Here again....sort of

It has been a long month. I haven't kept up like I wanted to. School is consuming my life, it has completely taken over. I think I still have an A, I made an 87 and 88.5 on two test, the rest have been A's. I am hoping I do!! I take my final on the 9th. Once that is over I will get a much needed "break". It won't be for long though because I start school on the 15th. I am glad I've learned so much this summer. I can't wait until school starts....I feel like I am "missing" something. I sure love special ed kids!! I am going to run thorough what we have been doing and then come back to post videos and pictures. We went to The Lake of the Ozark and had a blast. Hayden learned so much. He caught a fish, went tubing, rode the jet ski, drove the boat, and even jumped in the water. I am still couponing and have great deals to post. We also went go cart riding for Alex's birthday. This week I am going to go to my classroom and start cleaning, organizing, and decorating. David started his police academy and it has been a "full time" job for him. He is studying all the time. He is very smart but with laws and fines you just have to memorize it. I even got to volunteer with people that are visually impaired or blind. It has been a great but busy month.

Bugs

Last week Hayden had a baseball game. He did really good. Since it has been so hot we don't make him wear baseball pants, so when he slides he does it so lightly...it's pretty funny. Micah came out to watch him and ended up going on the field with him. He loved that. After the game we were sitting in the grass and Hayden found a cricket. David told him to pick it up. Hayden was a little shocked that David would ask him to. He eventually caught it. I took a few pictures of it. He was pretty proud that he caught it. He wanted to take it home. When were were cleaning the camper out at Karen and Joe's garage he found a frog. He put it in a box and played with it. He didn't like that he had to let it go and cried because he wanted it as a pet. I have a feeling in a few years he will be a bug collector. I think he will be the kid that keeps animals in his room or pockets and won't tell anyone. I don't I like it because I am not much of a bug person. He is so brave it really makes me think about the future.

***On another note Hayden and I are leaving for St. Louis today so we will be gone for about a week. If you are planning to go to his game on the 19th don't because we won't be there. We are going to the lake so not sure how good of internet connection we will have so I will TRY to post about the trip.

Jelly Stone

I said last week that we were going on vacation. We left Friday and came back Sunday. We had a great time. We went camping. I really forgot how time consuming camping is. You have to bring every little thing that you need. I had a training to go to Wednesday and Thursday so I didn't have much time to pack. I sat down and made a list of things we would need. I only forgot two things...oil and avocados. It worked out really well...it was a pretty cheap vacation. We rented a golf cart which helped a lot. We didn't have to do so much walking and toting stuff around. The biggest thing was getting Hayden to the bathroom in time. On Friday, it was hard to get them there fast and then have to wait until there was an open stall. So on Saturday, we made him go every few hours so we wouldn't have to make a mad dash. Friday night the people that were behind us were so loud I don't think they went to bed until around 3 then around 4 David's truck alarm went off. So we didn't get much sleep that first night. Saturday was better, I am not sure if it was because we were so tired. It was really hot so we spent a lot time at the pools. Hayden loved it. I must say this camp ground is really kid friendly....which is something we wanted. There was so much to keep Hayden busy. Friday we went swimming and then came back and ate dinner. Hayden got to roast marshmallows, on a Coleman stove (we are under a fire ban because it hasn't rained so we weren't sure if we could make a fire). He loved it. He didn't get the idea of roasting but he loved eating them. On Saturday we took Hayden to meet Yogi, arts and crafts, the game room, swimming, petting zoo, to the concession stand, and to see a movie. I wanted to get Hayden a souvenir of his first family vacation but figured he would grow out of a T-shirt. So they had ceramics that you could paint. His pieces turned out very interesting...his dump truck is VERY colorful and his dog needed to be repainted so I helped. We went to play games in the game room. Then Hayden took a 3 hour nap. After that we made our way out to the pool. We went on a different bigger slide. I didn't get any pictures...it was way to hard to watch him and try not to get the camera wet. Man he loved it. He was so excited and smiling the whole time. He didn't even get scared...after David and I were worried about him because it was taking him so long to get down. We went to the petting zoo next. I figured that you would be able to go in the gate but you couldn't they had holes cut out so you could stick your hands in. Hayden wasn't sure about it but when the animals didn't bite him, he would lay his hands flat and let them lick the food out of his hands. It was time to go see Yogi and dance with him. We only did this for a couple of minutes because it was crowded. Then we ate some snacks at the concession stand....Hayden loved the cotton candy. A boy after my own heart!! It was time for dinner. After dinner and smores. We finished the evening with watching Yogi Bear in the golf cart. We had a blast...we are definitely are going to go back, when it gets cooler.

