Pumpkin carving fun!

This year Adrian is actually aware that Halloween is coming up. He has his puppy costume, he's been practicing his tail wagging skills, and even knows how to say "trick-or-treat". Next on our Halloween to-do list was pumpkin carving. Adrian was more than happy to help us pick out the pumpkins, but when it came time to reach his hand in and pull out the gunk inside he was less than thrilled.


This feels slimy, mom.


Yuck! What's on my hand?


I'll give it one more try.


I'm not the biggest fan of cleaning out the gunk either, but I do love the carving stage. I did use some of those patterns and I think they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

If you can't tell what they are....The one on the left is a friendly ghost for my parents. Ours is the one on the right with the scarier face.

To the fair we will go....

One thing I wanted to do during Fall break was go to the State Fair. So last Wednesday everyone had work off and away we went. Even Monique got to join us, which made it that much more fun. She and I were there for the food. We decided before we even went that we would share everything so we could enjoy more of a variety throughout the day. It was a wonderful plan and we left very full and happy. I took lots of pictures, and here they are...

The start of a wonderful day together.

Riding the elephant with daddy




The big boy had to pay himself



He loved riding the ponies



Taking one of many breaks to eat. Yum!



Riding the Ferris wheel



Why is he smiling more in their picture?



He was getting a little too brave way up there.



Playing in the little kid area


He couldn't get enough of these mats. We had to leave when he started bothering a little girl though. He hasn't learned how to play nice yet.



That's mine!



Of course we had to check out all of the animals.

Yep, our 22 month old giant was tall enough to ride the little rides all by himself. He didn't even cry.


He even thought he was brave enough to go on the roller coaster with Nana. He ALMOST cried on this one.


He was a lot happier when his feet were back on the ground.

It was a great day and Adrian had a blast. There wasn't anything he wasn't willing to try. I just love the fair!!

Fall Break

One quarter down and 3 more to go!! Teachers, and students, see their lives in terms of quarters. Nine weeks. It's only been nine weeks. It feels like at least 4 months. Yuck! As you can tell, I'm still not enjoying being in the classroom. It is definitely a struggle to make myself go everyday. I feel like most of the kids could care less about learning English, and some of them outright refuse to speak English. It's very frustrating. There are those few that seem genuinely interested and motivated to learn English, so basically they keep me going. I only see 25 kids throughout the entire day and I've concluded that if I can help 2 of them this year then I have done my job.

We did get our school label last week based on our Spring 2008 AIMS scores. We are considered a Performing Plus school. This is HUGE news for us. We haven't been making our Adequate Yearly Progress the past few years so our school has been in School Improvement. The thing is that 2 groups in our entire school populations drag down our scores. Our special ed kids and our ELL kids. Well, I'm responsible for teaching one of those groups so I can't help but feel a tremendous responsibility and weight on my shoulders for the kids I teach this year. They will be taking the AIMS test in April and at this point I have no confidence that what I'm doing is helping them learn English.

Starting on Monday I will be using a new reading program. That's right. The past 9 weeks I've been piecing things together everyday. I've been trying to make sure everyday I cover writing, reading, speaking, and phonics. It has been stressful. I'm looking forward to having all four of those components in one reading program. My problem is my laziness this week.

It's fall break. I don't feel like doing anything. I have a huge stack of papers to grade and now I have lessons to plan with the new text book. Instead I'm sitting here typing this and catching up on my shows that have been recorded with the DVR. Oh well, relazing never hurt anyone and as long as it gets done before Monday I'll be fine. Plus, I'm getting things done like doctor and dentist appointments that I can't do when I'm working. Oh, and let's not forget a visit to the State Fair that will take place some time this week!!!

Visiting Family

A few Sundays ago my parents, Jon-Paul, Adrian, and I took a day trip down to Marana to celebrate my great aunt Mary's birthday. Another reason we made sure that we all made the trip was because my great grandmother was going to be there. We haven't seen her in a while, and she's been having some health issues lately. She recently broke a hip and is recovering from that. Did I mention she's 96 1/2? So, that means if we have an opportunity to see her we should take it because sadly we won't have the chance much longer.

My great aunt lives on a farm type property with cows, horses, and lots of land. Oh yeah, and a swing set. Adrian had a blast swinging on the big boy type swings. When we go to the park I still sit him in the baby swings. Maybe he's ready for an upgrade.

Hang on tight!

Look mom I'm Superman!!

The carrot cake was very yummy. That's my great grandma in the red.

The next pictures are just a few examples of what we see everyday when Adrian and my dad are together. They are absolutely inseparable and it's adorable. Until, of course, we want Adrian to do something that requires him to be separated from my dad for a minute.

