Wordless Wednesday

Swank Farms Pumpkin Patch

10 Things to Remember When Flying with Young Children

1. If you even think your toddler might kick the seat in front of you, have someone else traveling with you (if there is someone else) sit in front of the kicking toddler. This way you won't have a mean, old British lady tell you to control your child and spy on you all flight with her compact mirror.

2. If your 3 year old went potty right before you boarded the plane, but still wants to go every 5 minutes mid flight, remember this may be a scam to go check the cool bathroom over and over.

3. Be prepared for blowouts in your toddler's diaper that may happen as soon as the plane takes off.

4. Be prepared for that blowout to stink up the whole plane until the flight attendant lets you get up to change the toddler.

5. Pack yourself a change of clothes in the diaper bag, so if a blowout happens to get all over you, then you can change and won't smell like poop until you can get to your luggage.

6. Pack a backpack/diaper bag for each parent, so if you happen to loose each other then at least you each have food and activities for the kid you are lost with.

7. If you travel with a car seat, security will most definitely think you have stashed bombs somewhere inside of it.

8. If you think you have packed enough underwear for your potty trained child, pack more so you aren't washing them in the sink and trying to dry them with the air dryer in the bathroom.

9. When security tells you no liquid, but you fill your kids' sippy cups anyway, be prepared to go off to a secluded place and have them tested for chemicals that may blow up the plane.

10. Pray for a nice flight crew that likes kids and will let your child sit in the cockpit.

Really?!?!

I quit teaching 3rd grade three years ago to be a stay at home mommy. I absolutely love teaching though, so I've been subbing for grades K - 8th every now and then for the past three years.

Sometimes I have great classes, but the majority of the time they are not so great. For some reason, as soon as students (any grade) see that they have a sub, they think it a free frawl to go absolutely nuts. Once I lay down the law, 99% of the time I don't have too many issues. Today what that 1%!

I taught 7th grade Math. The morning went smooth, no big behavior issues.... then 3rd period came. It was like a scene from a movie. These kids were out of control! I tried every trick in the book and they could care less about anything I said. So.... I called the principal. I totally felt like a tattle tale, but this was ridiculous. He was there in about a minute and reemed them like no other. He let them have it until the bell rang and then made the whole class go with him.

After lunch he came to my classroom with a stack of 60 apology letters. 30 were for me and 30 were for the classroom teacher. One kid literally wrote, "Sorry for throwing paper, yelling, and not listening to a thing you said. We all thought it would be a fun game and you wouldn't do anything, then you did."

All I can say is.... REALLY?! What the heck are kids thinking these days? I would have never ever pulled that kind of stuff on any kind of teacher. I wish all of their parents could have seen how they acted.... or would they even care?

I could seriously write a blog solely on my sub experiences...

Columbus Day Weekend Memories

Every October when Columbus Day weekend rolls around, I can't help to think back to that same weekend my freshman year in college. We had the Friday before and Monday after off, which always made for a nice little break.
Mike and I met the first day of college and instantly became buds. We were so excited to get a four day weekend that he suggested we hop in his van (his pimp ride) with some friends and head to his house in San Jose. My friend and I hurried back to our dorm rooms, packed our bags and we were on the road within about an hour of his suggestion.
We had so much fun seeing the bay area sites and chillin at the beach. The same beach that he propsed to me at 3 years later. I have to say that this is truly when I started falling for him.
After that weekend, our buddy status turned into best friends and not too long after we were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Every Columbus weeked after while we were in college we spent our break in San Jose.
Little did I know that Columbus Day Weekend in 2000, that I'd be marrying this handsome guy and taking our kids to those same places he took me!

Wordless Wednesday

My Walk Monday

iTunes..... how does that apply to My Walk Monday you might ask.
Mark Driscoll is the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He has some amazing sermons that are on itunes. They are FREE podcasts.
After one of my friends told me she had been listening to some of his sermons, I thought I'd download one and see if I like him. Well..... I love his awesome messages and now have a ton of his sermons on my ipod. I really enjoyed his sermon on Financial Wisdom, which came from his series on Proverbs. Currently, I am listening to his series on the Song of Solomon and marriage.

I listen to these on my ipod when I workout at the gym. I am all by myself with no distractions and can really focus on what I am hearing. Also, each sermon averages about an hour. I make sure I don't stop my workout until it is over and surprisingly it makes them go by really fast.

I would recommend his sermons to all. He has really ministered to me and I know he would to you too.

Say Cheese!

I take so many pics of my boys, that as soon as I point a camera at Jason he yells, "Cheese!" I know it totally sounds like, "Daaaaaaaaa" but I promise he is saying "Cheeeeeeeese" and it is so cute! (and yes, he is playing with an empty juice container... his favorite toy)