Time to Potty Train!

A month or so ago I sat Jay on the potty before bathtime and he tt'd!! Well, I've been putting him on the potty every night before bath since. He's only tt'd a few times but seems to be getting used to the idea. He now tells me when he needs his diaper changed. It's so cute to hear him say poopoo. Once or twice he's even brought me the wet wipes.
Well, today he walked to the potty, opened it, and said tt. I put him on it and he actually did it!! Hopefully I'll be able to have him completely potty trained before the summer is over!

SUMMER!!!

Tomorrow is my last day of school until August!!! Today was the last day for students. I am so excited that summer is finally here, but I sure will miss this class of 6th graders. They were alot of fun and most actually enjoyed learning.

Beach Fun

Justin has been wanting to go to the beach for a few months now. He has been counting the days. He wanted to go before summer so that we could enjoy it while the beach was not crowded.
We finally had the chance to go a few weekends ago. We decided to go to Biloxi. It's not the nicest beach. There was seaweed everywhere and not the prettiest beach. The plus side is that it is close to home. It only took about 2 hours to get there.
The kids really enjoyed it. I think that Anna's favorite part was the hotel and swimming pool. While Jay enjoyed the beach and the hot tub. I know you must be thinking, Jay in a hot tub??? Well,the pool was pretty cold the second day so we decided to try out the hot tub. The hot tub actually felt like a really warm bath. It was wonderful!






I would like to go to Florida sometime after seeing how much the kids enjoyed it. However, it was a very nice get away from the house and our everyday lives.

The kids thought they were movie stars like Zack and Cody riding on the luggage rack.

2 days

We are working on day 2 of no passy. So far it hasn't been as bad as I thought. He went to sleep fairly easy last night and slept all night without it!! Yea!!! Now, if I can just continue to be strong and not give it to him. I'm not sure why, but I have kept it. I just need to throw it away so that I won't be tempted any more to give it to him.
It was very hard today for me not to give in. We went to the dr.'s office. He kept yelling. He wasn't being fussy or bad, he just wanted everyone to hear him talk. I wanted to plug him up so that the sick babies wouldn't have to hear him. LOL! Good thing that I left it at home!
We found out today that Jay has impentigo. It's a pretty mild case so far. He has this fever blister looking sore under his nose. They told me not to let him scratch or touch it. He hadn't even tried until I put the medicine on it today. I guess we'll be home again tomorrow since he can't go back to daycare until it clears up. :( I love being home, but I only have one sick day left for the year.

1000 words

The last month and a half has been very busy for us. We've been home twice to see family, sold girl scout cookies, rode horses, made our own pizzas at a resturant, hunted easter eggs, celebrated lots of birthdays, stuck our hands in the sides of cows (don't ask...), worked, played, gotten bumps and bruses, visited the state capital, had pink eye, strep throat, sinus and ear infections. I could keep going on and on, but I'll just let you see the picutures instead. I've always been told that a picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe I shouldn't have typed anything at all. :)

Procrastinating

I should be working on my portfolio that is due at the school board office by noon tomorrow. Two months ago I was voted Teacher of the Year for my school (2010...next year). There are a ton of requirements. I still haven't decided that it is truly an honor. It seems like more work for me to complete! I should be working on it, however, I am procrastinating!!
I haven't posted in a while, so there is lots to post about. However, I must get my rear in gear on this portfolio. I'll leave you with a picture or two.

Anna received a Paula Dean children's cookbook for Christmas. She has been quite the little cook ever since. Here she is with her first pizza. This was right before we put it in the oven. Boy was it yummy!!




A few weeks ago the Girl Scout's had the Best Guy dance. It is basically a father/daughter dance. It was a 50's theme. Anna was so excited to go to a dance with her daddy. They came home talking about all of the fun they had! Justin even did the limbo! Only for Anna would he do that. :)

Sick

Anna and I are both home sick today. Anna has strep and I have a sinus infection. I have never had one that felt this bad though. It does feel nice to sit and do nothing!

Birthday and Dust Mites

Last Saturday (17th) was Anna's 7th birthday!! Boy, my little girl is growing up! We had a very busy weekend. Friday night we had a girl scout cookie rally.

Here's a picture of our Daisy troop Friday night at the cookie rally.














