IN the potty!

woo-hoo! tay tay went in the potty at school!!! =) teacher says she's inconsistent with going- some days she's really into it and other days not so much... so happy about her accomplishment! who knew i'd get so damn happy about urinating in the toilet?!

so thankful

this thanksgiving i am so thankful for the many blessings in my life...my husband, my daughter, my dogs, my family & friends. jonathan says he's never seen me get into thanksgiving the way i did this year...i don't know, maybe it's because of my uncle's family gathering (in which my grandma from hawaii was present), maybe it's because for the first time jonathan's mom wasn't around to make her superb side dishes that are synonymous with thanksgiving and everything rested upon jonathan's and my shoulders, maybe it's because taylor understands so much more than she did last year...i can't pin point any one reason why i felt so darn thankful this year. in any case, i feel so fortunate to have a stable life, especially in light of recent catastrophic events. i appreciate all that i have that make my life what it is and continues to be.

The Fort

do you remember building forts as a kid? taylor, once again, has taken us back to our own childhood. taylor was VERY constructive today. she was in the mood to build/create. she went to the dining table to bring the chairs into the living room. as jonathan helped her place the furniture, it jolted a thought of when i used to build forts in my living room. jonathan and i started reminiscing about the simpler times, how much joy a carefully engineered fort would bring us...today we got to experience it for the first time all over again, as we introduced taylor to "the fort". you could see the wheels turning in her head as jonathan proceeded to drape the blankets over the chairs. once she saw jonathan model what to do after the fort was built, she let out this euphoric shriek and bolted into her fort. it was so cool to see her discovery! after a few minutes, she came out, searched for some blankets and requested "more blankets, more blankets" to be put onto the fort!

Daddy-Daughter Dance

saturday was a big night. our neighborhood hosted a daddy-daughter dance at the clubhouse. jonathan was so excited when he saw it in the newsletter last month. he picked out taylor's dress while we were out shopping 2 weekends ago, it was just the sweetest thing. taylor was very excited to go; we were asking her if she wanted to dance with daddy. if there's one thing that our daughter goes crazy for, it's dancing. (just ask jake-our neighbor/her "boyfriend". he learned first hand, as taylor insisted on "tearing it up" to the music of the accordian player at the bavarian grill.) jonathan came home from work that evening with a bouquet of flowers for taylor (the flower in the pic is from the bouquet). she was so happy to get them! jonathan said the dance was fun-he bought her a corsage, had their picture taken and of course, danced a lot. i'm so happy they shared this night. just to see the affection between the two as they headed out the door, how truly tickled jonathan was to be sharing this experience with his baby girl...it was almost too much for me to handle!

NOT exaggerating

so after about 3 cups of coffee and a little stalling this morning, i headed upstairs to start my grading marathon. my post on thursday was certainly not an exaggeration, i'm sure some of you thought i might have been seeking a reaction by embellishing my story...and yes, that's handwriting on the top! don't you remember those days? i used to LOVE handwriting in elementary school! yes, i got all my grading done-thank god, what a whip that was! how long did it take me? hard to tell, i took mini-breaks to break up the monotony. all's i know is i'm ready to watch grey's anatomy tonight without the guilt of knowing i should be doing something else!!! :)

Consumed

i've been so crazy busy this week. i don't know what happened. the weekend went great, monday was wonderful and then BAM! the you-know-what hit the fan. i'm behind on grading my papers (a huge deadline is coming up-the mid 6-weeks progress reports), trying to plan lessons for next week and the week after thanksgiving, making copies of the worksheets we'll be doing for those 2 weeks, tutoring, going to meetings for struggling kids to see about getting more help, sorting all the graded work and sending it home with the kids, planning art projects, calling/emailing parents about behavior issues or making sure they return paperwork...all when i'm not teaching the kids. then, i don't wanna short change my daughter when we come home, so i spend quality time with her (she's been a mama's girl this week-wants nothing to do with daddy). i was so darn tired last night, i fell asleep when i laid down with taylor at 8:30! despite the 2 inch stack of papers to grade, i gave into my body's plea last night to JUST REST. now today that 2 inch stack has grown from the work the kids have turned in today...ugh, the hole just keeps getting deeper. i wonder if i bargain myself out of what i really should do sometimes because i want to put myself under pressure? worked like hell in college for papers or studying for exams...always worked well under pressure. ok, i think i'm reaching my threshold, though...you know when "yourself" is telling yourself "ok, pressure's good, that's enough pressure. time to get your ass in gear!" better get going... :)

The Driveway.

what started out as the guys getting together in the garage/driveway after the kids went to bed because the girls were out one night has evolved into what the four of us affectionately call, "the driveway". now, before some of you associate the driveway with the common scene of pink flamingos, beer can windmills and those metal/plastic strip lounge chairs, let me reassure you that our driveway is "tricked up" to nicely blend in with our upper middle class subdivision & the standards put forth by our home-owner's association.

the driveway is a standing "appointment", if you will, every friday night after the kiddos are sound asleep in their beds. it is an open forum where ANYTHING is game...and it is better not to hold back. some of us have truly embraced this facet of the driveway, while others (well, i guess it would be mainly me-refer to my "mouth hanging open" post) are still getting used to the absolute freedom of "expression".

in the early days of the driveway, beer was all that was consumed and there were just 2 members. today, as you can see, the driveway now accomodates four, and on occasion, we'll pull out another seat if a guest should stop by (we've had 3 so far). we've also expanded it from just drinks to ordering pizza, sharing pickles from a jar and most recently, halloween candy. we've talked about getting a firepit (in preparation for winter & the lingering smores cravings) and even cooking out on a little hibachi! mmm, i can smell the steak and it's FAH-bulous!

the coolest thing about the driveway? having the friends to do it with. there would be no driveway if we didn't have the best neighbors...who have become friends...who have become like family to us. so, since i started my "thanking kick" on thursday, this one's for our driveway buddies, our counter-parts, our family.

