march 9th.

looking so forward to daylight savings!

we had a messy day on thursday, with heavy snow, rain, sleet, you name it. the girls and i all had early release days and zane was off. it was so nice to have him around for the morning routine and help get kids to school!

after we got out of school we ran some quick errands to get lunch. the roads were getting pretty bad and people were driving terribly. but we made it home, ate our lunch and then zane went upstairs and took a nap while the girls and i snuggled on the couch watching "the aristocats" under a blanket. they took turns rubbing my back for m+m's. it was heaven.

avery and i took a walk up to the square to get some wine while nola stayed inside and colored and zane started the storm clean-up. we probably only got about 6 inches, but it was heavy and wet and a workout to walk through. when avery and i got back, nola suited up and we made a snowman in the front while zane finished snow-blowing.


friday, we all headed back to school. i was expecting the worst from valentine's day on a friday before vacation at an elementary school (which also coincided with a full moon), but i was pleasantly surprised. fridays are my long days with 6 classes pretty much back to back (ranging from k-5 grade). i had a fun game planned for the older grades, and they did amazing with it. the younger grades (who are usually out of control on good days) were fantastic and the day flew by. i got 3 roses from students and a heartwarming card.


the girls had a blast at school with valentine's celebrations. we layed low yesterday afternoon and headed to bed early since we have THREE birthday parties today. luckily they should all be done before we get MORE SNOW. there's a blizzard watch along the coast, but we're in the 5-8 range. it seems like there will be a pretty dramatic drop-off in totals, so we'll see what we actually end up with.

and that's that. we have this next week off, and are trying to fill it with play-dates, day trips and maybe a trip into my school so that i can get ahead for once this year. if nothing else, we plan on enjoying the break and taking full advantage of no real obligations.

snow day. not fun.

we were excited with this upcoming storm, assuming we'd have the day off and we could snuggle down and enjoy the time off school.
wrong.
i woke up with a fever of 103 at some point during the night. assuming it's the flu or some other horrid virus. the fever is just about gone, but achiness took it's place.
the girls got a chance to play outside for a long time this afternoon while zane was snow-blowing. they came in, he gave them a snack, but neither really ate it. zane had just gone upstairs to lay down for a bit and i had just gotten myself to the kitchen to take more advil when i heard nola get up and say she thought she was going to throw up. and she was right.
i wrote to a woman i work with who has 2 high school boys. i jokingly asked 'how do moms with two young kids hold down a job?' because seriously, it always seems to be someone. or something.

anyway!
the girls are still growing like weeds.
on to pics.

would like to have a caption for each, but my medicine is blurring the screen.

merry chrismas/birthday/new year!

 *forgot to post this 3 weeks ago...*

whirlwind of a holiday vacation. (nola was convinced that we were actually going away on "vacation" and kept saying she was going to miss bitzer. it took me a while to explain to her that we weren't going anywhere)

*friday after we were all home from work and school we headed out to do some shopping (for the girls to give to each other) and we saw santa. we were up past our bedtime but it felt fun because it was "vacation"

*i got sick saturday. the first day we all had off. just a sore throat and achiness, but annoying. zane did the grocery shopping (happy early christmas to me!) we spent the day wrapping presents, skyping with mema and grandpa dan, playing legos and snuggling. that night we watched the rest of "polar express" with popcorn, made sugar cookies and let the girls stay up late with us as we started "it's a wonderful life" to celebrate winter solstice.

*on sunday we did more of the same, with a few breaks to do some last minute shopping. the girls both took naps (another christmas miracle!) and we were able to finish our movie that night with them(they loved the "buffalo girls" song)

*monday it was pouring. we had a big pancake breakfast and hung around until we took the girls bowling. it was something they had both begged to do but since we had never gone before we had no idea what to expect. they loved it and were great at it! definitely something we'll do more of this winter when we just need to get out. after bowling we went to the girls' doctor for avery's 6 year well-check. got both girls ears and throats checked out and they both had slight fevers. came home to eat dinner and watch a holiday movie after the girls were in bed.

*tuesday (christmas eve day!) we were able to skype with mema and grandpa dan and open the gifts upon gifts that they had sent. shortly after i took nola back to the dr with a raging fever and sore throat. negative for strep, so we left with orders to take lots of over the counter medicine and rest. after stopping for a milkshake, we came home and nola passed out in her bed. took the rest of the day easy and played with new toys (wii!) and waited as zane grilled steaks for dinner. made more cookies for santa and put everything out before hopping into bed, in hopes that the morning would come fast. zane and i watched "white christmas", as we do every christmas eve, and were in bed pretty early.

