Just Like Daddy

First off, I know, LAME picture with the whole name badge thingy.................BUT

SHE LOOKS JUST LIKE DADDY!!!!

Her bib, for those of you that are having a hard time reading it, says: "I'm a Little DAN".

ATTENTION

**Attention All Readers**

I now have a new BLOG ADDRESS for my Teaching Blog. It is............

www.tantalizingteachingtidbits.blogspot.com

A huge thanks and HUG to Monica for helping me figure out how to change it. I couldn't stand having PANDEMONIUM spelled wrong on a TEACHING Blog for cryin' out loud! Check out my post about Art and helping your children CREATE at home. :)

'Make a Complaint Monday'-Hurry! Baby-Proof That!

This 'Make a Complaint Monday' is dedicated to Lacey.....yes you Lacey Jo. Thanks for the idea.

How many of you have had to baby proof a house? My complaint.........BABY PROOFING (or trying to baby proof)! As I walked into the house today after trying to get the brakes fixed on the car-to no avail, then hitting the Walmart, which I ALWAYS love, I popped open a delicious, cold refreshing CAFFEINE FREE DP. I set it on the couch (I know, my first mistake) and Samsun, my son (really my kitty) had to jump and get love. There went the DP, my NECTAR of life.......spilling all over the couch..my rear end slowly getting soaked......Samsun trying to lap up everything he could. WHERE IS MY COFFEE TABLE???? Ya know, the thing that you can set stuff on and pretty much know it'll be safe?

YEAH, it's down in the basement.......from our poor attempt to baby proof our house. Having to adapt and move everything we're used to for little Jaeli Pea is inconvenient? Are there professionals that will come and baby proof a house? Leave a name and number here if you know. :)

P.S and by the way: Preschool Pandemonium is updated as well. Take a look.

Wiggin' Out!!!

Okay, so I am wiggin'! Answer me this: How do you spell the last part of my Teaching Blog? Preschool .............

1. Pandamonium
2. Pandemonium


Yes, yes, I know. Embarrassing.

P.S. If ANYONE knows how to change my BLOG ADDRESS to the RIGHT spelling, I would appreciate it. I don't know if I can now. :(

My Stepping Stone

A small stepping stone in MY quest to Semi-Survival......Thanks to my wonderful husband for installing it. I had forgotten how annoying it is to hand wash EVERY little thing EVERY breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The Dishwasher, BEFORE. ICK! And WHAT is that duct tape at the bottom? We couldn't EVEN use it because it stunk so bad when we would run it. Dan figured out it was because they had hooked the draining hose up wrong. Go figure. There was nasty water sitting in the hose just rotting. Oh the smell!!! NIGHTMARES!

My new baby. Ah, soooo nice. And it ACTUALLY matches the other appliances.

The "OTHER" One

Just wanted to post about my new Blog. It's going to be all about teaching. I am hoping I can start my own Preschool, so this Blog will be dedicated to that process. It will also include lesson plans or just activities YOU can be doing at home with your own little ones. Check it out, BELOW or on my sidebar, and vote on my poll there.

www.preschoolpandamonium.blogspot.com

These are my kiddos from my first year of teaching. So fun!

It's FINALLY Here!!!!

Okay, so being a mother that really enjoys hair and make-up (BEING VAIN, if that's what you want to call it), I have been anxiously waiting for Jaeli to get hair. I couldn't wait to use cute barretts, bows and so on. Well.............without further ado.......THE Barretts

Yes, I slicked Jaeli's hair to one side and plopped that glorious barrett right on top of her head. The BEST thing is, she doesn't even know it's there. So, compared to the headbands and huge bows, she leaves the barretts alone. I LOVE THEM! Poor, poor child. :)

The Top View

P.S. and by the way, We EAT books here, we DON'T READ them! :)

'Make a Complaint Monday'-Supplying Your Children

My Classroom right before School started.

I have been thinking about 'Make a Complaint Monday', but nothing HAD sparked until Dan, my wonderful hubby, spotted something on KSL. Being a former teacher, I had an "IT'S ABOUT FREAKIN' TIME" moment when he related the article to me:

**Parents SHOULD be expected, IF THEY ARE ABLE, to supply their children with school supplies.**

I'm not sure when you went through Elementary school, but don't you remember YOUR, YES YOUR VERY OWN PARENTS, supplying you with school supplies? I mean, your teacher may have given you a pencil here or there, but for the most part the sparkly pencil box, a variety of erasers and the colorful folders to keep work in were provided by your parents. As a teacher, you do get an "Allowance" for the year, from the State and the Legislature.....BUT I can tell you that it's not enough to provide your students with EVERYTHING they need for a whole school year.

Again, as a teacher, I didn't mind helping my students out. In fact, I couldn't wait to buy crayons, folders and glue sticks in bulk for the class. Hearing, "You must be a teacher", at the check-out stands put a smile on my face. In the picture above, look at the students' desks. This was just the beginning of EVERYTHING I had for them. But teachers can't do it. Most of them REALLY do wish they could......but on our "Allowance" and paycheck, we can't.

Thank you, as parents, for understanding...........and if you can, supply your children with all you can. :)

My FREAKING Awesome Husband helping me put names on the notebooks.

