SOOOOOO SICK!

So if you read a few posts ago I mentioned my kids being sick.  It really seems like we have had at least one kid at a time with a cold.  Well, this run of it has been long.  Lexi got Logan's cold and is still coughing and miserable (at nights) and she is two and a half weeks into it.  Everyone but Alex and Dejah got it. I finally gave in and decided to take her to the Dr. today.  Without running a test he's pretty sure she has RSV.  We didn't do the test because the diagnosis wouldn't change anything.  She was sick for about a week and just when I thought she was getting better, she got worse. And her cough is awful.  The Dr. said it was two different viruses right in a row. Her breathing is good.  She isn't running any fevers. There is nothing he can give her for RSV.  Its pretty much a nasty three week COLD.  Yuck! So at this point she sleeps with a humidifier and gets nose drops.  She will probably have this for another week and a half.  Luckily she is not contagious anymore.

On to something a little more entertaining....Here is my kids in an all too real moment....Wishing Daddy a
Happy Valentines Day.

Just Kid'n Around

 

The other day a bunch of us Mommies decided to splurge and take our kids to this new play place in Meridian.  Its cheaper if you take a group, so that's what we did.  The kids had SO MUCH FUN!.....and so did the Mommies :)

We got there at opening (10am).......

.....and we stayed til 3:30!

 

Combined we had 15 kids!

I was too busy being lazy on the couches chatting away to take any "real" pictures.  But there was tons for the kids to do.  Dress up.  Climbing wall.  One of those big climb around gym thingys with some slides.  Art room. Toys, Toys, Toys!  And there is a gal that walks around constantly cleaning. (This would be my worst nightmare.....oh wait).  Anyway they serve food to you on the couches or you can sit at the tables.  Its was so much fun!

I've LOST IT!

When I say "IT"....I mean....

MY Groove!

My Rhythm!

You know....."IT"

So you ask, "Whats this thing you are talking about, and what brought this on?".  Well, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, a bunch of moms in the area go down to the church to do Aerobics and Zumba.  My old friend Katie from way back in college happens to teach the Zumba class.  She's tried to convince me to come, but getting myself and my little ones loaded and there is not an easy task.  Not to mention...I am just way too tired.  My other friend Megan has also tried to convince me to come.  So today.....I broke down and went to Zumba.  

(Katie and I way back in the day)

So there I was.  All dressed in old dusty "work out clothes" (tshirt and old pregnancy comfies).  So Katie gets the music going.  LOUD!  PERFECT!  I love it!  I thought, "Ok ok, I got this...cuz....I've got rhythm.  How hard could this be?  Like riding a bike."  So there Katie is.  She starts movin' and groovin'.  I try to mimic the steps then WHOOOA!  "What the Heck?  C'mon Hips!  You got this.  Just do what the beautiful girl up front is doing!"  I then try to redeem myself and continue on.  I get my feet moving, and I could just picture myself wiggling around like a crazy person.  I glance over at Megan and just start laughing and was completely honest when I told her "I feel like a fool!".  Seriously?  My body hasn't moved like this in over 10 YEARS!  I thought I would catch on pretty quick....apparently not.  So have you ever watched "So You Think You Can Dance"?  I felt like one of those girls, walking up on the stage all confident in her "ability", the music starts, she starts moving.....but wait....WHAT THE HECK would you call that?????!  Dancing?  I think not.  The judges send her packing and recommending dance classes!  That is ME!  But!  I've had dance classes (of course it was a long time ago).  We used to go dancing all the time.  It was such a surreal moment watching Katie move!  It was seriously like I was transported back in time.  She hadn't aged a bit and was just as lively and energetic as the day I met her.  Then there I was, OLD.  My body forgot how to move.  Anyway, I know it is not a competition there and I'm sure all the Mom's in that gym all felt the same way at first.  I just had to share my experience.  Hopefully I will be able to go more often.  It was SO FUN! 

Here is Katie way back in the day showing off her moves to us.  We had some good times! 

