Day 2 of 5 of single mom to 4; 2014 edition

Shit always begins to hit the fan on day two. 

Today started more how I expected....

alarms went off on every iDevice we have, I managed to sleep through them. Wayne called 4 times before I heard it ring. I went back to sleep for another 20 minutes even though I swear I had rolled off the bed and walked into the bathroom. Whatever.


The boys did their usual "I can't find any clothes" and "He said this, stole this, touched this..."



I got the lunches packed, the breakfast presented (I do not SERVE breakfast) and the children clothed. We made it out the door at the time we normally leave when we don't have to drop off Jake....so you can imagine how that went....there was no catching the buses at Mt. View today, instead we drove into Belle, dropped off Jake, drove out of Belle, over to Spear, dropped Andy off at Creekside, Zach off at West, Luke off at Kid Konnection and then parked myself at Mt. View.


It's career day here at Kindergarten...... we have mining engeneers, vets, cops, rock stars, fireman, Supergirl, chefs, cheerleaders, ball players, doctors, nurses, dentists, princesses, fisherman, hunters, farmers and of course, LOTS of teachers big and small!!!!

(By the way, totally dropped the ball on it also being career day for Zach at West....he declared his latest future career and strutted it proud today regardless of his bright green Old Navy fleece sweater as the attire, another obsession of the Spring- he plans to be Andy & Devin's BUTLER when he grows up. I shit you not, that is the kid's dream job for the better part of this year.) 




Someone loves us enough to leave fresh veggies and roasted red pepper hummus in the lounge, which is already gone at 9:30am. YUM!!! ....and there's a crockpot full of some sort of amazing smelling, presumably taco, meat in there too! YAY for not having to pack my own lunch.


My productivity for the week is slipping already and it's only Tuesday :/ It may not be the best day to give up caffeine but it's what I'm doing today...Go ME!!!


I managed throughout the afternoon, ran about a thousand errands and then took Zach back into the dentist. As you may recall, he hit has mouth on a slide at Watiki Saturday. It took him quite a while to fess up to what had happened. There was just blood pouring out of his mouth and he looked like hell. 

He was able to chew and didn't seem too bothered by it the rest of the weekend so I had put it off on priority one with all we had going on. Then this morning when we were getting ready for school, he came up to me and complained about his teeth still hurting. This reminded me I had intended to call the dentist yesterday. It was now top priority. On the way back to Belle after school, the boys were being boys in the back seat and Andy popped Zach in the mouth somehow. He was crying so hard he couldn't breathe!

 They were able to squeeze Zach in around 6pm. We got there early and read some very interesting books on teeth. Then both Jacksons checked out his mouth, checked x-rays and took pictures. In the end they decided to wait to do anything. They said his roots were wide open and could not be worked on right now, but if

he developed a blister, pimple looking thing above his teeth or if they started to darken in color he would have to go to a specialist and have them worked on with the possibility of his teeth dying. I was told yet again that he would need braces as well. He has an entire list of "don't eats" including apples, carrots, suckers, hard candy, gum, large bites of meat or anything that would require the use of his two front teeth or hard suction, the way

I understood it. In 10 days if there has not been improvement we are to go back. His front teeth used to severely overlap and now there is a gap between them!!! They are incredibly loose. AND YES THESE ARE

HIS TWO FRONT TOP PERMANENT ADULT TEETH!!!!!!! 














Yikes.

Wayne decided not to be shown up by his wife on a business trip and is currently at a Rockies game with a ticket much cheaper than mine and around as close to the field ;)

Visit Rapid City is displayed at the stadium. 




Jake has struck again.....

and again.....

He can now operate the microwave :/

and again....

wonder what the rabbit is thinking?

He has taken no less than 3 baths tonight and still went to bed filthy and muddy. He has this thing with diaper digging. It is absolutely disgusting and I have no idea what is wrong with him, but if you don't notice right away that he has pooped.....

If seen, shoo back to the yard.....

Straight from the tub, out the door into the mud.

He also got into the side yard mud hole twice tonight, caked himself in toothpaste once and soaked himself in the sink...if only that were after the toothpaste. Terrible two's are here to stay. 


