This little person amazes me!

While spending some time this evening playing with Landon, I realized again just how amazing he is. Yesterday we were having fun in his playroom, when he decided to turn on some music. He picked out a groovy playtime music cd, put it in the cd player, and pressed play. He picked out two things from his toy bucket, a handheld fan and a piece of plastic from his stacking rings, to use as microphones. He gave me the fan, keeping the plastic piece for himself, and started singing in his "microphone". After a little singing, I sat Landon down on top of his cozy coupe's gas pump so that it was like he was performing. He was SO cute. The truly amazing part, however, was how the next day he remembered the entire experience and recreated it. I was sitting in the living room when he walked in with the two exact same "microphones". He gave me the fan again, and grabbed my hand to lead me to his playroom. Once in the playroom, he turned on the same cd and pulled his gas pump over to where I was sitting and tried to climb on top of it. He remembered perfectly everything from the day before. I am amazed at his memory! He remembers EVERYTHING! Maybe it is normal for small children, but even so, I am impressed!


He does the same thing with movies that he has watched. He can recognize what part is coming up in the movie, and show you the actions of the characters before they actually happen on the TV. I would like to take credit for these abilities, but despite how much I try, I always feel like I'm not doing a good enough job of teaching Landon how to do things. I think that he's just a pretty bright little boy. (Of course I have to say that...I am his mother! :) ha ha.) I just cannot get over how much this little two year old person can do.


I just thought that I should take the time today to tell everyone how amazing I think that my little man is, and maybe he'll read this someday and be happy to hear how great he is!


Mommy loves you Landon Gene! :)

School is in session...

Well, I am back to work. Third grade is such a change from eighth grade!!! So far I am loving the change! The kids are so cute and lovable. They like to draw pictures for me and give me lots of hugs. :) I have a pretty good group of students...a few that are way too chatty and need to be reigned in, but over all a good group. I really think that I'm going to enjoy elementary school. It is a lot of work, but fun. The days at school pass by SO quickly because our schedule is unbelievably jam-packed. Our kids only get 15 minutes of recess per day. I feel for these kids...yikes!

I'm glad that I made the change to elementary school this year, but I do feel weird not knowing very many people at this new school. I don't feel like I fit in there yet. I work with one other third grade teacher, and she's nice, but she is best friends with the second grade teacher that she worked with last year and they are always together. They have their own little "clique". Apparently they needed to be separated because they were too dependent on each other, but the glue is still holding them together. I'm sure I'll get to know more people throughout the year, but for now it's just a little uncomfortable. But hey...without all of the socializing, I sure get lots of work done!

In other news, Landon is doing well. We've been playing a lot outside...going to the park, or jumping in puddles around our neighborhood if it rains. He loves to be outside! :) He's still not talking...but I keep running into people (like a couple of days ago in Safeway) that say their child is the same way when it comes to speech. I'm still ready for him to start talking though! One new thing that Landon learned to do recently is to climb up the slide at the park. He is also getting pretty good with his puzzles.

I've been doing some summer cleaning recently...trying to get rid of some things that I've had for forever and never use. My trash can is going to be full for a couple of weeks, but I'm getting a lot accomplished, which is great! I finally pushed my 400 pound TV out of the corner and got all the DVDs out that had fallen behind it! There were a lot back there...plus, I found my internet modem that had disappeared so long ago....that was a good hiding spot that Landon found!!!

Things are getting better everyday...I don't feel like crying all the time anymore. :) I did have a breakdown in Wal-Mart, which was super embarrassing though. Last week, I had taken Landon to Wal-Mart to buy groceries and things. He is usually pretty well behaved at the store...and he was this trip too, until check out time. He started throwing this huge tantrum and crying VERY loudly. Of course, at Wal-Mart in Nogales checking out takes like an hour so this went on for quite some time. After awhile of unsuccessfully being able to calm him down and having hundreds of people stare at me, I just started crying. It was SO embarrassing. But after loading everything up, the cashier told me that she would pray for me...and I was on my way. I think I'll drive up to Green Valley to see if they get you out of line faster so Landon will be happier in the future...I think that it would be worth the extra gas money. Ha ha

One week down! 299 days to go...