*wednesday-merry christmas! zane and i got up early and made monkey bread and finalized gifts under the tree. got the girls up at 7 (they had both been up over night-nola for medicine, avery to ask if santa had come to our house yet), and watched them rip into presents. hung around until we headed to my parents house for family, dinner and more presents. nola felt pretty bad and didn't eat hardly anything, but was a trooper and had fun with henry and avery.

*thursday-the let down day! wandered around the house for most of the day, trying to clean things up but not really wanting to. played a bit more with the wii (avery's favorite game is ratatouille, and she's awesome at it!) i still felt crappy and nola was slowly coming around.

*friday-by the time dinner rolled around and we were watching "wizard of oz", avery was laying on the couch and looking either sick or tired. turned out it was sick. fever and sore throat for the win.

*saturday-nola's finally feeling better, avery not so much. with nola feeling better physically she was also back to being the epitome of limit-testing and button-pushing. ran some errands, the girls made a birthday cake for me with zane.

*sunday-my birthday. by 9am i had declared it one of the nicest birthdays in a while. by noon i was eating my words. overall i tried to appreciate the good things, but by the girls bedtime i was over it and just wanted the day to be over :)

*monday-today. just about everyone is (finally) feeling better and we're back to getting stuff done. we may go out to dinner tonight to celebrate since we haven't gone out much in the last week. at least it's saved us money ;)

overall, not the vacation any of us was envisioning. but i think the girls have had a lot of fun staying in jammies most days and playing at home. during the rush of school days with drop-offs and pick-ups and the go-go-go, it's something that we don't get to do much and i'm trying to sit back and let it be.

i'm dreaming of a white christmas!

 

I'm pretty sure there will still be some snow on the ground by Christmas. We got snow overnight (our first "real" storm) and I think it'll be cold enough for the next 10 days that it won't all melt. The girls had so much fun today playing in the snow, and then took a 2 hour nap! A Christmas miracle! 

 

To get in the Christmas spirit (it didn't take much, I was itching to go before Thanksgiving), we've been listening to Christmas music every chance we get, making a gingerbread village, buying presents, decorating the tree, house and cookies, and writing letters to Santa, and last night as the snow was starting, we drove around looking at Christmas lights.

 

Avery turned 6! It's truly been a magical age--the bickering and icky behavior of the 5 year old seems to have left and has been replaced by a helpful and respectful little girl. Couldn't be more proud :)

 One of her presents was ear buds that she can use when she's on the computer. So grown up :)

 

Working backwards, we hosted Thanksgiving here and it was the smoothest turkey day to date! We made a couple of dishes the day before and it made the day of so much easier. I think we were done with cooking and preparing by 11am! We were able to relax, eat, drink and enjoy the rest of the day.

 Avery also got a "how to draw" book for her birthday. Her first picture was of a queen. She loves to draw and this book has been wonderful! Side note: we had no idea that Nola could draw (we had really only seen her head with two legs representation of people before, but it turns out that she has an incredible talent for copying artwork-pictures to come)

The girls have also been to some birthday parties, a cookie decorating party, we've started our Harry Potter movie night marathon, Avery was sick last weekend, I got sick this week and now all of us girls have super stuffy nose, I had my first (and second, and third) observation at work and happily my principal seems to think I'm good at my job (whew), we saw Frozen last weekend (so good!) and have pretty much been trying to soak in all the winter and holiday goodness we can. I have to admit though, this week can't go by fast enough so we can slow things down and enjoy the extra long winter vacation.

stuff.

I'm into my 3rd week at my new job. though there are times during my lessons when i'm giving my 100th "look" to someone or when i'm counting down from 5 to 1 to get the kids' attention that i feel like the middle school was so much easier, i love my new position. i love making lessons for younger kids. i love reading aloud. i love trying to come up with signs and decorations for the library.

****************************************************************************
since this is going so well, it's no surprise that other things are not.
nola got sick on halloween night and was out of school the next day.
avery was sent home from school last thursday with a 102.5 fever, which then climbed to 103 by bedtime, resulting in vomiting and a terrible night sleep (for all of us). she was home this past friday recovering.
zane comes home yesterday feeling like he has a fever and with an upset stomach.
i picked up nola from school today and she has a weird rash on her face and her belly, but nothing hurts or feels sick.
ugh.
**************************************************************************
zane and i worked our tails off this long weekend throwing stuff out, rearranging things and de-cluttering our lives.
**************************************************************************
i'm ready for thanksgiving. and christmas. and summer vacation.