Snack Time Anyone?

Jaeli was so proud of herself! Finding her container of puffs in her nursery and retrieving them from her diaper bag was such an accomplishment for her. She got them open all by herself and proceeded to enjoy her snack. No wonder it was so quiet. I KNEW something was going on when I didn't hear her babbling to herself.

This video just made me laugh and laugh. I usually get uptight about messes, but seeing Jae in the pile of puffs was JUST what I needed today.

'Make a Complaint Monday'-I Just Don't Belong

For those of you that are EXTREMELY concerned (which I know is ALL of you-haha, hehe), YES I will keep doing 'Make a Complaint Monday'. I like it too much not to.

Jaeli and my adventure started out today with leaving the house about an hour later than we wanted to, but 'Pea' comes first, right? She needed to eat and take her bottle. Then we set off to visit some of my favorite people where I used to work. Here is Jaeli finding ANYTHING on the classroom floor of course to stick in her mouth. (By the way, the MYSTERY poster behind her is part of the Genres of books. I laughed when I saw it behind 'Pea' because Jaeli is ANYTHING BUT Mysterious!)

NOW TO MY COMPLAINT..............................(Maybe not QUITE a complaint today, but something I was sad about.)

Ever feel like you don't belong? That sense of awkwardness, that empty feeling, the churning stomach and overwhelming shyness? That was my day. There are places you may go, used to work or used to belong to that maybe you decide to visit. You get excited to see old friends and to catch up. THEN, it hits...................yes IT........and IT hit hard today. "Natalie, you don't belong here anymore. A lot of good friends are here, true enough, but you, yourself don't belong anymore."

I will always have the memories, and THEY are what I prefer to remember. The great memories and the magnificent friends. I love you all. I.JUST.DON'T.BELONG.

The Change

While surfing through a TON of awesome Blogs out there, I decided a change needed to be made. My Blog didn't have much of a purpose. I needed something....................(my AH HA moment)

something that would maybe HELP other moms (or dads, gradparents, aunts & uncles etc.) out there staying at home to raise their family. Through my NEW and IMPROVED Blog, I want to post about my Adventures (good or bad), staying at home, ATTEMPTING to raise, so far, our one, glorious daughter, Jaeli. ENJOY!!!

To Grandmother's House We Go......

Jaeli has so much fun with Grandma Leishman. She just giggles and giggles. THEN, she saw the camera and had to come check it out. Isn't she adorable?! I am disappointed however..........I don't know why I turned the camera that way. Oh well, you can still tell how much fun she has. You can also tell how much she adores being LOUD! Wonder who she got that from.... :) Watch at the very end and you will see the famous 'Jaeli Scowl'...............just like Daddy's! Love you hunna!

Finally, HAPPY 9 MONTHS TODAY 'PEA'!!!!!

'Make a Complaint Monday'- Let's Think Here.....PLEASE?!

*WARNING* This Post is quite long, but once you start reading it, you'll understand why.

Yup, it's Monday again, which means another awesome 'Make a Complaint Monday' post. I think this idea is spectacular because EVERYONE needs to vent once in a while, YES EVERYONE. Feel free to comment on my complaint or leave one of your own.

This weekend, we attended Dan's Uncle Rodney's Funeral in Chubbuck, Idaho. A lot of the family was there and it was nice. Regardless of how nice it looked, how nice it was that the Funeral Home had a children's room with toys and such, and how nice it was to see the family, it was a sad time. The family is struggling with trying to understand, rightfully so, and Uncle Rodney even looked sad. Uncle Rodney is the youngest of nine siblings (he is Karen's brother). He was very sad and decided to take his own life. We are praying that he is at peace now and has found some comfort in his other family members that may have already passed.

The Funeral was very nice with Uncle Rodney's brothers and sisters contributing, Karen (my awesome mother-in-law) reciting a poem and Dan and his brother Matt singing a duet. I learned a lot about him, what a caring and considerate person he was and how much fun it was to be around him. After the Funeral, we traveled to the Cemetary where Uncle Rodney was buried next to his mom and dad. Another Uncle's Relief Society then provided a luncheon following the Cemetary.

While sitting next to Dan's sister, Suzi, we were discussing how great the food was. They had some superb fried chicken that I really just wanted to keep eating. The desserts were really good too, well I think. Dan's brother Rich ate my piece of cake! THAT'S RIGHT RICH! I'M CALLING YOU OUT!!!! Anyhow, Suzi then said, "When I die, you all know what to serve at my Funeral, right? Fried Chicken!" Then I mentioned I would like a salad bar at my Funeral.

DURRRRRR!!!!! There sat Dan's mom, the best Mother-in-Law anyone could ask for, listening to our conversation right after we had just gone through Uncle Rodney's Funeral. I didn't THINK about it until it was kind of quiet after my comment. Now, I am not saying anything negative about Suzi at all, because her comment was not heard. It was just mine......STUPID LOUD VOICE!!!!

This is already long, so my point of this 'Make a Complaint Monday' is, PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK!!!! There are so many things that could be said that could hurt people without you even realizing. I am not judging, believe me........I am guilty of this as well, but let's all try to be a little more careful about what we say. THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK! :)