Blessings

As I am learning how to depend on the Lord, it is something I struggle with. I have to have a plan and I am not "on the fly" kind of person. I have to be prepared for anything. This biggest thing I struggle with is letting go. I can say I will relax but it never really happens. When I started my journey into going back to school it was really a walk of faith. I was hoping and praying that I would get the grant that paid for all of my school. It didn't work out that way at first. When I enrolled I was supposed to pay for EVERYTHING out of pocket. We didn't have any money for this...SO I applied to get the scholarship through school and got that....Whew we were going to be able to pay the first installment. We would some how come up with the rest of the money. At the time we didn't have a clue what that would be. So I relied on faith. As time went by everything fell into place. I was able to get all of my classes paid for and then SFA paid me about $1,500. (all of it grants). I began to do some research about loans. I currently have about $10,000 in student loans. I learned that I can get my loans deferred until I graduate...which saves us money on our monthly budget!! I also learned that after working 5 years in Special Education I can get $17,500, of my students loans paid for!!! Which means I only have 3 more years to pay on student loans. So right now I am getting paid to get my Masters and then I get all of my student loans forgiven. I love how it worked out...Most of all I loved how it didn't work out in my plan but God's. It is a good reminder that my plan doesn't need to work and to TRUST HIM.

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You're Gonna Miss This

I know I write a lot about our life and whats going on and I know it's because I want to hold on to these moments forever. I want to remember what Hayden did and how much he has grown. Lately, Hayden has been on a baby kick. He wants to play babies and wants to know what he was like when he was a baby. It made me think to "back then"....What was it really like, what did he do? I began questioning why did I rush all of those moments with him. I wanted to look him in the face and "redo" him growing again. I ALWAYS say I can't wait until he ..... I then forget the what he is doing now. So in the process of rocking teddy bears and giving them bottles, or feeding them with a baby spoon (Hayden likes me to rock his stuffed animals and wrap them in a blanket, he then goes through all of the drawers in the kitchen to find some "baby stuff" and we play). I want to know what he can do.

*He loves to give hugs...and yes when he is in trouble he will give me a hug and kiss me and "bat" his eyes as maybe his cuteness will help. Most of the time it does...because he is so cute.

*When he gets excited about something he will jump up and down and kiss my arms or whatever he can reach.

*He still loves puzzles...He does love to build race tracks and push trucks and cars around on the tile floor.

*He wants a playmate. He loves to play with Holly but she usually doesn't want to play the same thing as him.

*He thinks everything happened yesterday. He likes me to go through the months and tell what is important about each month...He loves October and December.

*He loves fruit....When he was a baby he used to eat anything. Now he had developed his favorites..like blueberries, strawberries, rice, chicken nuggets, milk, bread, and yogurt.

*He doesn't forget anything and he loves to "try" to keep secrets.

*He is such a mix of David and I...He loves to around family and going places (me) and he can pretty much work any electronic device around here (David). He has my old Iphone and he loves that think. I download shows from Itunes and it helped so much when he were camping.

*He has a temper...It doesn't matter what it is...He will scream and cross his arms or attempt to throw a fit. If he doesn't like to he will let you know.

I am going to post a few of my favorite pictures of him "growing". I think as he gets older he doesn't really hit milestones but its neat to compare what he does at different times.


I love this picture because we don't do many "outings" as a family...We went to the Space Center and it was fun!

I LOVED his curls...It was still his baby hair. So technically he was still a baby. I have don't have many pictures that show his curls. Monday before I left for class, I went to kiss Hayden bye. He was taking a nap and he was sucking his thumb. When I went to pull it out I had to pull hard. I pulled so hard that I woke him up. If you ask him if he sucks his thumb the answer is no because babies do.

He wasn't even a month old here but was looking for something to suck on....I can remember my first sonogram picture of him...He was doing the same thing. It a picture that is glued to my head because having the sonogram meant it was "real".

I love my boys, but most of all I love the fact that they are close.

Today when I was doing my braille homework I was listening to the radio and heard Trace Adkins You're Gonna Miss this and it really made it clear that I need to not rush this time and cherish it.

Vacation

It has been a long time since David and I took a family vacation. The last "vacation" I remember us taking is our honeymoon. I really don't count that as a vacation because almost everybody has a honeymoon. So after some lengthy discussion we decided to go camping. We are going to borrow Joe and Karen's camper and camp for 3 days. Its hard to plan anything because of my school schedule. We are going to Jellystone camp ground in Waller. We decided on this one because they had so many kid activities. They have a
pool, water slides, kids water area, petting zoo, movies in the park, fishing, and a playground. I don't think we will get bored. I am so excited. We get to do something as a family which is the best part. Every morning Hayden asks if its time. Another exciting thing is that we rented a golf cart so Hayden will have a blast driving it.