Anna and 5 friends met at Build-a-Bear for her party. The girls had a great time! They picked out their bears (tigers and bunnys actually), warmed and inserted their hearts, stuffed them, bathed them, had a fashion show, and finally clothed them! Anna even got an extra bear that all the girls signed. It was a neat experience! But that's not all. We then headed to the food court for some pizza, cookie cake, and a carousel ride. It was a full day!


Here's a picture of the girls with their new bears.




















Here's how Jay spent Anna's party! No girly stuff for him!



















We were out of school Monday so we headed to the allergist for Jay's appointment. They tested him for mold, mildew, cockroaches (yuck!), grass, dust mites, and milk. Of all things, he's allergic to dust mites!! Do you know what kind of cleaning they want me to do??!! If any of you would like to come to my house and clean 3 times a week I would greatly appreciate it! :)

They told me that if it couldn't be wiped off or machine washed to get rid of it. I guess Anna will inherit all of his stuffed animals (which she collects!). They also told me if I could to rip out my carpet. Well, I can't. Unless any of you would like to donate to the cause. :) So, they told me to vaccuum often. He's not allowed back in the room for an hour afterwards. Also...get a air purifier, change his sheets 2 to 3 times a week, no fans, and he has to have Nasonex and his breathing machine every day. Wow! I'm overwhelmed again!

Pictures!

If you read my previous post you would know that Blogger would not let me post pictures earlier. That's ok b/c I found another way to upload. And this way I get to add lots more pictures!

I know I need to post, and it's not like I don't have things to post about. It's just that when I go to post something I can't think of what to say. :) We have been busy lately. Between Christmas, New Years, going back to school, and all of the meetings I've had lately it seems like we haven't stopped!

We have a very good Christmas!It was our first Christmas at home since Anna was 2. Anna was a little worried that Santa would not be able to find her this year b/c he has come to see her at Mimi's house for the past 4 years. Sure enough, he found us! Also, I cooked my first Christmas dinner: turkey, dressings, and the works! I must say that I impressed myself!

Even though we had already celebrated Christmas with our families we decided to go see them again the day after Christmas. We had a great time getting to see them before and after.

School started Monday, and I have to admit I did not want to go back. Imagine that! I am acutally home today b/c Jay came home yesterday and has pink eye. It's been a great day just me and him. We have enjoyed playing with his lawn mower and Elmo guitar and of course relaxing on the recliner!

** For some reason Blogger has decided it does not like my pictures of our Christmas and will not allow me to upload. I guess I will try again later. :)**

Merry Christmas!!!

I actually stole this from my sister-in-law, Miranda. It was too cute to pass up. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

SNOW!!!

We too had snow today! It was beautiful and lots of fun!
Long story short, we woke up to it snowing. An hour later, it was VERY heavy and covering the ground. My school was not canceled so we headed to school. After leaving the house, it was very obvious school should have been closed. Anna's school never opened however, my school did not close until 11. Meaning, I dealt with crazy kids and a 1st grader who so wanted to be at home.
We still had time to play a build a snowman when we got home. Yes, I know, our snowman is pretty ugly. But hey, we had fun!!!

Here's a picture of our house when we left for school this morning.















And here's Anna with her mini snowman. She built this right outside my classroom while I monitored snow crazy 6th graders.



















This is the poor pitiful snowman that Anna and I built.




















Of course, I can't leave Jay out of the blog. He really enjoyed playing outside. We used cookies for the eyes of the snowman, and as you can see he stole one before we could put it on.

Halloween and Haircut

This time last year, Jay was just 2 weeks old. He celebrated Halloween laying in my lap passing out candy. So, yesterday was the first time for he and Anna to trick or treat together. Anna was not happy at first having to wait on Jay, but as soon as we caught up with some of her friends she quit complaining. Jay walked taking in all of the excitement around him as Anna ran as fast as she could from door to door. Jay even walked to two doors holding his pumpkin basket like a big boy. Here's a pic of my little monkey dancing to his personal concert given by none other than the famous Hannah Montanna!



















Jay walked the first part of the subdivision all by himself. Eventuallly I scooped him up and walked with the rest of the group. As I was walking my arm went to sleep. That's what made me realize he passed out while costume watching from my arms. Anna and I had to walk back home to drop him off before finishing the rest of the subdivision. This is how we left him.


























Anna has been needing to get her hair trimmed. I called the lady who normally cuts our hair and the earliest appointment she had was 4 weeks away! It just couldn't wait that long. So, today we went to Wonder Cuts and got both Anna and Jay's hair cut! Anna just got her ends trimmed. I guess by looking at what I paid $10 for I need to learn how to do it myself.






















