy is pretty intent on playing/making a mess.

 This is our chest of drawers in our master bedroom. Some fresh flowers Eric got me for Valentine's Day along with a biography of Audrey Hepburn sit on the top.

 This is our bed and my new picture that I got for Christmas. I'm kinda loving it.

 Here is the loveseat in our office. There is a side table and a lamp beside it that go with the pictures Amelia painted for us.

And finally, the office side of the office. We painted the walls a light gray instead of the copper that it used to be. All in all it's a lot more open and spacious-feeling.

Project Update

SCHOOL: Update - This project is done! I've turned in my portfolio for my art class and my next class starts in a couple of weeks. Correction. My LAST class starts in a couple of weeks. What?! Seriously?! Yup. My last class. I take comps March 31 and when I pass I'll be very much on my way to having my Master's degree.
New Project - No new project for now. Right now I'm just going to chillax until my next class starts.

COOKING: Update - I made the sausage/cream cheese/crescent roll pinwheels for the Super Bowl Party. They turned out pretty good actually. I bought enough to make two batches in case the first batch turned out gross, but it didn't. I guess I'll make some more tonight to take to school tomorrow. Maybe not.
New Project - I'm going to try making a cake of some sort. Something from Family Circle. I don't know what yet though.

A Project Project

I always have all these things I intend to do but never get around to. My projects. So now I'm going to try a little project experiment. I'm going to categorize my projects and not move on to another one until the one I've already selected is finished. That makes sense right? So my current project categories are "House" "Cooking" "Kaleb" and "School." These can change at will...depending on the project I want to do.

HOUSE - The project for the house is broad. Get it ready to sell. My very generous in-laws bought us a dishwasher so hopefully when that is installed we'll be able to talk to the realtor. I guess that means my deadline for getting the house ready is whenever the dishwasher is installed.

COOKING - I want to make the sausage rolls like Mrs. West used to make. Not the sausage balls, I already know how to do those. And this shouldn't be very difficult either. I'm pretty sure it's just sausage, cream cheese, and crescent rolls. The trick is going to be remembering that I want to do it and then finding the time to make them.

KALEB - I found the idea on Pinterest (of course) and thought it would be a good new project to undertake. I'm going to make an ABC book for him (and any other kids that may or may not come along the way). Each letter of the alphabet is going to correspond to a Bible verse. When we go through the book I'm going to say the letter and the verse. I'm trying to keep them simple so that he'll be able to learn them quickly. So far I've picked out all the verses I want to use except V, W, and X. There are some websites that have example verses for something like this, but none of the ones for those letters felt right. I figure I have a bunch of letters to get to before those so I'll just search while I'm working on the other ones.

SCHOOL - This is also a broad project. My goal is to finish my artwork and my lesson plans. This project has a very definitive deadline...February 2. That's when my portfolio is due. After that, I don't know what my project will be. I might do away with this category until something comes up.

Mommy Guilt

The past couple of days I have felt such mommy guilt. I come home from school totally exhausted, patience used up, and just needing to lay down. Of course, the 4 hours between when I get home from school and bedtime are the only times I see Kaleb everyday. I should be neglecting myself and spending time with him, right? I know that's not an option all of the time, but it should be at least some of the time. I mean, when I get home all I can think about is getting under the covers or about how much homework or housework I have to do. I know I can do that when Kaleb goes to bed, but let's face it, kids are exhausting. And after spending 8 hours with 20 kids that aren't my own, I feel too drained to spend time with my own. I know! It's horrible! But that's the reality of a teacher/mom. I've always said "No way!" when anyone asked if I would be a stay-at-home mom if I had the chance because it's the hardest job in the world and I crave adult interaction, but now I'm seeing the benefits for kids of parents who do choose to stay home. This was just a rambling of emotions I've been feeling lately.

Slow and Steady

We've been getting the house ready to put up for sale. We've painted the office so now we have to get all the excess stuff out, stage it, vacuum, and organize. That should be done this weekend and then I'll post a picture of it. We've also hung another shelf in Kaleb's room for his board books. Low enough for him to reach them so he can clean them up himself. We still have to clean out the top of his closet, do some touch ups on the wall, and vacuum. All that's left in our room is to hang the awesome picture I got for Christmas and take out the bookcase that's acting as a night stand. (It's going in the office where the tall bookcase is now) The guest room is pretty much done, too. We've got to hang a picture or two and that's basically it. The kitchen and living room are basically done. It's just going to be a matter of keeping everything clean while the house is on the market. The biggest places we need to work on are the office and the landscaping. We'll need to trim hedges, cut monkey grass, plant a tree, mow the yard, edge, and plant some colorful flowers. As soon as I get rooms finished, I'll post pictures.