Where

Most of y'all know I have been couponing. I've come to the conclusion that I am pretty "obsessed" with it. David calls it my hobby...I just call it a new way of living. I know I've said this before but it does take time and a lot of effort to do it. I love saving money and it will be nice to give back when school starts. I am planning on donating a lot of things to kids at my school. We have so much of some things that it would literally take us years to go through. I think we have over 25 tubes of toothpaste and David has probably 15 things of deodorant. When I first started this I kept most of stuff in a little hall closet. After that I turned to another bigger hall closet. When that became full I started stacking things in the kitchen and hall ways. The closets were so full David wouldn't go in them. If he needed something I would have to get it. I would grab it really fast and shut the door quickly because stuff would tumble out. We cleaned our garage out 2 months ago, so we had room to store stuff in there. We bought a shelving unit. We set that up and I spent a day organizing everything. We did this about 3 weeks ago and it is almost full. I am guessing once school starts and I take all my stuff to my classroom that's in the garage we will add a shelf. We don't keep anything that will melt or get bad with the heat in the garage so what you see isn't everything.

Here are the before pictures....




Now the after...

Driving

When we were at Aunt Ann's house Uncle Robert was mowing the yard. Hayden wanted to help....of course. Robert let Hayden drive well...steer is more like it. He would go very slow and tell Hayden what to do. He had a blast. They were driving all through the yard. When he was done Hayden said man its hard work...I had to use my muscles to turn!!

Sea World

I am so sorry it has been so long since I wrote a post. Since we go back from San Antonio I have been playing catch up. I hate Monday's Braille class when I have 2 days to do homework that takes me 5. I love Thursdays because it's my "I can breathe day". So now back to Sea World.

My Aunt Ann, her good friend Sheryl, Sheryl's granddaughter Marley, Hayden, and I drove to San Antonio last Friday. We had such a good time. I was in the backseat attending to 2 kids, messing with the DVD player, and doing homework....with a brailler on my lap!! Needless to say I was glad when we got there. We left around 6 and got to Sea World around 10. The day was so great....we ALL had a BLAST!!! We had planned out most of our day so that we could see everything....although we didn't get to EVERYTHING!! We spend most of the day in the Kiddie rides....which was fine with me. The lines were short and moved fast. Marley is about to be 5 so Hayden and her rode most of the rides together. Hayden rode his first roller coaster. He LOVED it!! I thought he was going to be scared and kept watching his face. I figured he would freak out. He didn't, when were getting off the ride he started crying. I figured he had enough.....NO, he didn't want to leave he wanted to ride it again!! We then went to see a show in 4D...this is 3D with effects...like water spraying, air at your feet, wind blowing, and seat moving. This is the one thing that he was afraid of...so scared the he started to cry so loud that we left. After talking to him he said that he didn't know where all the effects were coming from and that scared him. We then went back to kiddie land and they rode a few more rides, then it was time for lunch. We got this wrist bands for food. You could go to restaurants and order anything and a drink as many times as you want. It was well worth it!! So then we went to ride a water ride. Hayden loved it. It was a raft that went around in a circle. Then off to see Shamu. This was so neat. I enjoyed this the most. The whales were so fun. They did tricks and Hayden got a kick out of it. The trainers would show us what to do and Hayden loved "helping" Shamu wave. After that we went to the water park side. Hayden loved everything here. When we were in the wave pool he got a little scared because the waves would get so big, once he was used to it he was jumping into them!! We brought a wagon and that helped so much. He ended falling asleep while we were eating dinner in his chair. I put him in the wagon and it was great. I put an umbrella over him and he slept for almost 2 hours. We went through the lazy river a few times. I loved that it just carries us through the whole thing. Hayden saw a water slide that he was dying to go on. I figured it would be okay. When we got up there I found out that he couldn't ride with me. I was scared...shocked actually. I couldn't send my baby down a water slide that I couldn't see him or catch him at the bottom. This slide was about 4 stories tall. He didn't want to just walk down and not ride it. So I let him go...I went first to comfort him at the bottom if he needed it. When he came sliding down he had a huge grin across his face!! I wished I brought the camera to water park side....but I was afraid it was going to get wet. He was so brave and not scared. I am pretty sure that it is going to haunt me in a few years. We finished the night with another Shamu show....with closer seats. We spent the night in San Antonio. Hayden was so intrigued about what a hotel was. Overall we had such a fabulous time. We didn't get to see everything so we are thinking about taking another trip. We got season passes so we can go until January. Here are a few pictures...kind of out of order...