Poor baby

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. Adrian is a boy after all, and I guess injuries are just going to be a part of our lives. Last week we were getting ready for bed. We had just finished bath time and it was time to put pajamas on. His new toy obsession lately is cars, like hot wheels type of cars. We were attempting to get dressed, and all he wanted to do was play with his cars. The last piece of the outfit to put on was the shirt. I got it over his head but then he started to walk away to play with his cars again. Playfully I pulled on his shirt to pull him back. He thought it was funny so we kept on playing. At this point he probably had 6 or so cars in his hands. On the last pull I let go and he walked around the back of the couch. He must have tripped on some of Jon-Paul's shoes. Crash!! That's what we heard followed by a loud cry.

His face landed on all of the cars that he had in his hands. More specifically his mouth did. There was a lot of blood and he wasn't very willing to let me look in his mouth. I had to though just to make sure he wasn't missing any teeth. All of his teeth were still there but there was an awful lot of blood in his mouth. I think his teeth just cut through the inside of his lips. The outside of his lips were also cut by the cars. His lips were instantly puffy.

In the morning his lips were still very puffy. It looked like he had been in a boxing match. He was very willing to let me take picture though. He kept pointing to his lips saying "boo-boo." Here are some picture of his battle wounds. They healed surprisingly fast.

Take me out to the ball game

Tuesday after work I held soccer tryouts for the girls at my school. Once again this year I am going to be their coach. They moved up the soccer season so that our games don't go too late into the evening, but that means we have to start when it is hotter outside. I'm not too happy about this. Anyway, tryouts were from 3:30-5:00 and I was extremely hot and sweaty when they were over. On my way home I called Jon-Paul to see what we were doing for dinner. He didn't have any plans so I was just stopping by my parents house to pick up Adrian and then head on home. About 1 minute later he called me back and asked if I wanted to go to the Diamondbacks game. I would much rather go and watch a game then sit at home and watch it on tv.

So I got to my parents house and jumped in the pool. I put my work clothes back on and tried to make myself look a little more presentable. The game started at 6:40 and we left their house at 6:20. By the time we got parked, got food, and walked all the way around to our seats it was the 3rd inning.

This was Adrian's first baseball game. He liked looking at all the people for a little while, but most of the time he laid on the ground and played with some cars he brought. He loved the fact that he was allowed to scream and we didn't tell him to stop. We were sitting out in right field and there wasn't anyone sitting close to us for at least 10 rows in each direction. I don't think it would have been very comfortable to hold him on our laps if the seats around us were taken. I'm so glad it was so empty.

The game didn't go well for the Diamondbacks at all, so we left in the 7th inning. Just as well since I had to be up at 5:30 the next morning. It was a fun evening as you can see by the following pictures.

Enjoying some ballpark food!

Playing with cars while the action takes place behind him.

I'd rather eat, mom.

Watch the player run around the bases, son.

There he goes dad!

Say CHEESE!!

It sure is hard taking a picture like this with 3 people!

Who knew?

I've never been much for rocking Adrian to sleep. Sure there were probably times during his first 4 or 5 months of life that I might have, but truthfully I was so sleep deprived I don't really remember much from that time in our lives. My mom was always the one the liked rocking him to sleep, especially for naps. I'm just a big believer that they should learn how to put themselves to sleep so they don't rely on help from anyone or anything. That's a reason he's never had a pacifier or gone to bed with a bottle either.

Anyway, our bedtime routine consists of a bath, a few(or 20) books, hugs and kisses, and then I just lay him down in his crib and leave the room. There are a few times when he isn't quite so tired that he cries a little bit for me to go back in there, but that's really rare. Usually he just sits and talks to himself for a few minutes and then goes right to sleep. He stays there for 11-12 hours unless I have to wake him up when I have to take him to my parents' house when I go to work. I just love that he's such a good sleeper. Plus, he's been taking 3 hour naps lately.

Tonight was different though. He had his bath, we read books, and then came time for hugs and kisses before I laid him down. For some reason he was very huggy tonight. He just laid his head on my shoulder and held on tight. Every time I would try to put him down he would cling on to me really tightly. He was snuggling his face into my neck. It was very cute. Finally I asked him if he wanted to lay on me and I would rock in the chair. He couldn't have been happier. It was as if we did this all the time.

Rocking a 35 lb. 20 month old isn't the same as rocking a newborn baby. His legs were draped down around mine. His whole torso covered my whole torso. It only took about 5 minutes before his arms went limp and his grip loosened from around my neck. I just sat there rocking back and forth with tears streaming down my face.

I can't believe he's growing up so fast. It won't be long before rocking him isn't even going to be possible. Then I think about adding to our family and that one day he won't be my "baby" anymore. Nights like these make everything that has been bothering me about work lately pale in comparison to my wonderful life.