SCHOOL

This week was my official first week back to school.  I am excited to be going back because at the end of this semester I will have an Associates Degree!  Yay ME!  I do plan on going on to a 4 year university but first I have to find which ones offer what I want to take and if those classes are offered online if that college happens to be out of the area.  UT Tyler doesn't offer anything in the Graphics area, I don't believe but I just need to do some checking around.  Although, I do want to obtain a Bachelors degree in the future, I am so super excited about this Associates degree!  Small steps, right?!!  Some people don't need to get a 2 year degree to make themselves feel accomplished, but I DO!  I have waited for so long to go back to school, that I just need something in my hand to prove to myself that I CAN DO IT!  I have a full load this semester, 18 hours.  This is my biggest semester yet, but I will be fine and my goal is to have a 4.0 this semester and that will raise my overall GPA to about 3.25 or so!  That is a big accomplishment and personal goal of mine.   You see, I started college right after high school and at the same time was a newly wed and a few years later had a baby and again and again, SO as you can tell I had way BETTER(or so I thought) things to do with my time and school was NOT one of them.  Now I am kicking myself for that, but oh well, live and learn.  With all that said, I was also not very smart about keeping up with my grades at the time and dropping classes that I should have dropped to save my GPA.  I really didn't understand what a GPA was or how bad grades effected it or how it would effect me in the long run.  NOW I KNOW!  No scholarships...No CUM LAUDE...No anything other than working your BUTT off to redeem yourself!  So that is what I have done and I am very happy to say I am almost there!  

My THREE boys!

I took to boys outside to play today since we had some nice (not so cold) weather.  They played and rode bikes and made ramps.  I told them I needed a new one of all three of them!  They cooperated pretty well this time!

Monopoly and Cupcakes

Well, I know it is a little early for Valentine's Day but I saw this cake mix and icing with confetti, and cupcake cups at the dollar store and couldn't leave without them!  I thought the boys would really enjoy them.  I haven't made cupcakes in a while and it is those little things that make them feel special, and for 3.00 it is well worth it to see their smiling faces!  And SMILE, they did when they walked through the front door.  They didn't even have to see them, they SMELLED them!  After eating a cupcake it was time for a board game before homework.

Blake got this game for Christmas.  They got quite a few games this year.  They are finally all old enough to play together and take a little better care of the games.  This one is still a little hard for Dawson with all the money exchange and everything but it is a good learning experience for him and a practice at patience and not QUITTING!  Normally if he is not winning something, he just wants to quit, but in this game people can't just quit without messing up everyone else's game, so if he starts then he has to finish.  Man, who knew Monopoly would teach such valuable life lessons!

FUn in the Rain

The boys played in the rain this afternoon since there was no thunder or lightening!  We were already outside play and mowing.  I was mowing and they were playing.  I was trying to beat the rain.  I barely made it, and about the time it started pouting rain the lawn mower ran out of gas!  I just went and got myself an umbrella and sat out in the rain and watch the boys play!  I think it was the highlight of their week.  I wouldn't be surprised if they ask me when it is going to rain again?  All the pictures were taken after the rain.  I didn't want to risk getting my camera wet.

Almost time for school to start

This blog won't have any pictures but I will post another picture post soon with the rest of our summer pictures.  This post is just to vent some motherly or parental frustrations.  So, as I am sure many of you with children are experiencing, I am experiencing great frustration with my boys constantly bickering, fighting, back talking and pretty much bad attitudes and tattle tailing all the way around and back!  Oh and RUDENESS!  I get back talk or attitude for just about everything I ask them to do.  Since this is the last week of summer before school starts I am trying really hard to get them back in shape(probably waited to long) so we can enjoy our last week together and so I don't get calls from the principals office in the first week of school for my unruly children.  Whew!  I feel better since I got all of that out.  So back to what I was saying about getting them back in shape.  What I mean by this is that I am trying to get them back in order so I don't feel uneasy about how they will act when they are in public and away from me.  This week we started swats for tattle tailing( that way they have to make sure it is really something serious before they tell because the person telling gets 1 swat for tattling) It has worked so far today.  Now I have never really been a fan of washing a kids mouth out with soap(don't know why) just not something I have ever done. But back when our grandparents went to school( barefooted in the snow) they got licks and the teacher would wash theirs mouths out with soap on a daily basis so I guess it is not that bad.  My first victim of the mouth washing was Blake.  He has been talking back a lot lately, adding his 2 cents about everything, and having a bad attitude.  He was shocked that I made him do that and I have to say he had and much CLEANER mouth for the rest of the day and doesn't want that to happen again!  I guess it was worth it.  I have also gone back to carrying my cute little snow man rubber spatula in the car with me at all times so the snowman can smile at them while he is swatting their butts.  He got a work out this morning in the Sam's parking lot and man did I have a quiet ride home.  And I know some of you may be asking yourselves, why in the world didn't I do this all summer?.  Well I did, and have tried various different things also, while I have probably not been the most consistent with the punishments this summer, I have not let them just run wild either.  Others of you might be thinking, "Man those are some pretty harsh punishments". All I can say is 3 boys(very energetic and all boy, boys) in the same house... Enough said. I think all kids sense that school is about to start and for some reason that triggers something in them to test their parents one last time..... OK I think that is it for now.