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

whoa. 2 months without a post. that's a new low. but it's only because so much (good) has been going on :)

recap:

*avery started kindergarten and LOVES it. loves it. the only time she's said she didn't want to go to school was because she had library class that day and thought it was boring (ha!). since then, she's been able to check out books, so I haven't heard her complain.

*nola is still at adventures. we thought (and were told) that she would be in scott's class this year (the class avery was in last year: prek/k), but the first day of school she was told that she would be in leny's class. there are a lot of mixed feelings about this switch (from nola and us), but so far it's working out ok and nola's made some good friends. leny is pregnant and due in december, so I don't know yet who her replacement will be, which will throw things for a loop again, i'm sure. ugh. we'll take it as it comes.

*mema came out to visit and help the beginning of the school year. I don't know how we would have gotten everyone where they were supposed to be (and when) without her here! as it was, we were still scrambling a couple of days to switch cars and figure out the schematics of the schedule. thank you again mema! your help was such a blessing!

*being a middle school library teacher is a trip! overall, my school is amazing. the teachers are great, the students are respectful and polite (and funny as hell). it took me a few weeks to fall into a groove and know what was going on, and the fact that i'm part time (and the only one) doesn't work well for anyone but me and my schedule. however, i feel like i'm part of a big family and have really enjoyed my first adventure in the working world in years.

which is why it was really difficult to make the decision to apply for a part time library teacher position in one of the elementary schools in the same district. ultimately, with each passing week at the middle school, i was reminded of how much i enjoy the elementary level, and after getting support and approval from my principal and director, i went for it. i was offered the job yesterday and excitedly accepted it! now, to figure out who will take my place at the middle school and when i'll transition to the elementary school. i've already started to plan lessons and create a vision for the space...as happy as i was to have the middle school job, i never got this excited. it'll be an interesting time joining the school after the school year has started, but i'm up for it :)

*on friday night we drove out to zane's school to eat dinner and watch the high school football game. one of zane's students was starting, so we got to meet him before the game. i hadn't been to zane's room since last year some time, and i was really impressed with how it's all come together. he's been saying lately that he's getting burnt out of SPED, so we'll see if he chooses to take his teaching in a different direction soon!

*i had a BLT for the first time last week and i fell in love.

*nola was sick over the long weekend-we finally took her in on monday and the dr confirmed a sinus infection. zane started feeling yucky on monday and had a fever and went to the dr yesterday, but decided to wait it out before getting any medicine. and today i've got one hot 5 year old next to me on the couch with a 103 fever. wonder how long i can last?

*we're going up to new hampshire this weekend for a big pumpkin festival. we're staying over in a hotel and i'm not sure if the girls are excited about the festival or about swimming in the hotel pool :) i'm excited about not needing to do dishes or laundry for a day and a half.

*in between the big things,  we've been apple picking twice, went to watertown's town day, painted about 100 pictures, finally cleaned up our yard

catch up.

sisters with new haircuts and new jammies. after we got back from kansas city we completely revamped their bedtime routine and they've been doing amazing with it. this was their reward. after much debate they picked the same nightgown, complete with matching sleep mask. they have jammie parties and are adorable.

 they took the stuffing out of a huge bear that has been deteriorating for a while. they've had more fun this week pretending the stuffing is snow, soup, blankets, etc. i feel almost bad that we're going to throw it out soon, but it's a pain to clean up.

i wanted to take a picture of nola because she looked like dora on her shirt and avery snuck in under her legs. nola didn't miss a beat, and let her through while she posed. 

we went to a museum in kansas city that had kid friendly face paint set up for the kids to do themselves. we set up their room with a mirror on top of a new dresser and i found some face paint for them. they ask every single day to use face paint. this was nola's cat face, she did it all by herself and then wanted a picture of it so she would remember what she did for next time. 

avery, on the other hand, colored her entire face in black :)

the girls have been watching "power puff girls" during rest time this summer. they love it. avery especially, so she's started drawing the girls on the blackboard. 

i can't remember if i mentioned that i got the job i interviewed for--today i went to the school and met with the coordinator to see the library and get my email set up. i am completely overwhelmed, but excited. i'm hopeful that they will give me some sort of assistant/aide. with only being there half-time, it's going to be difficult to get everything done. the good news is that they coordinator wants us to start pushing for the full-time position to be reinstated next year. the trick will be doing enough to make the program work well and for them to hire me back, but not enough to make them think that half-time is enough to run a really excellent library program.