Jay on the other hand got his mullet turned into a big boy haircut! He looks so grown to me! Here he is in the chair like a big boy!























And here's a side pic of the finished product. He sure made the lady earn her money! He did not want to be still for anything. He wanted to watch everyone else instead!




















After I gave Jay a bath, Justin volunteered to put him to bed. Justin's idea of putting him to bed however, laying down with Jay in our bed and falling asleep together. After 10 minutes of no noise coming from our bedroom, I decided I should check on them. When I entered I found the Moss boys asleep. Bongo was even joining in on the fun. I thought this was too cute to pass up!



















One last thought....It was a year ago today when Jay first got sick. I remember how horrible it was to see my baby so sick and not being able to do anything about it! A year later, he is walking around a big bellied, happy, healthy boy! I could not ask for more!

No Longer A Baby :(

Last Saturday (October 18th) Jay turned 1 year old! Wow, how time flies! He had a really good day. He was able to share a cake and his party with my cousin's little girl, Olivia, who is 8. They all had a great time!












Then that night he got to share his birthday with Justin's grandparents' anniversary. We went out to eat and had them both a cake. Boy did he pig out! There was blue icing everywhere!!!




He is so much fun! He loves to dance, is walking everywhere, constantly giving me open-mouthed kisses, and smiles at everyone! Boy, if he could only stay this way forever!






Jay even got the new Elmo for his birthday. Here is Anna playing with it in the car on the way home. She sure does love her brother!!

Dancing to Kid Rock...

Sleeping Habits...

As promised I have taken more pictures of Justin sleeping with the kids. It amazes me that they can sleep this way! For those of you who missed the blog about sleeping positions, this is the way I find my family when I come home from grocery shopping.














I think I was actually at a girl scout leader's meeting this night. Anna was in her room and this is how I found the boys. Yes, Justin is asleep. At first I thought he was faking. I realized he wasn't when I took pictures and he didn't move! And no, Jay is not drinking that bottle. It's empty and just laying on his face.







This night I was actually home. I was putting Anna to bed, and Justin was putting Jay to bed. When I walked in the bedroom, this is how I found them.

Getting OLDer...

In less than a month my sweet little boy will be a year old. For the past few weeks he has taken a step here and there. Then on Saturday he walked the length of the coffee table.... 17 steps to be exact!! Soon there will be no stopping him!





Anna too is getting older. She started first grade this year and absolutely LOVES school! During the storm she commented that she was bored. When I asked her what she wanted to do, her answer was "Go to school!"

I am finding myself getting older too. I'm not sure why I thought my kids would but I on the other hand would stay young. :) Sunday I found my first gray hair!!! I'm 28...I'm not supposed to have gray hair!!!

Speaking of getting older... thanks to Gustav we were able to go home and visit old friends. We also got to go to my best friend's daughter's (Hana's) birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. It was alot of fun getting to see and visit with everyone. Dori, Stephanie, and I acted like little kids at the picture booth. Unfortunately, I don't have a scanner to show you those pics. But I was able to capture a pic of the two of them on my camera. Hopefully we will be able to do it again soon!!

Bedtime

As much as I want to write about my life right now, I need to go to bed. I just had to share this one picture first b/c I finally got my camera hooked up and pictures downloaded. Here is Jay as happy as can be that he got new pj's. Boy, if only we were all this happy over the simpliest of things!

Another Day Out

Teachers had to report to school on Monday to prepared for our students on Tuesday. Some idiot ran into a light poll that morning causing us to be without power again. Luckily it came back on and we were able to have school as planned.
The students were excited to be back, especially the ones that were still without power at home. School was their escape from the darkness I guess.
All of the food at school spoiled, and we had not yet received a new shipment of food. So the students were served MRE's and bottled water for lunch. Luckily, we received our shipment Tuesday afternoon b/c MRE's were hectic!! The teachers walked around with scissors during lunch cutting open bags that the students couldn't. Imagine 9 teachers helping open 219 students lunches...all of which contained numerous packages to open!!
Things are just now getting back to normal with the students, and now we are out again!!! They cancelled school today b/c of hurricane force winds from Ike. I'm hoping this is the last time b/c I sure am dreading making these days up in the future!

Makes me smile.....