As you can see, the countdown is still on...and we are beginning the two hundreds. Blah. Well, Landon and I have now been back alone in Rio Rico for one whole week. Only a week??? It seems SO much longer. I am still missing having people around all the time-- I'm not so good on my own. :/

Friday was a busy day, which was great! I worked in my classroom, and then Landon and I went to dinner with Donna, John, Neecie, and Robbie. We spent a few hours with them just catching up. It was nice. Afterwards, Landon and I drove to Tucson to buy some fabric for my classroom. (Can you believe that is the closest place to buy fabric?!?!) We got home pretty late, so I didn't really have any time to sulk, which is good.

Now, the rest of the weekend has been pretty bland. I've been trying to clean out some things around the house, and get some other deep cleaning done. Landon spends his time playing with his toys. I've been doing things that I haven't done in awhile...like playing games on the Wii and writing in my journal. I'm really just ready to get this school year rolling so that I feel like I have more to do with my life. Being bored is not good for me when I'm alone because I just sit around and feel sorry for myself and I do not like that. :/

I did sign up for this single parent meet-up group online. A bunch of single parents (in Tucson of course) set up times for everyone to meet at the park or zoo or something, so other single parents can meet each other and get out of the house and the kids have new friends to play with. Whenever they have another activity that I'm interested in, Landon and I are going to check it out...see if it's even worth bothering with. We need some new experiences, desperately!

Well, this is the last week before it is back to school for real, so I have a lot of work to do! Wish me luck! Only 299 days until next summer... HA HA HA :)

Just another day in "paradise"

Last night I decided to try to tackle my two months worth of unopened mail, and I'm glad that I did. I had received a check from Farmer's after having cancelled my insurance policy. $118 I wasn't expecting! :) I bought a few things that I needed for my classroom and filled up my gas tank. That's the good news.

Then there was bad news...Today my laptop fell off of the couch. Luckily it's fine, but my internet connection which was plugged in at the time wasn't so lucky. It is totally busted and unfortunately I'll have to wait until my first paycheck to pay the deductible and get connected again. Thankfully I still have the internet connection on my phone or I would be totally disconnected from the rest of the world...ha ha. So, I'm writing this post from my phone; a little more difficult than from my computer.

Other than that, today has been pretty much just like every other day since I got back to Arizona. I worked in my classroom for a couple of hours, ran to Wal-Mart, took a walk with Landon, and now we're sitting around doing pretty much nothing. My life is pretty mundane right now, and I'd just like for something better to be happening. But, overall I'm doing okay. :)

Sorry, no cute pictures of Landon today...

Just another day...

Today I got some more work done in my classroom. I got the desks set up in groups, and started working on my classroom library. Landon was very cooperative today. He set up a little "office" where he sat coloring or talking on the phone. His office moved with me around the room, but he just played and let me work. I also met a new teacher today, whose husband is taking one of the eighth grade positions at my old school. She seems nice. Really nothing out of the ordinary to report. After working at the school, Landon and I went to play at the park. He was cranky by the time we left again, so when we came home he took a nap and I cleaned his playroom. I still have things to unload from the car (how's that for lazy), and I didn't want to unload his toys until the playroom was as clean as usual. So, the playroom is clean but the toys are still in the car...it's dark outside and that's my excuse. :) I'll do it tomorrow.