A Very Long/Sick Winter

Well I am posting this from my iPod. I've never done that before, so we'll see how it works. Anyway, I am pretty sick today. My head feels like it's the size of California, and no pain meds will touch it. My whole body aches. I am extremely tired but I can't rest because of the headache. A couple weeks ago I threw out my neck...again. This sinus crap is not making that feel any better. I've been avoiding any Dr. visits for it because I'm not really convinced that there is a magic treatment. Anyway,I am sitting here on the couch. Cartoons have been playing all day and the kids have had a free-fer-all on the pantry. Logan is climbing all over me and all I want is to be in a dark room sleeping on a massive cloud. But, as life is...moms don't get "sick days". I got this from my babies who got it from who knows where. Regardless, it feels like all of us have been sick more than once this winter....and they all blend into one big monster bug. Anyway, that's my fat complaint for today. I'm hoping spring will come soon a kick out the gloomy crud.

6 Months

Lexi is six months old this week.
Wow! Where does the time go?

A Bit Overwhelmed Today

A Poll was taken and the question asked was this:

If you had the choice to have a night on the town or a morning without kids, which would you choose?

I'm sure you know the answer to this, but just in case you guessed the 1st, you were wrong.

I am just having one of those days. I am tired. I am worn out. It almost doesn't matter if I am able to steal a couple hours out one of these evenings, I need a day! A week! Some serious R&R. I feel like I spend most of my days cleaning house and feeding kids....YET....my house NEVER feels clean, my kids are CONSTANTLY hungry, and I'm feeling a bit defeated. If I didn't have my wonderful husband to help me when he is around, I would surely have a Breakdown. Still today, I am overwhelmed, and I am feeling a bit emotional about it. I have four young children. Whenever I go anywhere with them I get "looks". Its pretty much impossible to go anywhere in public without some kind of "show" from my kids. Its also impossible to never go into public without them. Today I am tired of the whining. I am tired of the fighting. I'm also tired of the happy run around like crazy kids who must have been fed a bag of sugar for breakfast. To top it off, I threw out my neck again on Saturday. I am just tired and feeling really overwhelmed and thought I'd post it.

Its TERRIBLE and its TWO

Oh my boy! What am I going to do with you? Why do you have to enter my least favorite stage? You know what I'm talking about. Its the "Terrible Twos". I have one word to sum it up, "UGHHH"!

You see this video is just a brief glimpse at Logan when he wakes up. I'm sure its purely because he is related to ME. I absolutely CANNOT function before 7:00am. I am probably the MEANEST person you will seriously EVER meet if I have to wake up before that time. Anyway, on top of the grumpy morning business, he has MASTERED the art of Screaming. He does this every time I sit to feed Lexi. He does this pretty much anytime I can't give him my 100% attention. He is getting better a talking, but he's still working on it. In addition to the screaming, he hits me, he says NO, he throws his food. Grrrr. Lovely. So officially at 20 months old he is entering the terrible twos. It will probably last until he's four. Wish me luck on the next round. :)

Should I Be A Little Worried?

So about a month ago I noticed that blogger added something "new" to blogspot. There is now a tab that I can go to called STATS. In that tab I can see an overview of the traffic on my blog. It isn't specific about WHO exactly is looking on the blog, but it does tell me the country, the servers they are coming from (firefox, internet explorer, etc.), how many hits, what pages are being looked at, etc. I also have a counter on the blog that is a little more specific as to WHO is looking. But its nothing special. The Stats page gives me way more general information. So anyway I was looking at it the other day and here was part of one of the stats I saw.

Pageviews today 52

Pageviews yesterday 52

Pageviews last month 2,349

Pageviews all time history 20,827

There is an option to see WITH yourself included, and WITHOUT. Mine is set without. Of course this doesn't include Alex's laptop, or my Ipod Touch. Anyway, I was just casually mentioning to Alex that we had about 2300 hits last month on the blog. The next day he asked me if that worried me a little. I guess it didn't......UNTIL.....he mentioned it. I don't have any personal info on here as to where exactly I live. But I'm pretty sure I've mentioned Alex's work. My town. My State. Random things. The posts that get viewed the most are my Posts about Toddler Bunk Beds. It seems there must be a need for those, because I have YET to find a manufacturer that makes those here in the states. So anyone who Googles "Toddler Bunk" gets my blog on their search. So my big question is this.....Should I be worried? How many stats would you consider "normal" on a personal blog that isn't advertising anything. If this seems a bit excessive, what can I do without making my blog PRIVATE?

