let the week begin!

:)

8 years!

so i didn't post on our anniversary. because we actually got to go out and celebrate! :) my parents came over after the girls were in bed and zane and i headed out for some dinner. the best part was that my observation was originally scheduled for the 11th, the day after our anniversary. things got scrambled a bit and it ended up moving to the 16th, so i had no worries about enjoying our night out.

it's hard to believe we've been married for 8 years. and together for 2 years prior to that (though we only had officially met columbus day weekend in 2002, i think in my heart i knew there was something more from the minute i saw him. true story.)

on our anniversary this year, zane had to work a little late. i picked the girls up from school and we headed to target so i could pick up a card. we were strolling through the halloween aisles and i picked up a bag of peanut butter cups for his present, knowing we weren't really going all out and buying big things for each other. i joked to the girls that if dada pulled through and bought me some candy corn they could try some

(this was not an actual expectation. however, i will not buy candy corn because of past associations with the stuff: when i was little, i begged my mom to take me to get candy corn. she obliged and when we were getting out of the car, the car door shut on my finger. blood, a trip to the hospital-where i remember refusing to go in, and my finger nail falling off. years later, driving around with meghan, buying candy corn at cvs while she was buying ear ache drops and then driving her to the ER because of searing ear pain. it was then that i decided candy corn was bad luck)

anyway. zane comes home and we hang out for the rest of the afternoon with the girls, feed them dinner, do bedtime and then call my parents so they could come over. zane asks me to drive and pull my car out front where he'll meet me. in the front seat of my car is a bag with a card and some candy in it. candy corn. he knows me :)

(and, by the way, the card was outstanding. he must have remembered one of our first valentine's days that we were married, i was crushed that he didn't get me a card. i didn't care about presents, but i love cards-or anything really- that's written on by the people i love :))

so. we went to dinner, talked about work, talked about teaching, enjoyed getting out and just being able to be as loud or quiet as we wanted at the dinner table without shushing or listening to any little bodies around us. it was lovely.

happy 8 years love! we better start planning now for a fun 10 year party :)

today...

*a 7th grader (who has some "issues", is usually in the library with her aide, and i've managed to build the start of relationship with) was at the circulation desk in the library, talking to me about a book she's waiting for. she stopped and looked at my face, concerned.
"ooh. you have marks under your eyes. oh, wait. they're just bags."
love that honesty.

*i had my observation from my college supervisor. she had to watch me teach a lesson. and despite this same lesson not going so well yesterday when i taught it to two different classes, this morning it was okay, and she was very pleased with how it all went. best part? she doesn't have to come watch me teach any more lessons! so relieving.

*tonight we went to dinner to celebrate my observation (did i mention i'm RELIEVED!?) and zane was talking about a birthday party avery is invited to. he said "it says they're going to have snacks there!"
nola asked avery "is there someone in your class named snacks?" :)

*we just felt an earthquake that was centered in maine. zane and i were sitting on the couch, and the floor shook for about 10 seconds. king got up and was pacing, and i initially thought either the heat was trying to come on and there was something wrong with the boiler, or that marley was somewhere and shaking violently.
nope. earthquake.
my words to zane "what the HELL was that? no, really. what the hell was that??"
he's all excited that we felt an earthquake. i told him i never want to feel one ever again.

per mema's request :)

james and brian!

our friends james and brian got married last weekend! and avery and nola were the flower girls! we could not have been more proud to be part of their celebration :) more pics to come. i stole most of these from other people!

cleo.

just wanted to post a picture of nola's drawing of cleo. since starting school this year, nola's taken a new interest in drawing. any time avery used to draw or do crafts, nola would be interested for a minute, but then go off and do her own thing. now, we get pictures sent home (the first was of "daddy", one the other day was of "mommy and daddy") and she will sit down and work on something for a while.

like today. cleo. she was really bummed that we didn't have a white marker to make cleo's white feet, but she made do with grey :)
it's so fun to see her drawings build in character and complexity. you can see avery's cat on the right, which has had a couple years of skill building. love to see the different stages.
by the way, nola was SO MAD at me for taking this picture, and refused to let me take any others. so.

friday blurbs.

*last night when i was making dinner, avery came running downstairs in to the kitchen.
"mom, mmmm, dinner smells delicious! is it time to eat yet?"
and there it was. this surreal moment of realization that i'm a mom and have a little family that i adore and that my little girl is ALMOST FIVE.
it was awesome and terrifying at the same time.

*avery is my little backseat driver. she's taken to checking all around the car when i'm backing out of anywhere (maybe because i hit a car two weeks ago?) and letting me know when it's clear. today she told me that i should have honked at the cars in front of me at a green light because they didn't move fast enough when the light changed.