I felt pretty good today; I didn't cry at all until this evening when I sat down and wasn't keeping busy with anything. I think of how silly it is to cry about missing my family when I just spent the whole summer with them, but I can't help it. I love my family, and it gets pretty lonely when you're somewhere by yourself with no one to talk to (no one that can talk back at least). I think my mind is pretty much made up that this will definitely be my last year in Rio Rico, AZ. I do want to be closer to my family. Not only for my sake, but for Landon. I want Landon to have a close relationship with his grandparents. After how much Landon showed that he loved grandpa this summer, I know that he wants to be close to them too. Now all I need to do is check on what I need to do to recertify my teaching certificate in New Mexico. There's another little project for me. :)

Homesick...

So, today I was really homesick again. I hate this feeling!! When I get like this, little things set me off and make me cry. Little, dorky things like looking at Landon's portable dvd player. He watched it almost every night before bed at grandma and grandpa's house...so it reminded me of being home. Landon has been such a sweet little boy. He knows when I'm feeling down and he comes to cuddle with me, give me kisses and hugs, and even brings a wet-wipe and wipes the tears off of my face. He's SO cute!

I do some other dorky things when I'm homesick too...like make a countdown to the end of school where I can mark off each day as we get closer. School hasn't even started for the year and I'm already counting down. That's probably not a good thing. But, as of today there are only 304 days until the summer vacation of 2012. ONLY... On my little countdown I even mark when all of the vacation days are happening. It's a nice visualization. I made a similar countdown last year and used it for like the first week and then got back to a hectic schedule and forgot about it, so I sure hope it works out like that again this year. It makes me feel a little better for the moment anyway.

Another dorky thing I did was made a little "vacation bank" so Landon and I can start saving our money for our first actual summer vacation. I figure that I will more likely actually stick to my savings plan if I don't see the money sitting in my checking account all of the time. I'm not a saver of anything by nature, so this is a new thing for me! :) That little activity gave me something different to focus on for awhile as well.

This morning I met with a friend to talk about things that I missed at the Association yearly planning retreat this summer and then Landon and I went back to my classroom. Landon was a little less helpful today, but I was still able to get things set up pretty much where I want them to be, and I finished organizing/going through the closet. Landon took an hour nap in the middle of our work session. I haven't moved my beanbags or anything comfortable into my classroom yet, so he took a super comfortable nap on a piece of butcher paper laid out on the floor. HA HA. This kid can sleep ANYWHERE!

Afterwards, we ran to Safeway for some milk and fruit. I had to buy some chocolate milk because Landon ran out, and grandma got him hooked this summer. :) We decided to eat pizza for dinner, and we are currently in a middle of a marathon of Dora, Max & Ruby, Little Bill, and Blue's Clues. (The same five episodes over & over & over. He only has these cartoons on one dvd, and I guess he really missed watching it during the last two months!) It's going to be a long night...

Life back to normal

Well, after feeling a little low yesterday, I jumped back into life as much as possible today. Landon and I spent a day out and about. First, we picked up our bucket of mail that was being held at the post office. I never realized just how much mail I would have accumulated over two months! Yikes!
After that we headed to my new school, Pena Blanca Elementary, to pick up my classroom keys and to begin initial set-up work in my room. Landon was such a big help! :) When I was moving furniture around he always "helped" to push it to the desired location. When I was looking through the closet and deciding how to organize he sat at a table and drew "pictures". He is certainly becoming a big boy and wanting to do big-boy things. :)
We took a break and went to lunch after working for a couple of hours, after which we ventured to K-Mart and Wal-Mart to pick up a few odds and ends that we needed after coming home from vacation. We ended our outside adventures with a trip to the park. During the school year we frequent the park quite often...two or three times a week sometimes...and I'm sure Landon missed it during the summer. :) Landon ran with joy to the playground when I let him out of the car! We played there for a couple of hours, but Landon left kicking and screaming because he REALLY wanted to play with another family's stroller (and was long overdue for a nap). We really enjoy spending time at the park, especially when it is so nice outside...I just wish we didn't have to drive to Nogales to play!
Now it is time for us to relax and play at home. And, of course, I should be doing some housework. Some things never end!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Well...today is Christmas, and what an interesting vacation this has been!

