Clifford Day and Strep Throat

I'm starting this post with a few random pictures that didn't really fit into any other post. I like it when I'm posting on a regular basis and talk about our week or day, but when I get behind, I have a million pictures that I want to share that don't really go with anything.

Carter wanted a picture before school.

I make the boys beds in the morning. It was something I had wanted them to do when they turned four, but since their beds are so high, I figured that they couldn't, so I never even tried to get them to. One day I was making Carter's and Evan said he wanted to make his and went into his bedroom and made his just fine. He climbed up on the bed when he couldn't reach and was able to make it all by himself. I am awful about assuming they can't do something and just doing it for them, or doing it for them because it's easier/quicker for me, so this was a good reminder for me to stop doing that.

 

 The boys playing with dinosaurs one afternoon.

One day Carter was upset and I was holding him and Evan came over and started rubbing his back and saying "it's ok" and then read him a couple books to make him feel better. It was really sweet. I got tickled at him reading this one because he'd say "and how many bees are on this page, that's right--good job, Carter" haha.

Friday, the 12th, the boys had Clifford day at school. They were supposed to wear red--which they were SO excited to do, and then they did all kinds of fun Clifford themed activities. I normally only volunteer on Mondays, but some of the classes had pictures done on this day, so they needed some extra help. I helped out in 3 different classrooms, including the boys classroom. I have never volunteered in their class before. When they were 2 and I volunteered, I cut things out, made copies, etc in another room. This year, I'm in a 3 year old class helping out once a week, so it was fun to get to go in their classroom. The boys were really good, they weren't clingy to me like I thought they'd be. I helped with the Clifford ears, so that was fun.

He looks pitiful, but they were so excited when I picked them up. How cute does he look?!

Carter rubbed his black spot off his nose, but still looked super cute.

So, when I woke up that morning, I was feeling extra tired and run down, but I had committed to volunteering, by the time I got home, I was feeling pretty rough. I told the boys that we were going to continue with our Clifford day theme and I let them watch a couple episodes of Clifford on tv while I just laid on the couch. When Greg got home, he took them out and by the time we put them to bed, I was feeling awful. (we actually did a red bath for Clifford day too, which was fun) I had body aches and my throat was hurting so bad.

Saturday was worse. We've had a couple stomach viruses since the boys were born, which are awful, but usually only last about 24 hours. But this was worse and lasted longer. I was miserable and useless. Greg did everything, I couldn't get out of bed. There was one point on that Saturday where Greg was exhausted, so I got up and came and laid on the couch so he could take a nap. That was the extent of what I did on Saturday, made microwavable popcorn and put on a movie.

Greg baked banana bread with the boys too, it's their new favorite thing that Greg started with them and the three of them have made several loafs over the past several weeks.

Sunday, Greg took the boys out to my parents for the afternoon to get a break since I was still feeling awful. Monday morning, my mom came over and helped get the boys ready and rode to school with us so I wouldn't have to go in. I had to call in sick to volunteering, which I felt awful about. I got an appointment with my doctor and tested positive for strep throat. I have mixed emotions about having strep, on one hand I feel good to have a legit reason for feeling so bad, it's nice to know that I wasn't just being a baby, I was actually sick. But, on the other hand, I'm really grossed out. I didn't get this from the boys--they never got it. I figured I got it from a kid at their school while volunteering, but when I went back after being sick and told the teacher, I found out none of the kids had missed any school or mentioned having strep. Where did I get this from?! What adult gets strep throat from somebody other than their kids. This does not help my germaphobic tendencies at all. We also deal with strep slides (and e.coli and all kinds of other fun bacteria) in my Microbiology lab. There's no way I got it from there, but it's still hard not to be paranoid. So, I've recovered from strep but now have a major case of the crazy, so it's going to be a fun winter as a hypochondriac.

The only good thing about coming down with strep was that it was the weekend before my Diet Bet monthly weigh in. I have not been doing good about eating healthy. I've been staying up later doing school stuff, and making up for it by consuming massive amounts of caffeine and sugar. Also, all the delicious pumpkin flavored stuff that's out is not helping (I have to try it all!) but, luckily, swallowing felt like sharp knives going down my throat so I wasn't able to eat like a piggy all weekend and I ended up making my weight that Monday for my diet bet. Yay! I do need to get back on track though, so I can make my next weigh in.