*nola is slowly wrapping avery's teacher around her finger as well. she made a picture for scott the other day (that's hanging proudly in his classroom) and yesterday she came home with a special stencil that he made her. smart cookie.

*i can't walk past the infant rooms at their school without peeking (em, gawking) at the cute babies and seeing what they're up to. i think someday (some summer maybe) i might have to work in a daycare so i can get it out of my system. man, those babies are cute.

*yesterday, avery made this drawing and told me that she wants it on her birthday cake. that will make things really easy!

*tomorrow is schnitzelfest in hillsboro where we used to live. i'm hoping the rain stays away so we can go up. it's something different to do, and even though we'll be away next weekend, it'll feel nice to get out of the area!

*the practicum is going better. after everyone was sick for almost 2 weeks, things finally feel more normal around here and i have more energy to put towards life. i'm trying not to stress out about finding my next placement, or finishing one of my pre-practicum assignments that i forgot about, or how i'm going to go to a simmons meeting and smartboard workshop next week with limited child care. it'll figure itself out. 

*avery is still sticking to her original idea about being the easter bunny for halloween. and nola wants to be a ghost with a flashlight. it would be awesome if i could take care of those things so we're not running around last minute trying to get it done. but that's what i said when i started looking for a dress to wear to the wedding next weekend in august. and i still don't have a dress...

*this picture cracks me up. it was our second weekend of apple picking and avery was not pleased. at least here she was trying to be playful :)

*the last weekend of the summer we went to zane's coworkers house where her husband was harvesting honey. zane got to don some of the suit and do something with the bees. it was fascinating!

that's all for now. it's rainy and cold here. maybe that means some of the household things will get done today. or maybe it means a nap. 

the mondays and then some.

yesterday was a bizarre and pretty awful monday.

it started sunday night. nola still had a fever and woke up around 9pm coughing and crying and fitful. got her back to sleep and proceeded to wake up again multiple times before 11pm. i finally realized she was having a hard time breathing, so i turned the shower on as hot as it would go, scooped her up (she finally stopped fighting me) and layed her on the bathroom floor to get some steam. she dozed off and on but still wasn't breathing much better. i bundled her up and took her outside to sit on the front steps with me. it was probably the coolest night we've had since last spring, so that was helpful. the cold air helped her a lot and she was finally breathing a bit more normal. we came inside and i propped her on the couch, opened a window and turned on the tv hoping she'd doze off again. i cuddled up with her for a few hours of her barking, thrashing around, a few more trips to the front steps, and finally a call to her doctor to see if there was anything more i could do short of going to the er. there wasn't and after one final trip outside, she asked to go to her own bed. i layed next to her bed and calmed her every time she woke up coughing/gasping/crying. zane got up at 5:15 with his alarm and i was still awake, but nola was finally sleeping a bit more soundly.

the biggest issue (aside from breathing difficulties, and zane also feeling sick as a dog) was who was going to take care of the kids (well, nola). avery was going to school at 8am, but i had a meeting with my college supervisor and my librarian at 8. zane had a meeting with a new kid at 8:30, so he couldn't take the day off. i put in a frantic call to my parents just before 7 hoping they were available to let nola crash on their couch while i was at the 3 hour meeting.

when i say it was a scramble and a mess to get the three of us out of the house by 7:40, i mean it in every sense. i had to make sure i had all my paperwork that i needed for my practicum, i had to make sure avery had everything she needed for school, i needed to make sure nola had stuff for grammy and gramps' (she still had a fever of 101.5), i barely had time to feed the girls, i forgot to bring avery's blanket for rest time, i was anxious about meeting my supervisor, etc etc etc.

nola got settled, my dad took avery to school, i got to work on time and met with my supervisor and we had our meeting. it went well despite me feeling like i was in a foggy haze with burning eyes and uncomfortable shoes. at the end, we were filling out more paper work and the issue of the library teacher's license number came up. long story short, it's not clear that the practicum can happen with her as my mentor. it will probably all work out fine, but not knowing is weighing on my mind.

i pick up the girls, we hang out on the couch for the afternoon, zane comes home and lets me go upstairs to try and nap (i don't, i'm too overtired). i come back downstairs and nola's fallen asleep on the couch and we decide to have pizza for dinner. i want/need fresh air, so i offer to go pick it up. i back out of the driveway and hit the car that's parked across the street.

later that night, we're putting laundry away in our bedroom and musing over the crappy day we both had (zane's meeting was cancelled and postponed to today, so another day he can't take off if nola's still sick) and i joke that at least he didn't hit a car, especially a parked one. he responds with "it happens all the time" when we hear **CRASH**. look outside and two cars have smashed into each other right down the street. he runs outside with a phone to call the police and almost gets into an argument with a grandfather that starts yelling at the driver that his daughter hit.