Our family decided to travel up to Grand Junction, CO to spend the Christmas holiday at my sister's new house. A few days before we arrived, my sister had slipped and fallen on the ice and broken her leg. She was in surgery on Christmas Eve. She didn't have a tree set up at her house, so we made a quick trip to Wal-Mart and bought a tree and decorations and set it up before she got home from the hospital. She loved her surprise!

Before we came up to CO, my grandmother was also in the hospital in NM. She seemed like she was going to be okay when we left, and we kept in close contact with the family in NM. We spent a nice Christmas morning unwrapping gifts...watching Serena unwrap her gifts...and relaxing. My dad had to work the day after Christmas, so he was going to leave for Farmington early Friday morning. Things with grams weren't getting any better, and a winter storm was on it's way through the area, so he decided to leave at about noon on Christmas. He and Heather left and head home. My mom and I stuck around to help Shaylah since she's a little immobile...

It was a pretty relaxing day...except for the fact that I was--or am--sick! I always tend to get sick when I have plenty of time off of work.

At least I am in a place with Internet access! YAY! I finally have the opportunity to update my blog! I'm only taking this opportunity to do this though because I just finished the third book in the Twilight series! :)

Sunday, November 9

Hello! I started a blog last year, but the site disappeared...and now Shaelene has inspired me to begin all over again! It's hard to keep in touch with everyone these days, so why not have somewhere that you can learn about my "exciting" life when you have a little free-time.
Well, I am teaching middle school in the small town of Rio Rico, AZ. I love to tell people about the cows wandering around in the streets and eating the weeds in people's yards...really gives you a good feel of where I live. Besides the cattle, you will see the javelinas roaming around. If you do not know what a javelina is...well, it's a wild pig. And yes, they are quite scary if they are up close and personal. I had an encounter one night with a couple of javelinas, but I am glad to report that I survived! :) It's not totally rural around here though...we do have a local grocery store and two gas stations. And some other venues of course. But I can say without a doubt...this is the most rural place that I have ever lived.
Last year I was teaching at Calabasas Middle School...this year I am teaching at Coatimundi Middle School. They decided to split the middle school last year because there were too many students on one campus...and I was chosen to be part of the new school. We are currently still on the Calabasas campus (two schools on one campus) because of some building issues at the new site. We were supposed to move in this weekend, but our move-in date has been postponed until January 5th. Looks like I will have to cut my vacation a little short this year in order to get my new classroom in order for the start of school. I was lucky enough to visit the new campus, and it is a very pretty school. I think that I will enjoy my new classroom...it has A LOT of natural light, which is a BIG plus, and a lot of storage. I have a bathroom in my classroom also, which will make things interesting...I will post some pictures when we actually get to move in!
I am teaching both math and science again this year, which is a lot more work than having to prepare lessons for only one subject, but I can't complain...I still LOVE my job. I love spending time with the students and I love to hear that I am making school enjoyable for children.
Besides work, I really have nothing of much interest to report. The social scene is quite, well, NON-EXISTENT around here. There aren't many people my age to meet...and if I do meet someone, they usually don't stick around Rio Rico very often. Most younger people find living in Tucson much more enjoyable. My Friday nights are usually spent singing karaoke at the local resort. I'm known for singing all sorts of man-hating songs. No real surprise there. HA HA. I used to cross the border and spend time in Mexico with friends, but it is becoming very dangerous in Nogales, Sonora. It's not somewhere I really want to spend much time.
I did have a great trip to Puerto Lobos, Mexico over Columbus Day weekend though. I went to the ocean for the VERY FIRST TIME! It was a magical experience! :) I loved everything about the ocean! Walking on the beach, watching the seagulls, collecting seashells, swimming in the ocean, EVERYTHING! I also shelled and ate fresh shrimp for the first time. I love new experiences!
Even though things can get a little boring around these parts, I am still enjoying life in a new city. There is always something new to experience!
Until next time...