January hasn't been too bad

I think the first half of the school year goes SO fast with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The second half...not so much. There is nothing until spring break in April. January has been ok so far, and I'm especially happy it is going fast. These next 9 weeks are going to be hard but at least I have something amazing and adorable to look forward to, my baby! Working is also hard when I am so big and tired but it also helps the time go fast. :)

Here are some random pictures from this month...

Sydney and my parents dog- Toby

swimming with the Jardines



I am going to keep up with scrapbooking this year with Project Life by Becky Higgins, YAY!

In-N-Out...sorry I don't see what all the hype is about, it's just a burger!

girls night with my collage friends! Carrie & Laura

Me and Mindy

Tom and Sydney's date making things with clay, she is SO good!

Summer's messy room, it has been messy since Christmas...

playing "Do you love your neighbor" for family home evening

Summer's yummy candy cane cookies for FHE

Savannah's date with Tom to the Bean Museum

they drew pictures of the animals

craft made at Relief Society meeting, love the theme this year

playing "Bean-go" at the Bean Museum, Tom's version of Bingo, the kids loved it!

Syd and Zack try to find all the animals



Savannah had the advantage since she was with Tom when he took pictures of all the animals



We decided to switch the kids' rooms around to be ready for the baby. Summer and Zack changed rooms and Savannah went back in with Sydney. It was quite the project! It took 7 1/2 hours on one day and the rest of the week to finish. Here is Tom and Zack trying to sift through his junk...

Zack's room is finished!

Summer likes having her own room and is excited to share with the baby

I got my hair done...still not sure if I like blond better.

A poem by Savannah, she is so cute! I read all of them during church last week and totally cried! She wouldn't let me put the poem about Buddy on here, so sad! This one says, "My Siblings. We always fight but we usually love each other. When we're away we miss each other. Siblings are your very best friends, don't you forget that. Although you might fight. My siblings"

this one made me cry. "Momies Pregnant! 2 years pass after the baby had died in mom's stomach. We've been waiting and hoping. We left the house and she said she was pregnant!"

donuts in bed on my birthday

Olive Garden dinner for my birthday-Yum! I barely fit in the booth!

divine chocolate cake from costco



love those brown eyes Sydney

Syd is so funny

I told the kids to shake their faces and I would take pictures- thanks Hannah for the idea. We were laughing SO hard! Zack wouldn't do it. Syd took the best pics! Did you know there is a website called shake face? Crazy!

Summer just looks glamorous!

haha Vanna!

Happy January! Hope I survive February!

Missing out- updated! :)

I know that I complain about having to work full-time, and I need to do so again, but I will end this rant on a positive note I promise!

Some things I feel I have missed out on;

-Being a mom. FIRST and most important I feel like I have missed out on Summer. She has been in daycare since she was almost 3. It was so hard to leave her everyday! It is easier now that she is at the same school as me. But teaching takes a lot out of me- energy, patience, emotional sanity, and just plain time consuming, and my family gets what's left of me...

-Hanging out with friends AND making new friends in my neighborhood. Before I worked full-time I would go out during the day with friends or have people over ALL the time! I am a social creature. I still get some socializing at work but it's not the same. I feel like even though I have lived here for 4 years I don't have any close friends. Plus the friends I have I don't get to see very often.

- Time. It's hard working full time because you only have the weekends to do all the cleaning/shopping/laundry etc.. So instead of spending fun family time on Saturdays it's now a bunch of chores! :(

- Expecting. Being my age, and health, and working has been really hard to be pregnant. If I was home it would be tons easier, and I would get more rest. I am afraid at how these last 10 weeks will be...

-Future. I don't know what the future will be with a new baby and I am nervous about it. I want more than anything to be home with the baby. We are praying hard about what to do.

On the positive side here are the things which have been blessings;

-Constant. In the past 3+ years Tom has had 4 jobs, with periods of unemployment. My job has been a blessing to have the income AND the health benefits! I know that without my job we would not be in our house right now.

- Kids. Being at the same school as my kids has been priceless. I see them more than if I was at home, they come see me at lunch and recess, I get to know their teachers and friends better. I love being at school with them.

- Teaching Special Education. It really is a blessing to me to be around such wonderful kids. I love them so much! I have had the same kids for 3 years. They are amazing. I also love that I get to work with some wonderful women. We have a great time!

-Tom. He reminded me that I forgot to put him on my grateful list. I feel bad!!! There is NO WAY I could work without his help! He gets up every morning and gets the kids ready and makes lunches, he does laundry and dinner and cleans. Sometimes having an OCD husband is really nice!!! And he does even more now that I am expecting. What a blessing to me! He takes good care of me and the kids!

That was therapeutic for me to write all this stuff down. So if you're still reading, wow. I hope those of you who work can empathize with me and those who get to stay home can appreciate what a blessing it is!

New Years Eve etc...

This was the day before New Years Eve, we went to my parents house and saw Landon and his family. Mary courageously gave up Landon for adoption 10 years ago, he is adorable! We have seen him several times during those 10 years, we went to his baptism too! He is such a sweet little guy! He has a wonderful family also. It is a sweet experience to see him.

Landon and Mary


Usually on New Years Eve we take the kids to a hotel and stay the night, swimming, playing games etc...this year we had to adjust because of my dental work/bill. :( But we still had a great time at home! We bought tons of treats- because we are trying to see how FAT we can really get over the holidays- and we played some of the new games that we got for Christmas. Jenga was more fun than I thought it would be! We played several times. Each time we tried to get the tower higher, I kept taking pictures because I wanted to get it falling, after 10 more turns I gave up.

um...the gluttony...





I got some great shots of Tom's game face!









Zack is into science stuff and loves his tornado maker!

playing the game of Life

Summer fell asleep at 11:52, she almost made it!

LOOK at the clock!!! It's 12:02am, 2010. All of us barely made it, wonder if the sugar low had anything to do with it


I tried to take a short video and Tom burped right when I started recording! Nice...