and that was monday.

today, nola still has a fever, 101.1 last check this afternoon. i didn't go to work so i could take her to the dr and hopefully get medicine. but the dr couldn't tell me she's had a fever since friday and didn't know what was wrong, so no medicine other than tylenol/motrin. hope she can go back to school tomorrow, i need to go to work (and find out if my librarian is certified "enough"), and we need to put the pieces of our life back together!

and to top it all off, we ordered flower girl dresses for avery and nola to wear to a wedding in 3 weeks and have heard nothing back from the company after we placed our order and they took our money. the phone number is disconnected and they haven't answered any of my emails. we've been in contact with our bank, and i've filed a complaint against them with the better business bureau. what a mess!

zane put it best when he said that we started the year off not completely prepared and with everything in order for the things we knew we were needing to do, etc. and now with these curveballs thrown at us? we're in over our heads and it doesn't feel good.

here's to a better end to the week!

4:15.

(i put this on facebook and it got good reviews, so i'll add it here ;) avery is a climbing fool!)

so the transition for everyone going back to work/school has been rough. the first few days were exciting and full of energy. then reality hit and long days started taking their tolls on all of us. we're all tired. avery's sick; she had been doing better yesterday and went to school, but this morning had a temperature again. things are go go go. zane had his parent teacher night last night and i only saw him for about 5 seconds all day when he came home and i woke up when the bedroom door opened. did i mention we're all tired? it didn't help that the dogs started barking yesterday morning at 4:15 to alert us to a skunk on our front porch, snacking on some food we had left out in our sandy beach bag. we all woke up at that point, and despite trying pretty hard, i don't think anyone really fell back to sleep after. it was a long day.

but! it's friday! and even though nola just threw the temper of the century on the front lawn, resulting in me carrying her sideways into the house 3 times because she wasn't following time-out instructions after she slapped me on the arm, i'm so grateful for this day off with them every week. it gives us a little chance to recharge our batteries and slow down after a busy week.
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my practicum/job is going well. it's overwhelming to stop and think of all the "stuff" i need to do for the student teaching aspect, on top of the general clerical "stuff" that never seems to be caught up. but the days at work fly by and i'm learning a ton. i even offered to do a booktalk for a 7th grade english class the other day, and even though it didn't go as smoothly as i had hoped, i broke out of my comfort zone a bit and hopefully it'll just get easier to work with classes from here on out.

i have a big meeting on monday morning with the librarian and my college supervisor-who i've never met, but judging by the emails she's sent me, seems a bit strict and stuffy. we'll see how it goes. we're going to go over all the projects and lessons i need to do this semester, so at least i'll have a better idea on what the specifics are.

i can't wait for december.

i also am already really looking forward to my elementary practicum. i just have to find someone that will host me!

(random picture from a cookout we went to right before school started)

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as for the girls school. still don't like the administration, but the girls' teachers are good. nola's is wonderful, and avery's is starting to show a bit more warmth and personality when i pick up the girls.
yesterday, scott (avery's teacher) went to the lunch room to have his break and he heard an unfamiliar voice call out "hey scott!" he turned around and it was nola waving at him :)
the other teachers in the school seem to know avery and nola and always say hi and bye to them when we're walking down the halls. it's comforting to know that even if the director and assistant director are crappy and un-friendly, they have good teachers.

outfits.

it's amazing how much nicer it is to be home with the girls after we've been gone doing our respective "jobs" during the week! thoroughly enjoying our friday with a donut, lounging, cleaning up the house and eating lunch in the tent in the living room.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL (outfits i picked with their help)

THIRD DAY OF SCHOOL (they insist on picking their own clothes ;))

whatever works!

i went to pick them up yesterday and nola had fallen asleep during rest time :)
avery's teachers name is scott. she told me yesterday that she loves scott like she loves zane and i. she says he's funny. and she tickles him. and i think i'm starting to fear for the teen years.

yay for the weekend!

ch-ch-ch-changes.

wow. a month? shame on me.

we had our wonderful visitors, fell into a funk for a couple of days after they left, and then squeezed every last drop of summer out of august that we could. until the week before things started up again and zane had impetigo and the girls both had nasty colds. we like to keep things interesting around here :)

and to keep the chaos alive for a while longer, today the girls started their new preschool, i started my new job/practicum and zane started his first full(er) week of school (he had 2 days with the kids last week). it's 8pm, and after the girls went down (without a peep, school wore them out!) zane told me to go for a run or a walk. i did and it was a great way to decompress and forget about most of today :)

the one thing we won't forget: the girls did AMAZING at school.

i wasn't expecting huge issues, but it's the first time that they're at "school" and not in the same class/room. we didn't really know how they'd take to it, knowing it was a big adjustment for all of us to be moving into this new phase. apparently avery came to nola's class once to say hi, but other than that the girls did wonderfully.