So close to being caught up with blogging. I'd love to just post every couple of days of what we're doing and up to, so looking forward to getting caught up.

Frogs

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago, but I'm still trying to get caught up. There is no point to this blog post besides the fact that I just took a lot of pictures at one time that I thought were cute.

We let the boys play outside one afternoon and they were having such a great time and playing so well, so I got a few (and by few, I mean few dozen) pictures of them playing.

Greg found a few frogs while he was cleaning something up, so he showed the boys and Evan immediately picked it up. He has no fear and will pick up any insect/bug/animal--we're working on that. But, he loved carrying this little frog around.

I love his little muddy hands and the fact that  he's holding a frog, this is what I pictured when I found out I was having two boys.

He just walked around the yard with the frog, showing him his swing set and stuff.

Carter wanted to hold it, but wasn't able to pick it up like Evan does (he'd jump back when the frog jumped) and so Evan picked it up and gently placed it in Carter's hand and then put Carter's hand over it, it was the sweetest thing. I don't think I'm explaining it very well, but I think you can tell from the pictures what Evan was doing.

He was petting the frog, I know it looks like he's pushing down on him, but he was gentle. I promise the frog was fine. When they were done, they put him down and he hopped away.

CFA Touch a Truck

Evan is always telling me to take a picture of him for some reason or another and I always do it. He wanted a picture with this Tazmanian devil, so I was happy to take it for him.

He also asked me to take a picture of him matching the words with the correct letter they start with, so I took a picture of that too.

We went to Chick Fil A for Touch a Truck a few weeks ago and the boys had blast. There was a police motocycle there that you could check out, but you weren't supposed to touch it or sit on it.

There was a trolley there that the kids could explore. There was a bell/horn thing at the front that Evan loved ringing.

A John Deere tractor, that was a hit with all the boys that showed up.

There was an ambulance there for the kids to climb into and check out.

The boys thought that was neat.

Evan kept going back to the trolley. It was his favorite thing. I think he would just love a tour around Augusta riding around in this thing.

The bomb squad showed up and had their robot there for the kdis to see.

More time on the tractor.

 

There was also a K9 unit there with a very friendly dog that both boys just adored. There was supposed to be a fire truck there, but it got a call. :( The event was free, it was just a great thing that Chick-Fil-A did for the kids in the community. The boys always love things like this and they had a great time. We pretty much also enjoy anything that CFA puts on.

 

Going Back to School

So, I decided to go back to school. I got my bachelor's degree in psychology and I can't do much with it. I'm not planning on going back to work now but I know that once the boys get older and are in school full time, I'll go back to work part time. I had considered waiting until the boys got older to go back to school, but since it'll take me about 3 years, I thought I might as well get started on the school right now so I can get that done and out of the way.

I'm going back for nursing. I have 3 prereqs to take and a TEAS test and I apply for nursing school in May. If I get accepted, then I'd start fall 2015. It's four semesters, but the program I hope to get into takes summers off, so I would graduate Spring 2017 with my RN.

Greg and I had talked about this a lot over the years, but we never had a real in depth conversation (two toddlers running around makes it difficult to talk sometimes) but one day we were talking at the park while the boys played and decided to just do it. This was the first week in August and I ended up applying to school the day the application was due. I looked into different options, like getting my Master's since they offer one specifically for people who have 4 year degrees in something other than nursing, but financially, it made more sense to go to a community college for my RN. So, I'm going to Aiken Tech in South Carolina. They give people in Augusta (Columbia and Richmond county) in state tuition since we're on the border, so that's nice. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to school.

I'm taking Anatomy and Physiology and Microbiology. I'm taking them as hybrid courses, the lecture and everything is online, but each class meets once a week for lab. I purposely didn't say anything on my blog about it because I wasn't sure how it was going to go. I've been out of school for so long, they're very hard classes, and I just wasn't sure I'd be able to manage it all. When I opened up my Microbiology book and nothing I was reading made sense, I considered dropping it. I was so scared that I was too old for this, but add/drop had passed and if I were to drop it, I wouldn't get my money back, so I stuck with it.