Luke's Preschool/Kindergarten group do a "Where I Live" field trip this week where they go around to each house and find something (goodie) on the porch. 19 packs of sidewalk chalk are ready to go....

Last year it was day 2 of 5 of single mom to 4 while Wayne was at state wrestling in Watertown that shit started hitting the fan as well. Jake was 6 months old and got RSV from some of my daycare kiddos. He was bad. I almost called the ambulance twice when he wasn't getting any air and turning purple despite all his nebs and meds I was pumping through him. At that point everything about him stopped growing. His teeth that were coming up stopped, his hair quit thickening, his weight stayed the same 16#s for 3 months straight, his tube surgery was postponed because 6 weeks later he relapsed and flared up the RSV again (didn't even know that was something that could happen). Anyhow, back to 2014....this time Jake has allergies or a cold brewing (maybe due to the fact that he hops out of the tub and runs out the door naked as a jaybird), but nothing too bad, its someone else who has medical issues on the rise amongst everything else. 

We are all headed to bed and hoping for a great tomorrow :) 

Day 1 of 5 of Single Mom to 4; 2014 Edition

Wayne left this morning to Colorado for a conference on using some awesome laser cut machine (I think) with some fellow teachers. Basically it's a man cave men's trip with some hours of learning useful, fun and cool stuff. Honestly I can't wait to see how that machine works!! Some way cool stuff can be made and I want to learn myself. 

....and I can't say much because I went on a business trip last month that totally kicked ass (Philly- yet to be blogged because it was so big and so awesome). 


Here's Day 1:

Wayne was here for breakfast, which he made for everyone, had the lunches done last night, a roast in the crockpot and the sink clear of dishes. (All his chores, at least for this semester. I did lunches and breakfast last semester.... through Thanksgiving anyway. I keep hoping if I continue to shove more of it off on him he will want to buy hot lunches, or with any luck, give up entirely and let me stay home again <haha>). He took Jake in to daycare in Belle on his way into the High School as usual. All in all, we didn't feel our impending struggle yet. He rocked his exit.


The boys and I even got out of the house at 7:10 instead of 7:20 and were able to drop off the Preschooler first then park at the school and make the bus instead of flying down the hill and slamming on the breaks in front of the bus lane to keep the busses from pulling out while the older boys piled out, followed by a mad dash around the corner, up the hill and across the service road to the preschool and back just as quickly to rush into the building 5 minutes before the bell. I'm sure it was an illusion. It will not go this smooth the rest of the week. 


The school was crazy with all that is May. I spent most of my morning collecting calendars, compiling calendars, dissecting calendars, assigning staff to events and scheduling meetings. 

Luke visited the school this morning with his preschool....

It was lunch before I knew it. We had decided to order our local (and best) Mexican, Guadaljaras,  takeout for lunch to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.....

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!!





The afternoon went just as quickly doing the same thing, only in preparation for next school year. I received a text at some point which informed me that Andy's game was in fact tonight instead of tomorrow and he needed to be at the fields at 4:30. Great. On the up side, it's Teacher Appreciation Week and a wagon came around making us Italian Sodas. I chose Peach....mmmmmm!!!!

Then I had an IEP meeting, cleaned up and impatiently waited for the boys to get off the bus, hurried them out the door, grabbed the other 2 kids from 2 different towns and ran home to change.

We all got our gear, a cup of the roast meat, a jug of water, the camera and the stroller then flew out the door to the ball fields.....






















Andy is a magnet for head shots.


I found two of my students from Spear there.....

Jake was incredibly entertained all evening....

 




















A storm was rolling in....

Luke's on the green team this year.....

3 HOURS LATER......



We got home to find Vanilla's rabbit hutch open!!!! She was okay and wasn't eaten by the neighborhood cat, but I was LIVID!!!!!! The damn delinquent neighbor kids are going to catch the wrath of Miss Kandi soon. 


Next it was a snack, some homework and a thunderstorm.....

I LOVE ancestry projects and Andy came home with his first one. He had 3 questions to answer for my side and Wayne's side on which countries we originated from, about when did we immigrate, why and where did we first settle? 

After calling both grandma's and grandpa's, we filled in some gaps I couldn't remember and found out some new fun facts:


Wayne's Side....