Re-arranged

This my friend, is my oober-undecorated not so lovely "Master Suite".
Don't judge. These things take time. Most people don't acquire all their worldly belongings over night.
But....I Do have plans for this space.

1st: Come Spring....have a painting party. Every piece of "wood" furniture will get a nice black finish...ie...paint. Night Stands, Dresser, "Desk", and a couple picture frames not shown in this picture.

2nd: Also part of the painting party....Those WALLS.

3rd: Windows. I need blinds, and I desperately want to replace those striped curtains...and raise the rod. Even If I have to make some new ones, those are going bye bye.

4th: As you can see. I have no bed set. (I used to when we had a queen). Alex is not a fan of bed sets, however, I am not a fan of seeing the mattresses and storage sticking out from under the blankets. I love white, so I'm hoping to get a White Down comforter. All other colors in the room are undecided.

5th: I have no headboard. Heres the fun part (if you can call it that). I have these bi-fold closet doors that I pulled out of my girls room. I hear that you can paint them and make yourself a headboard using those. See example in picture #3. If that doesn't work, I could always do the curtain idea. See picture #4.

This here is the dresser my kids were using. It broke. It lost all function as a dresser. I had a friend suggest I try it out as a desk. What-do-ya-know....it works. We stuck the book shelf in the closet because the babies are ruining our books. With a nice paint job, it should look great.

This here is my "example room". I like the colors, I LOVE the head board...only the furniture will be black.
Here is the "curtain idea". Not my favorite, by far not the best colors. But you get the idea.



Now on to the GIRLS ROOM.
Lexi has been sleeping in the Laundry room (or wherever) in a little pack-n-play. I think she would be more comfortable on a bed, so Dejah is getting the boot from the toddler bunk and graduating to a twin. I decided to put all the girls together. There is no way I will suffer putting the babies in the same room. Here is a shot from the top bunk looking at Dejah's new bed. I got the cute bedding from a friend. So CUTE. I had to take the closet doors out to make room for the dumb TV. I never thought I would have one in my kids room, but sometimes it is a necessity for my sanity. They really don't watch it often, but it is a must have.

Lexi will be on the bottom bunk, and Mycah on the top.

Here is our replacement dresser. We bought from another friend. I LOVE IT!

Now, onto my plans for Lexi. She needs a crib. So does Logan. We only have one. I have another friend who had a broken crib. She gave it to me so I could use the walls on the toddler bunk. To the floor, they are the perfect height.
Seen below.

The problem is they need to go next to the mattress (inside).
Seen below.

Now it is too high. I would never be able to change the bedding or even get her in and out. What to do???? I would LOVE any ideas.
I want to make it right and paint it white.
This doesn't need to be done right away, but soon.
Before I put Lexi in there I'm gonna need a baby monitor. So if anyone has one they want to be rid of or sell for cheap, I could really use it for a few months.
Wish me luck on all this.
I seriously can't WAIT for spring.

"Things Are Bad"

I have many friends in the education system. With that, so are MY CHILDREN. I copied this from a friend's blog. Please read it over. Pass it along if you want. Is there something we can do?

So, you may or may not have heard about the proposed changes to the Idaho Education System proposed by our superintendent, Tom Luna. I am not one to use this blog for political things very often, if ever, but besides the fact that my family and many of my friends and students are involved in the education system here, I really think that this stuff is wrong. I know there isn't enough money, there never is. BUT spending it on stuff like this and proposing changes like this is not the answer. I am summarizing some of the propositions that have been made--and inserting my personal perspective, being married to an educator who spends 12 hours a day working for his employer, the Meridian School District.

How school funding in Idaho works:
In Idaho, funding is tied to what you might think of as a classroom: for each classroom, a district receives money to hire a teacher, some support staff, and enough money to pay for the principals that will supervise all the staff in a school building. In addition, each classroom receives money that is used to pay for heat and light, books and supplies, staff health care benefits, and the 15% of busing costs that are not directly paid by the state.