TGI *almost* F

november spawns thoughts of the thanksgiving holiday which inspires appreciative thoughts in my head:

5 things/people i am thankful for that helped me make it through the work week:

1. diet coke-a necessity, especially during the *2-hour long* after school tutoring days when i convince myself it's the fuel to endure the beating
2. julie-for getting us starbucks tomorrow (you rock!)
3. jonathan-for being persistent in the morning in getting my butt out of bed (his daily battle, i'm told)
4. ordering in (lunch and dinner)

and my favorite,
5. taylor-for loving on me before bed last night with your ultra-tight hugs and eskimo kisses

ahh, the weekend! :) already making plans... on sat there's a friend's house-warming party and then dinner with the neighbors at bavarian grill (jason called tonight, having a craving). sunday? well, i know my grandma back in hawaii would love to read that we're going to church, but i don't think that's gonna happen...sorry grandma! sunday's house-work/laundry/grocery shopping day and gettin' in gear for the week. then i get to do it all over again...but let's not go there...lemme enjoy it first!

so what are your 5 things you're thankful for that helped you through the week?

Bliss in the Bounce House 

Taylor experienced a bounce house for the first time at Fall Fest about 3-4 weeks ago. She had such a blast!!! She just kept laughing and laughing as she jumped around-she even laughed when she fell down! It was one of those moments when as I'm watching her, I'm experiencing it for the first time too. I'm sure I looked like a jack-o-lantern with my wide smile. That night she and Jonathan went to a friend's party that had a bounce house. Jonathan said on the way back from the party Taylor bellowed VERY enthusiastically, "I LOVE MY BOUNCE HOUSE!!!". 

Mouth Hanging Open

if you know me at all, you know that things can shock me quite a bit...especially when i'm not at all suspicious to certain turn of events or even topics of discussion. my husband has certainly helped me loosen up a bit on the whole shock-value thing. if you know HIM at all, you know he can be brash, especially when hanging out with friends. he doesn't hold back, oh no, not him...especially after a few huge cans of guinness. i've interjected with my ever-so-frequent "JonaTHAN!" in response to some comments he's made in efforts to balance his free-spirit with my slight prudeness. i've had 5 years of brashness and me reacting to it to help me cope when someone says something totally...uh...RAW. well, i'd say what happened tonight suddenly tops my list. so i'm having a casual phone conversation with my father-in-law (keep in mind the info i shared about my husband). as i'm sharing anecdotes about his son's recovery from hernia surgery, he connects to what i'm sharing and tells about a similar situation that he experienced. next thing i know, he's telling me about a dropped testicle and all the details that go with it. i don't care how well you roll with the flow, the sound of a record being scratched was all i heard after "testicle" and then the crickets took over. hey, before you get the wrong idea, i'm not trying to judge, more power to you if you feel free to express yourself! i guess, in that respect, i envy my husband & father-in-law...boy that personality trait would sure come in handy with people that really ticked me off!!!

Potty Monday

i got psyched out when i picked up tay tay from daycare today...i misheard the teacher-thought she said tay went in the potty, but really, she just sat on it. still, it's good...at least she's into the idea of sitting on "the pot". :) we now wear cinderella pull-ups instead of diapers. whoever invented pull-ups is making some SERIOUS cash. wonder if i could come up with some invention like that...hmm...cori and i need to work on our entrepeneurial ideas some more! :)

halloween

i had a difficult time this year deciding what taylor would be for halloween. i bought a peacock costume out of panic when i saw the costumes being picked over at wal-mart. then, like a ton of bricks, it hit me. in the last few weeks, taylor has become obsessed with princesses. at the firewheel shopping center opening, we went into club libby lulu (a girlie-girl store). there, she spotted the jewel encrusted and feather decorated tiaras. HAD to have one, with coordinating bangle bracelets of course. daddy bought the girlie gear, so sweet to see that! taylor was so excited to have it, she requested to have both put on! what a sight...daddy unwrapping a tiara and bracelets right there on the sidewalk as masses of people walked by. she beamed all the way to the car! i found the dress at target (by sheer luck) and her wand at Jo-Ann's (again, by luck-i wasn't really looking for it, but we saw it!) it all came together wonderfully, she was a pretty fairy princess for halloween! oh, before you wonder about the expression on her face and why her eyes are closed-that's how she smiles for the camera and says "CHEESE!".

pumpkins, pumpkins!

it's been a while (oct. 12th), but we had a great time going to the pumpkin patch in flower mound with the lawrences (our "just like family" neighbors). taylor had a blast, all those pumpkins! her favorite was the small one she's holding...she dubbed it "baby punkin". it was a good time, uncharacteristically hot for fall (felt like the 90's), but i guess that's texas! :)