Tonsagers came from Norway, possibly could have came from Vikings, kick ass!

Feterls were crooks. One branch changed his name multiple times to get more bank loans. Another evaded Germany to avoid the German Army. 


My side....

Walker's are royalty (King William Henery Howell of Wales & a Cornwall guy too) and the earliest Walker traced was Hillary B. Walker in 1782.

Amans were Pennsylvania Dutch Amish. Brushed that culture a bit in Philly and will gladly claim it. 


Here's one of our ancestry sites that tracks King William Henry Howell down to my great grandpa Leslie Howell. 

http://howellresearch.com/WmHenryHowell-NC_IA.htm

But I know there's one out there that goes all the way to Andrew himself that I would like to find for him to show at school. 

I found me here:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=maris&id=I264050 

Like I said, I like this stuff ;)

Currently my well hydrated and very talkative husband is annoying me on the phone and Netflix won't connect on Chromecast so I'm watching "Look Who's Talking". 



Overall....too busy to notice. Check back tomorrow. 

Final #s of the 24 Day Challenge last month....

I had a lot going on and never did get this posted, but I want to move on to a series on my Philly trip, so before I do that, here are the final numbers from my 1st Advocare 24 Day Challenge......

Still have work to do, but it's a start. 

Final #s lost: 8

I also forgot to take about a week’s worth of supplements which is HUGE. If I had taken them, I gaurentee I would have been in the 10-12lb range. As it is, I am saving them for after my next cleanse phase in May/June.

Final inches lost: no clue,

Wayne never did measure again for me. Noticeable amount though.

Final clothes sizes lost: 2

I can comfortably wear my jeans and I can get into my dress pants again….I’m not going to say those were ever or will ever be comfortable….they’re Dress Pants!!!

Did I think it was “worth it”?

The question I have been asked so many times along with 

“did it work”?

These questions go hand in hand….obviously it worked. I lost weight, inches and clothes sizes. I also had my cravings reset and formed new habits. I had more energy and felt less BLAH. This is exactly what I went into it for.

Examples:

I had a sluggish period mid morning and mid afternoon where I was just lethargic, groggy and unfocused. I also was ready to go to bed by 8:30 every night. When doing the challenge, I overcame the sluggish periods and was able to go longer through the day and get more done. It’s been a month since taking the supplements and I can feel myself slipping back to where I was energy wise. I finally ordered and received some spark and can’t wait to get back to drinking it every day.

I used to drink tons of milk a day, a pop a day, and craved things like chocolate, cream cheese products and comfort foods high in carbs and fat. Now I rarely drink milk (I get enough calcium), I don’t have to have comfort foods every meal and actually crave raw veggies and instead of chocolate, fruit for my sweet tooth.

I have been working for over a year to get back to running instead of walking. On the challenge I started a running regiment that works for me. It was the push I was looking for. I’m working up to running longer and farther verse walking parts. It feels amazing and has been a long time coming.

I have been approached with many weight loss solutions and diet plans. I have tried a few throughout my pregnancies and after. I also struggle with diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome, which are a deadly combination for a hell of a battle with weight, especially around the middle. Many are restrictive, don’t allow for the protein I need to maintain my blood sugar and most leave my feeling starved and unsatisfied. I can honestly say, any time you try any of these, that will likely happen for a few days but if you can make it through those days with Advocare, it provides you with a portion guide and suggested food list that is not terribly restrictive and meets dietary needs.

It was also not terribly exspensive. I’ve seen quite a few 10 day challenges or cleanses or whatever name they claim, which are far more pricey and more restrictive. I am not one who will ever entirely replace a meal with a beverage. I like my food, I need my food, I WANT my food. I can rock the right foods and the right portions, but I have to have food. The 24 days were less expensive than I’ve seen many 10 day challenges as well. I was able to purchase a 24 Day Challenge, an additional 10 day cleanse and a huge canister of Spark for less than what a friend paid for her 10 day challenge with another product that she could not finish because it was nearly all drinks no food. So, yes, again, I feel like this was the best option out there.

Now to stop sounding like an infomercial testimonial, I will quit trying to sell you on this product line. That’s not my intension here anyway. I am just sharing my story to hold myself accountable.  ( I kind of like my storyJ  )