THE BIGGEST PROPOSED CHANGE:
Increasing the class size in grades 4 through 12 AND reducing the salary it pays to teachers, administrators, and support staff.
Current Teachers: 1832
2012-2013: 1700

Current Administrators: 125
2012-2013: 116

Current Support Staff: 625
2012-2013: 578

So, by enlarging classes AND cutting teachers, this is what the total change will be:
Grade 4 current average class size: 27.4
Average 2012-2013 class size: 31.6

Grade 5 current average class size: 27.9
Average 2012-2013: 32

Grade 6 -8 current: 25.12
2012-2013 average: 28.5

Grade 9-12 current: 24.1
2012-2013 average: 28.2

So this reduces the money Idaho GETS from the government by cutting down our class sizes, reduces how many teachers are getting paid, and increases the amount of student each teacher has per class, meaning less personal attention and one-on-one help from the teacher.


ADDITIONAL CHANGES:
The proposed changes at high school include a requirement that students take 1 out of 6 required courses online. These online courses will be taken at school, but without a certified teacher in the classroom. As a result, the number of students needed to fund a classroo mwill increase by .5 in grades 9-12 for three additional years.

REVENUE IMPACTS:
By increasing class sizes, adding online classes, reducing certified teachers per room, and all the other above proposals, the district will receive $2,567,536 total dollars LESS than the amount received today for the same enrollment. This places our revenue at pre-1998 levels.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME! Why would we possibly support a plan that sends us back 13 years?

HOW THEY WILL SPEND THE MONEY THEY'RE "SAVING":
-Merit pay system. Teachers will be able to earn additional income based on student test data.
This basically means that teachers will now be entirely teaching TO TESTS, and even if they are good, caring teachers who work hard, they will constantly be in jeopardy of losing their job due to something beyond their control: students taking tests. If a teacher has an unlucky draw and has a higher than usual percentage of "lazy" students who don't study for tests and therefore fail, the teacher is the one terminated due to something they can't control. There are BETTER answers to this than test-taking merit-based pay. Like, what about those supervisors at the schools getting paid 3 times what the teachers get? Can't they come up with a fair evaluation system that THEY do??

-Provide a laptop computer to all incoming freshman starting fall 2011.
This is a huuge waste of money in my opinion. EVERY freshman getting a laptop, and being required to take online classes? There are some kids out there who that laptop is going to be ruined in .02 seconds. Did they add in the additional IT support it is going to require to have thousands of students ALL working on district-provided laptops? Not to mention there is not accountability to a teacher in the online class system, and that is REALLY important to a lot of kids on the "fringe" of succeeding or not.

-Restore the salary grid. Teachers will receive the additional pay for experience and education that has been frozen for two years.

-Invest in classroom technology. Things like white boards, clickers, projectors, etc.

-Pay for dual college credits earned by students who have completed the state graduation requirements by the end of their junior year.

The 3 ideas above are good ones! I approve. What I don't approve of is how they're getting the money for this, and the other things they want to spend it on. So, that is why this is NOT the proposal we want to pass! They can make improvements! And don't forget, this is YOUR money they are talking about spending here. And even if you don't work in the education system, you probably have friends who do. Beyond that, if you don't have kids in school, you probably will sometime, or grandkids. This will affect everyone.

How can you help?
The bills implementing these changes will be introduced in the Senate Education Committee.

Public testimony is first scheduled for Monday, February 7 at 3 pm in the Senate Education Committee (the committee meets in the West end of the new below-ground section of the capital building). The testimony will continue for 4 days. Individuals can sign up to speak and will be given 3 minutes to testify.

Emailing representatives is also effective way to communicate. Although every email may not be read personally, staff members tally comments both for and against. Providing email testimony in support of some parts of the measure and against others is acceptable and is accouted for.

In particular, the members of the Senate Education Committee need input first. The members and contact information follows:

John Goedde, Chairman
jgoedde@senate.idaho.gov

Monty Pearce
mpearce@senate.idaho.gov

Chuck Winder*
cwinder@senate.idaho.gov

John Andreason*
jandreason@senate.idaho.gov

Mitch Toryanski
mtoryanski@senate.idaho.gov

Nicole LeFavour
nlefavour@senate.idaho.gov

Edgar Malepeai
emalepeai@senate.idaho.gov

Russell Fulcher*
rfulcher@senate.idaho.gov

Dean Mortimer, Vice Chairman
dmortimer@senate.idaho.gov

* denotes those who represent a portion of Joint School District No. 2

Original Post:
http://collinandtonya.blogspot.com/2011/01/things-are-bad.html