*nola's teacher (kathy) said she was great, no problems, smiled big when they took pictures for a project they're working on, and rested quietly during rest time until i picked her up.
*avery's teacher (scott) said that she did great and that she wasn't nearly as shy as he thought she was going to be. i joked with him that when she warms up, she really warms up. later tonight she told zane and i "scott fell asleep on a puzzle and we had to wake him up! i tickled him!"

avery seemed stand-off ish when i picked them up, and she says it's because she wanted to stay longer. tomorrow they'll be there for an extra 2 hours, so hopefully that'll keep her happy :) i think both girls gained a lot of confidence today and were really happy to reconnect with each other after school was over.

my job is complicated a bit, in that i have two roles. 1-my practicum/student teaching. this is where i get to do fun stuff like collaborate with teachers and come up with projects and lessons and learn how to interact with middle school students. it's more professional in nature and it's something i hope people appreciate and take advantage of (to an extent...) 2-my position (paid) as "clerical aide" in the library. this is more of the standard check books out/in, keep things running behind the scenes, etc. a job that doesn't really require any special knowledge of libraries or information science. and this is where i feel like when people hear i'm just the aide? they don't really care. but then when they hear that i'm a grad student finishing my program as simmons, they perk up. i haven't even met the principal (who hired me) yet. a bit disappointing and strange, but i love the librarian i'm working with and am looking forward to the "fun" part of this semester.

zane says that the beginning of this school year is going better than any other year for him. very good news. at least one of us is feeling a little stable and confident in their role!

and now comes the task of catching up and blogging about all the fun things we did this summer. starting tomorrow.

visitors!

the girls got the surprise of a lifetime yesterday when we told them we were going to the airport to look for some planes. it's the simple things, they were excited!

however, we were really going to the airport to pick up mema and pittypat! what a fun moment when avery noticed them sitting on a bench outside :)

we stopped for lunch on the way home from the airport. it was a busy friday lunchtime, so we could only get two tables next to each other. zane and i got to each lunch together, and the ladies all got to each with each other and it worked out perfectly :)

yay for family visits!

enormous.

not the best picture, but when did they get so big?????????

dare i say it?

there's a chance (a pretty big one, but i won't say 100% yet)...

that i've finished my work (the big stuff) for classes this summer.

i just put the finishing touches on an 8 page research proposal and just have to tie up some loose ends (add publishers to my annotated bibliography) on my 11 page collection development project that i "finished" yesterday.

joy. that's an understatement.

there's also a chance (again, a pretty big one) that last week's foolishness and bad moodiness and over-all crankiness in this household are gone!

right now it looks like this upstairs:

we went to the res beach this morning and let the girls watch a movie upstairs with some conditions: they were to stay on the couch, with quiet mouths and hands, no fooling around. if they broke those rules, either one of them, they would have to go to their room and be quiet in their beds, where they've spent the last 4 "rest times" this week (though they've been louder than thunder and more obnoxious than...something that's stupidly obnoxious...when they've been banished to "nap"time.)

so this sight? with nola sound asleep and avery cuddled up and QUIET so that her sister can sleep? 

priceless.

we're going to get ice cream to celebrate the victories for everyone. 

ps, ha! you can tell when it's the end of a semester i guess. april i only had 5 posts all month. july, so far, only has 2 :)

summer, so far.

so far, i've been terrible about taking pictures.

....we've been to the res beach at least 3 times a week, probably more like 4 or 5.

....we've given the girls "sleep treats" almost every morning because they are going to sleep wonderfully!

....i've managed to not get too stressed out with my summer classes (although there's only 4 weeks left and an insane amount of work to be done, i'm trying to keep my cool)

....we've been to a new water park twice, and we all like it much more than the one we went to the last couple of years.

.... i've been slacking on running, and i really really hope to get in a better routine.

....the girls have two new nightgowns each for their awesome sleeping and there's few things cuter than little girls in nighties.

....the girls finished charlotte's web with zane and are onto the fantastic mr. fox (the dramatic reading of the last chapters of charlotte's web was a sight--zane and i both crying and the girls going about their business.)

....we found a new beer that we both adore--narragansett summer ale. in a pretty blue can.

....we went to see madagascar 3 in our local theater

....we finally had "dates" with the girls, something we've been meaning to do for months--i went out with nola and zane stayed home with avery and played a game. we'll definitely be doing more of this, it was great (and different!) to be one on one.

so far, i'd say we've been doing our part to enjoy summer :)