Teacher Appeciation Week

It's that time of year again. National Teacher Appreciation Week! I always get stuck on things to do for the teachers in my children's life! This year is especially difficult because my oldest has FIVE teachers that he sees every single day. I know some would say just give a gift to the home room teacher, but I know first hand that these teachers had to deal with a lot of crap from my 12 year old (and then also working with me at least once a week via email) that they do deserve something special. But how do I do this... I need your help!

So here is the low down. His homeroom teacher is also his math teacher. I love love love her to pieces. She has gone above and beyond anything I could ever hope for in helping him. Oh and I want to add that she is also super pregnant. Due right after school lets out. He has one male teacher who we all thought was going to be a major hard ass but turns out he is softer then you would think. The other 3 teachers are female. I do not know a whole lot about them as they aren't as "responsive" when I email or call them. They are cut and dry about everything..

So anyways, on with my story, we got a note home from the PTO about suggestions for gifts for each day of the week.
Day 1~ "What's cooking day" - Send in a copy of your family's favorite recipe. OK, not to hard, but I am thinking I want to make this fun somehow.

Day 2~ "Sweet Tooth Day" - Bring in a sweet treat for your teacher. Again, this one is not to hard but I don't know if we should make something, or if we should buy a neat container (or containers really) and fill them with different Candy's?

Day 3~ "Flower Power Day" - Again, simple but I do not think Chad really wants to bring in flowers, and especially not for is male teacher. He has said that he feels he will get picked on. Maybe he can bring in those just add water flower pots?

Day 4~ "Candle Day" - Show your teacher in some way that they "light up your life". Hmmm OK! I have a hard time with this too because people are very picky about the scents they like. Maybe I can look to see if we have a candle shop around here?

Day 5~" Pamper Day" - The description is very long for this one, but the gist of it is lotions, nail polish, etc. I was thinking to get a GC for a pedicure for the homeroom/math teacher and calling it a day. I don't think I want to "pamper" all 5 teachers?

Now these rules do not say you have to do something every day for every teacher but I want to do as much as I can with out spending more then $100 total. Is this possible?

What would you do, with the ideas given above? Any suggestions?

Have you ever been Photo Tagged?

I have :-). Today is my official first time ever being Photo tagged! The amazing Mom of 4, Jenna tagged me and now I'm out to tag you! How exciting is this? I love the rules of this game (which I will share in a moment) and have been looking forward to playing along all day today! Now that I have time to share, here goes nothing..

The rules are simple;
1) Go to your photo files, select the 8Th photo folder.

2) Select the 8Th photo in that folder.

3) Post that photo along with the story behind it

4) Then challenge 8 blogging friends to do the same!

Oh how I wish I had my other laptop. Well, it's not like I don't have it, but it is broken. I kind of messed up my hard drive so the computer I am using now does not have much on it but I'm still going to have fun with this. So here is my picture..

So this is a pretty easy story to tell. My family just moved to AZ in July and we were spending Christmas alone. My good friend Shannon and her Parents invited us to their house for Christmas dinner. Shannon (and her Mom too) got Will a gift for Christmas. So Will and his BFF Dominic decided to share in opening them! YAY Boys!!

Ok, so that is it! Simple but fun! I cant wait to see everyone's pictures. If you did not get tagged below but want to play along, leave me a comment so I can go check out your pictures! Here are my blogger friends!! Check them out too!

1) Kim
2) Lisa
3) Beth
4) Stacy
5) Julie
6) Vanessa
7) Amber
8) Shell

What a weekend!

So I had a pretty great weekend! I got to head up to NY and hang out with one of my best friends. It was a girls only weekend so the boys stayed home with Daddy!

I left on Thursday night. When I landed on Friday morning, it was a whole 36 degrees. YIKES! When I left it was in the low 80's. Right from the airport, we went to Dunkins and got coffees which we then spiked with some Baileys. YUM! Then, off to see my favorite Tattoo Artist, Sern! I love this man. I hate having a tattoo guy that is 2000 miles away, but I guess it just means more trips for me. Sern worked on my foot for about 45 minutes and I absolutely LOVE my new tattoo!!





and a pic from today...



When that was done, we had to go shopping for a few things. We were going to see Wicked that evening and I needed a sweater to wear. So off we went. Shopping with Kristen is never a good idea because I always spend way to much money. We found the perfect sweater and went home to change.

We went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory later that night then to a bar. The bartender and Owners are good friends with Kristen so we got all our drinks free... YAY! We saw Wicked which was AMAZING and then went back to the bar for some more free drinks!! Here is a pic from Wicked and the bar we went too!



Saturday we went out to lunch and then got ready for the Martini party we were hosting at Kristen's house. It was such a good time. 8 ladies drinking Martini's all night long. I was up until after 3AM... LOL! I feel so old because I cant do it anymore.. haha!! But it was a lot of fun!