*just went back and realized i've updated nothing about this job. i got a call the next day and the principle said he thought i was a terrific fit for the school and he needed me to make an appointment to meet with the superintendent (or someone from the administration) for them to make the final call. i met with the assistant super the next week, was hired that day, filled out the paperwork and the rest was history. i know that the pool of candidates for school library jobs is slim and poor right now (i've been in touch with my simmons director and she has the inside scoop from districts who are looking). the job i took was a .5 library teacher position in the middle school in the next town. no one wants .5. no one really offers .5 because to do a good job as a library teacher in half the time that the rest of the school is in session is near impossible. it is the first year this school wont have a full time librarian, so it will be an adjustment for everyone. and that's that.*

avery starts kindergarten in a few weeks! the other day when she asked when she started school and i told her 3 weeks she pouted. i thought she was sad about school, but then she told me that she wants it to start sooner. hope she continues with the excitement :)

AND! nola had her follow up appointment with the ENT and had a hearing test before the appointment. the audiologist said her hearing has improved completely and she can hear perfectly :) both tubes are still in place and look great. so happy to have her healthy.

it's AUGUST?!

the summer has run away with us for sure.

*nola's surgery went well, her recovery went well, she can hear, she can smell, she can sleep. best thing we did, just wish we had done it a bit earlier.

*avery graduated from preschool! we were invited to a short and sweet ceremony, complete with caps and gowns, songs, cake and ice cream. very proud of how well she did this year at school, from making friends to keeping her teachers on their toes (among the many funny reports from school, my favorite was "scotty, if you keep tickling me i'm going to have to punch you.")

*we finished out the school year, loaded up the car and drove to kansas city! this is a post in itself, but i'll condense it to one word: awesome.
the girls were awesome in the car, we had an awesome time when we stopped at our big destinations on the way, we had an awesome time in kansas city, and though there were a few more trying times on the way home (we were exhausted, we wanted to be home, we hate pennsylvania), we had an awesome time on the return trip. it felt great to get home and reconnect with the animals, our house and our routine.

*since we've been home we've been soaking up the summer. going to the res beach, eating out, cooking out, learning how to play crazy 8's, running, playing basketball, moving rooms around in our house for the millionth time, changing the bedtime routine, zane started to make a playhouse/fort for the girls in the back yard, we had neighbors over for brisket.
we have a few more weeks to enjoy the summer, hoping to get to the beach, go to the children's museum, go see a movie, eat more ice cream, read more books, eat more s'mores, enjoy more lazy afternoons and take more walks at night.

*i had an interview today. should know next week if i'm in the running.

crazy 8's!

res beach

nola's drawing of a "type rope"

dada's helpers

enormous and impressive.

Those were the words the dr used to descibe nola's adenoids. She had tubes put in this morning and her adenoids removed. When the dr came to tell us that everything went great, he told us that they were so large she probably wasnt able to breathe out of her nose at all. Poor girl.
Other than nausea from the morphine and a sore throat from the breathing tube, she is quiet and resting  beside me. Everytime she starts to fall asleep she starts to sweat and almost gets sick. Hopefully this phase is over soon!
Already I can tell she can hear more. Before she would ask me to turn the tv way up and still couldnt hear. Now its on pretty quiet and she says she can hear it, yay!! The dr said her ears were filled with thick fluid, so he has no doubts that this is going to make her feel a lot better when she is healed. Double yay!!

The hard thing will be limiting her activity for the next week. No playing with friends, no running, no recess, no swimming. Good thing it looks like it will be rainy and cool for most of this week. Averys going to have a hard time leaving her little sis alone ;)

the ball game saves us...

We had another hell of a week consisting of nola up most tuesday night crying about her ears and then vomiting for most of the day on wednesday. She was more miserable than I have ever seen her. Since I dont work on wednesdays and the girls dont go to school on wednesdays, avery was home too and impressed me over and over with sympathy and helpfulness (except for her 1 outburst when I stopped at cvs to get nolas medicine, right after we went to the dr, right after she threw up in the car and avery yelled "you never buy ME gatorade!!", which was so over the top that i had to laugh at it.)
Basically her medicine wasnt working on her ears and one was just awful. The dr said her infection may have been making her sick or she could have a stomachbug on top of her ear issues. I cannot wait until we get her tubes on tuesday, and pray that they do everything they are supposed to do.

Now onto the good! I have a friend whose family owns season tickets to the red sox. She gave us 4 tickets to a night game, and even though no.a was still getting over being sick and we hemmed and hawed about going for an hour, we finally decided togive it a shot and it payed off. The girls had a blast, were good as gold and our seats were incredible!! We so needed good family time, and we squeezed every ounce out that we could.

None of these pictures are great quality, but our memories are :)