Back to SAHM

I took an 8-day sub job for the first two weeks of school this month, which again made me super appreciate the blessing of being able to usually be a Stay At Home Mom. The sub job was great--honors and AP English, great kids, easy lessons, lots of independent work. I even got almost caught up on email!...Man, if I could have a job with classes like those and no lesson planning or grading, I just might be interested in going back to teaching. Ha!
But as easy as it was, I still feel like my mothering suffered. Once I got home, Jadon was starved for my attention, but I still had to cook, clean, etc...and by the end of the week, he was definitely a little more ornery than normal.
But this week was back to normal, and I had a ton of activities to catch up on!
Friday:
Jim's sister Becky drove down for a visit with both her girls. They endured crazy traffic, and we were so glad they did. Jadon couldn't stop talking about Kylie, and he had so much fun showing her all his toys (and I really mean ALL...his ornery side was definitely in full swing, and dumping out all the bins seemed to be his method of choice to express it!). I wish I would have taken some pictures. Kylie was a fun park and trampoline companion, and Jadon loved showing little Evie some tricks for going up and down stairs.

Monday:
MLK Jr. Day, so Austin had no school. After catching up on a few things in the morning, we spent the afternoon at Legoland and had a blast! Austin is definitely more fun for Jadon at the parks than Jim and I are!

Tuesday:
Zoo day with my friend Lindsey and her new 2-year-old foster daughter. It was gorgeous-almost-too-hot-but-I-ain't-complaining! weather (I love living in So Cal!!!), and we got to see a lot of cool activity with the animals, especially the polar bears, which rarely happens. They were swimming and wrestling and playing around.

 (Just had to show these next two pictures...that Jadon took. He's getting to be quite the photographer. Of course, these were the only two good ones out of about 50 butt and floor shots, but hey, not bad :))

 Wednesday:
Playdate with friend Sarah and her son Andrew, then whisk off down to San Diego again for  our first court date pursuing guardianship for Austin (long story, which I will share more of when we figure out what exactly is going on). As far as progress goes, the afternoon was a total waste, but we had fun family time and celebrated that with McDonald's french fries all around (that's how we bribed Jadon to be on his best behavior!)

Thursday: 

MOPS playdate, visit with my parents who are back in town at their new (yucky dirty) house (yay!), and then date night with the hubby at good ol' Chipotle.

Friday:
After all that excitement, it was time to finally spend a day in, but even that was far from boring as our potty training adventure began...(See next post) :)

Christmas 2012

December was a crazy busy month for us, as it is for most people. But it was more fun than ever with Jadon this year. This is such a great stage of life! He was so much more aware of and interested in things.
Here are some more of our highlights:
Austin's 16th birthday:
We wished he was getting his license more than he did, but apparently that's not as much of the thing for teens around here. Go figure! So, no car, but his mom did come over and make him his favorite meal, her special wings and a red velvet cake.


Legoland with Grandpa and Grandma Sanders:
When we bought our passes, they got some, too, and we look forward to many more trips with them to Jadon's favorite park!

 Early Christmas at our house:
Since Jadon has no concept of dates, we did everything a day early at our house, celebrating our traditional Christmas "Eve" (with lasagna dinner and walking around to look at lights) on the 23rd, and then Christmas "morning" (with monkey bread and presents, etc.) on the 24th. This year, we got our first dose of extensive assembling of toys with the trampoline my parents got Jadon and the kitchen set we got him. Fun times!

 

 (Jesus' birthday cake...Jadon couldn't wait to sing him Happy Birthday and blow his candles out! We really emphasized that as the reason we celebrate Christmas this year, and we told Jadon (thanks to a great children's book we read nightly) that because Jesus loves us so much, he gives us presents on his birthday...and he'd even let Jadon blow his candle out.)

(Jadon never noticed the behemoth of his trampoline sitting just outside. If only he could stay like that...it would sure make keeping his gifts secret easier!)

"Real" Christmas up in Davis:

After our Christmas Eve services at church, we hopped in the car and trekked up to Davis to celebrate Christmas morning with Jim's family. We made amazing time, and the ride was much more enjoyable and stress-free in our economy rental car. (Jim's Jeep is just too small and my 16-year-old-200K+miles Saturn just doesn't run quite like it used to. Our original goal was to get a new car for Christmas, but hiring a new writer for our script wiped out that money (hopefully, good news on that, though, soon), so renting a car was an affordable slice of peace-of-mind.) 

(OK, I caved...I never thought I'd be the type of parent who would use the TV as a babysitter, but it turns out, it's pretty useful! So yes, we even got Jadon a portable DVD player for the long drive.)

 (It was so much fun to see Jadon and Kylie getting along so well. Jadon's language skyrocketed after just a few days with her!)

(I think Jim had more fun with the stomp rocket than the kids!) 

 

What a great season, and we feel so blessed by the wonderful family we have!!!