The downside is that on Friday, Carl text me and told me Will had been sick. He's been throwing up since then. I have to bring him to the doctor today because he is very lethargic and still isn't keeping anything down. He threw up his "dinner" on our way home from the airport last night... Poor little dude. Then 2 times in bed last night and just this morning. As I type this, he his sleeping on the couch which is totally NOT like him... I feel so bad... I have a feeling we will be at the hospital tonight. But the Dr wanted to see him first!


So that was my weekend in a nutshell. How was yours? Did you do anything fun and exciting?

And the award goes to

Me! That's right. I am one of 10 blogs that Amy over at Chapters of me awarded this nifty little award to. I am happy to have been given this award because it means that someone that I am not close with, or do not talk to every once in a while actually reads my blog. It isn't for nothing.


So the rules to this award are pretty easy. You have to list 10 things about yourself and then pass this award onto 10 of my friends. I will have to go through my list because I am not sure if there are that many people who will play along, but I'll give it a shot!

1. First and foremost, I am a Mom. A Mom to 4 incredibly handsome little boys. Chad is 12, Kaleb is 8, Christian is 6 and William is almost 20 months. These little boys are my world and I love them to pieces. There isn't much that I would not do for them.

2. I am married to a great man. His name is Carl. He works hard for our family so that I can stay home with the boys. Our anniversary is coming up. May 6th to be exact. And we still have NO IDEA what we are going to go and do.

3. Mac n Cheese is my favorite comfort food. Not home made mac n cheese either. I am talking about the stuff out of the blue box. KRAFT baby. Actually, it is what I had for lunch today.

4. I moved to Arizona to get away. My husband had a job opportunity with a BIG promotion and he did not want to take it at first. I mean, he loved what it would mean for his career but he was worried that I would not be happy here. I told him to apply. I wanted to get away from what I thought was my family. It's sad that I don't have a family like I wish I had. I am content with our decision and haven't thought about looking back. Well, I take that back, when my husband aggravates me I say I'd like to go back there. But what started as "I wish I was home" has turned into "when do you want to go visit THERE". AZ is my home now and I love it.

5. I can count on one hand, how many REAL friends I have. When I was younger, I felt like I was not cool enough if I only had a handful of friends. I mean, how many cool people only have 5 or less friends. I had 20 BFF's I think. Now, here I am - x amount of years later and I am totally happy with the 5 friends I have now. There are more then 5 that can make me laugh and that I have a fun time with, but there are only 5 that I could tell anything in the world too. Since moving to Arizona, that number is probably going to go up a bit as I've met some wonderful people here but for once in my life I can say I am happy with how little friends I really have.

6. Back to food, Ice Cream is my "drug" of choice. I love me some good ice cream. The newest flavor is Toll house Mint Brownie! Oh Ma Gosh that is to die for. It's a little piece of heaven in a bowl (or on a cone). Tonight my husband is bringing me home another flavor to try. Not sure if that is a good thing or not.. OK, I know it's not a good thing but I love it. I hope this passes soon or else my jeans wont appreciate it much.

7. Sticking with food again, I love to cook. I complain about it all the time but the truth is, there s something relaxing about trying new things. On the opposite side of this coin, I can't come up with a new idea to save my life, so I am always looking to other people for new suggestions. If you have something unique, please share.

8. My favorite TV show once again is 90210. When I was a kid, I remember begging my mom to let me stay up until 10 so that I could watch it. She would shake her head and laugh at me, telling me what a dumb show it is but as long as I got everything done, I was good to go. Now, at 29 years old I look forward to Tuesday nights so that I can watch the new 90210. I love Kelly, though I am sad she is leaving the show. *sigh*

9. I can spot a liar from a thousand miles away. I don't know why. It's something I have in me. If I can see you, or I know you or even if we've just been talking online, I tend to be able to see right through the BS. It's like Dr. Cal Lightman from Lie to Me. My husband said that I would be PERFECT for that job. But I think sometimes he wishes he knew this about me before he married me. I am like the human BS detector.

10. And finally I have a thing with dishes. If they are my dishes, I can not let anyone else wash them. When I have company over, they try to wash my dishes for me to be helpful but I can't stand it. I try saying no, and it's not because I am being polite. It is because I don't want to waste the water to do them over again. Seriously, I am the kind of girl who doesn't even use the nice dishwasher she has because I can not stand the way they look/feel/smell if they are done in there. I must do them myself. By hand. Weird, huh?

Now, here is the list of amazing people I am tagging today. Hopefully everyone will play along. If you do, please let me know so I can go read all about you.

Beth at Laugh until you cry - Beth is a really great person that I've had the chance to get to know online and in person. Her son is just a few weeks older then my son and I love to hear all about him. She is a great photographer and I love her blogs, but especially when she puts pictures into them.

Kim at Mafia Mom - She is JUST.LIKE.ME. Well, except that she has 3 boys instead of 4 and she likes the New England Patriots. But other then that, JUST LIKE ME! Haha.