I am definitely stretched thin, my house is a pig sty, all our dinners are made in a crock pot, I haven't been to the gym since school started, but I'm doing well in my classes.

 

I spend a lot of time doing homework. The boys have school 3 days a week from 9:00-1:00. On Mondays, I volunteer at their school, so I usually get home about 11:00. I try and use all that time while they're gone to get school work done.

I stay up after everybody has gone to bed and watch lecture videos, take notes, do practice quizzes, read the text book, etc. I've been drinking a lot more coffee lately.

Greg has really stepped it up. He not only watches the boys when I go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays (1-4:50 and 2-5:50) but he has taken them out several times on the weekends or after he gets home from work to give me more time to do homework. He's been helping out more around the house. One day, he even had cheese, crackers, dip, and wine ready for dinner when I got home.

I'm at my computer a lot. It's hard not to get distracted by Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, blogs, etc. But, I've been doing pretty good about staying on track.

Mmm.....sugar and caffeine. It's what gets me through the day.

I have taken 2 tests and a lab practical so far. I got "A's" on all 3. I'm so excited and so proud of myself. I didn't care in high school or even when I got my bachelor's degree if I got an "A", I was perfectly content with a "b" and there were semesters that I really didn't mind if I had a "c" My priorities were different then (I don't think that's a bad thing) but this time with school it's different. It's really important to me that I do well. Tuition and books are not cheap and the amount of time I'm spending on school that I could be spending on my family really motivates me to make it worth it.

Screen shot of my first test grade. I was so excited!

I can count on one hand how many times I've done schoolwork while the boys were home and awake. I don't like to take away from that time with them and even if I did, it'd be impossible to get anything done with them running around, but I did manage to study for a test one day while they watched an episode of "Oswald"

It paid off, I got a "98" on my first Microbiology test. The class that I looked into dropping and if it hadn't been past add/drop, I would have. I opened the book and started reading the chapter and thought there was no way I was going to understand any of it.

 

I had to take our van in for a service while the boys were in school one day. I usually don't mind doing that because I bring a drink and fun book or magazine to read, but this time I packed up all my school stuff and did school work the whole time.

The hardest thing has been managing it all, I'm not doing any more than any other mom, it's just the transition from not being in school since 2006 and being strictly stay at home to going back to school with two 4 year olds. It's just taking some getting used to. I'll feel like I'm getting it somewhat under control and then the boys school calls me to pick up Carter because he threw up,  or whenI got strep throat and was completely out for a weekend and really struggled to focus for a few days after getting on the antibiotic. It's just two classes right now, so I know this is nothing compared to nursing school, I'm just still trying to get the hang of it.  I really hope I get in the first time I apply to the nursing program, they get about 750 applicants and last semester they admitted 35 students.

Anyways, I didn't want to say anything until I took a couple tests and made sure I wasn't going to flunk out. But, that's why I've been more behind on my blog than usual. If I'm on my computer, than I am doing school work, but I'm going to try and get my blog caught up this week.

Pendleton King Park

A couple weekends ago, we took the boys to Pendleton King Park. We went there once a year ago (you can read about that here) It's not super close like the other ones we go to and we've just got into a habit of going to certain parks. So, it was nice to change it up and go somewhere else.

The boys had such a blast. There's two different playgrounds there to play on. There were several bbqs and things going on at the different gazebos and picnic tables so the boys played with some other kids while they were there.

They loved this monkey bar thing. They loved balancing on it.

It was a little warm, but there's a ton of shade because of all the trees.

Last time we went, we just checked out the playground and then left, but I found out online that they have a pond (the park is actually a bird sanctuary) so we checked that out. The boys love feeding the geese.

There was also tons of little fish in the pond that came up to eat what the boys were throwing in.

After the pond, we walked around and saw this tank. It has a ladder on it for kids to climb up and explore it. The boys thought it was the best thing ever. They loved exploring it and acting like it was shooting canons. I thought it was pretty neat, so I can only imagine how fun it was for a 4 year old boy.

I love that they something so hands on at the park.

The boys had to check out every single inch of it before we left.

 

The boys enjoyed it so much, that Greg actually took them back there a couple days later to play on the tank.