Mrs. Magoo over at the Mind of Mrs Magoo - Mrs. Magoo is very dedicated to her family and also a great photographer. She has two very adorable little boys and always has advice when anyone has a question.

Julie at Julie and Michael - I love love love reading Julie's blog. She is so down to earth, yet whitty at the same time. I usually find myself laughing out loud when I am checking up on her. You should check her out too!

Mama M over at My Little Life - Mama M always has something going on on her blog. I've been laughing a lot over there as well, which is what I really need the most :-)

Court at JCandNoah - I've had the pleasure to meet Court IRL and she is one of the sweetest people I know. Actually, when I was going back east to visit this winter, she sent me her son's winter jacket so Will would have something warm to wear. I will get that back to you Court, I promise :-)

Vanessa at The life of Nes Jas - Vanessa is another Arizonian who I love reading about. She and her husband are always going on trips and going to baseball games and she blogs about them. As well as some of the yummy food she cooks.

Shelly at The Family BLT - Shelly is just a funny cool chik! She always brings life to the party. She has 3 adorable kids (Shh... I didn't call her 13 year old son adorable) and is so busy in her life of working Mom that I am not even sure if she'll read this, but I hope she does.

Shell at Things I cant say - OMG This girl cracks me up. She absolutely says a lot of things that I can't say out loud or even in print. Heck, she comes up with things that I don't even think to say. Add her to your blog roll and be ready to laugh.

Sneaker Teacher - I love reading over here because she is teaching in another country. She always has interesting things to say and it's great to see things through anothers eyes. Especially someone who isn't in the states.

So there you go! This award will go to these great bloggers. I can't wait to read the answers everyone comes up with. Thanks again Amy for giving this to me. I've enjoyed writing this (even though it did take ALL of our nap break).

A-hole of the day award....

Goes to ME! Yep, that is right! Nice old ME!

I guess I should tell you why? Well, to make a long story short I called something like I saw it. Sometimes it is a good thing, sometimes not so much. Here is a little back story on it.

I am on a few different message boards, one of them being thenest.com. Now on these message boards, deleting your posts can be a very bad thing. It's not that big of a deal if you put up a warning stating "I may delete this later". We've all had questions, but maybe did not want the world finding this information 10 months from now, right? OK, with a little bit of warning, DD. Not a big deal! But today, well there was more to it then that I think!

Someone asked a question. The question was one of those "am I being a bridezilla" kind of questions. She got answers in her favor, and then a few answers that were not in her favor. The original poster got a bit snarky with someone who gave her an answer she did not like and then I kind of called her out and said don't get snippy with people who are giving you an answer to a question you asked. Again, nothing big but apparently it was because when we all woke up this morning, it was GONE!

How familiar the DD world is to me. I absolutely HATE people who can't take it when they don't like what they hear (or more like read in this instance) so they pack up their toys and go home. Especially when nobody is being rude, it was a discussion and she did not like the answers that were given to her. *sigh*

So where does a-hole of the day come in you ask? Well, a friend of mine kind asked on the board where the post went. She smelt a DDer. I told her why I thought the OP dd and then it kind of spun off from there. Was it a *bit* immature of me to keep it going, sure but was it funny.. absolutely.

In the message board world, there is no room for people to delete things because they do not like what is being said. When you ask an opinion and you don't like the answers, say thanks and let it go. Move on. It's really not that hard! Why DD? You look like a baby really.

OK, now that that is over... I've been awarded an Honest Scrap award by Amy over at Chapters of Me. I will get on that at nap time.

Hello Blog... It's been a while (Tag my friends, you are IT)

Where has the time been going? I mean really? It seems that with every day that passes, time goes faster and faster. I spent the weekend looking at William wondering where 20 months has gone. It seems like just yesterday I was having NST and BPP done on the little guy. And now he is doing some sort of magic balancing act on my leg (Ouch might I add).

Then I start thinking where did the last almost 13 years go. Yep, that is how old my oldest will be in July. 13. Not even a little boy or a kid anymore. A teenager who is turning into my little brother. Boy, does he have an attitude. I swear, I was NEVER this way when I was a kid.. So yeah, time has been flying and I've been neglecting my venting outlet. I should really get back on that.

So, my friend Mrs. Magoo tagged me in her blog. This seemed like a fun little thing to do while the kids nap. So here goes nothing. The rules are easy; Write down the following and then snap a picture of it and post it up! Simple right? Here is my task (and maybe even yours)...

1. Name / Blog name
2. Right handed, Left handed or Both
3. Favorite letters to write
4. Least favorite letter to write
5. Write: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
6. Write in CAPS
-CRAB
-HUMOR
-KALEIDOSCOPE
-PAJAMAS
-GAZILLION
7. Favorite song lyrics
8. Tag 7 people
9. Any special note or drawing

So here you go!!!



Oh and as far as who I am going to tag.. Well, here you go :-)
Vanessa, Shelly, Jenn, Kristyn, Stacy, Julie, and Court!