Julie’s Journal

I had this pair of jeans

that were too short on Jasmin.  They fit her in the waist, but are way too short to wear. And I had this shirt.  It was an old shirt of Savannah’s that I really loved.  I saved it for Jasmin.  And yesterday I found it sitting in a bin in a closet and thought, hey…I could use that shirt to fix up these pants so Jasmin can still wear them.  Here is the shirt.

Cute, right?  And the thing I love most is the crocheted border and the cute little flowers.  So I cut them off and made these adorable shorts.

Now Jazzy has a new pair of shorts to wear this summer and aren’t they so cute?  I even had a couple of flowers left and sewed them on the back pocket.

Not much went on here today.  We got up and went to church this morning.  Apparently the service was a funeral??? but I didn’t get to hear it. I might listen to it from the website, because now I am curious to know what it was about.  I worked in the 2 and 3 yr old nursery this morning.  It was fun I guess.  I kind of like seeing how Jasmin interacts with other kids her age.

We had hot dogs for lunch.  I took the kids over to a friend’s house to play this afternoon.  It rained most of the afternoon. Sam, Jasmin and I took a nap.  We made the kids do their homework when they got home, ordered pizza and I think we sent them to bed after that.  It was not really a fun day.  The kids had fun with their friends.  It was not fun to me.

I am in a yucky mood.  I am feeling discouraged and like giving up on trying to do whatever it is I am trying to do. I wanted every day this summer to be an adventure.  I have tried to make a schedule, which has been a challenge to try to keep.  I have created a chore system which we did nothing with for the entire weekend! We bought workbooks for the kids to help them to review what they learned last year and get ready for the fall…and we are already behind.  More than all that…I want to make memories with my kids.  I have a lot of ideas I want to try…but everything is such a challenge.  There is always at least one kid who doesn’t want to do it, they are constantly fighting…or else they are pushing each others’ buttons on purpose.  It’s so mean. Why do kids have to be like that? I know they are still getting used to being around each other 24/7, but I am so frustrated that I apparently don’t know how to deal with them and help them to get along with each other.  And on top of all that…my house is in worse shape than it is when I am working.  Life is just not easy today.  So I am glad that today is almost over.  Maybe tomorrow I can have a better attitude and make it a better day.

This morning we made a trip to see Dr. Ellis.  It turns out that Jasmin has hand, foot & mouth disease.  Great.  We have a birthday party at our house tomorrow.  I am so crossing my fingers that she will not be contagious still.  She’s gone 24 hrs. without a fever, but her rash is worse today…pretty much covering her whole body.  She was less clingy today, but way more high maintenance.  I was glad when it was time to get her in bed.

Max is celebrating his 8th birthday tomorrow.  We got him a Star Wars LEGO watch, a barrel of monkeys (simple gift, but I know he’ll love it!), a really cute Toy Story 3 shirt from WalMart for 5.00 and a Indiana Jones LEGO case for his DS.  His grandpa got him a DS 2 Christmases ago.  Last summer he lost it.  We had it with us at one of the fairs.  And then we couldn’t find it anywhere.  We looked everywhere a thousand times, I swear.  We assumed that it had been left outside the camper and someone stole it.  Then a few weeks ago, I was cleaning out my Suburban and low and behold…I found that silly DS.  After he had already received another one from grandpa last Christmas.  So now we have an extra.  But they are both black – well the last one is cobalt and black.  It’s just a hard color to see.  I am sure that is one reason why we never saw it all that time!  Anyway.  I am hoping that a colored DS case (which is also a hard case) will protect it better and keep it more visible.

Max is really excited about his party.  He could hardly sleep tonight.  In fact, when I got home from the store…at 11:30, Karson and Max were still awake.  Those little stinkers.  Max wanted to have his DS in bed so they could watch a movie.  We let them do it sometimes and they are usually out in like 10 minutes anyway.  I told them before I left that if I got home and they were still awake, he’d lose his DS tomorrow.  I am just hoping that they aren’t horrible tomorrow because of their lack of sleep.  I really should have been a little firmer about their bed time though, so if they are, I guess I kind of deserve that.

So Max’s party is a LEGO party.  I have about 4 or 5 games and we will have cake and ice cream & presents.  The boys are doing the loot bags and today Max made a container to hold forks and spoons out of LEGOs.  Tomorrow we are going to make a table covering by printing DUPLO blocks on white roll paper.  I think it will look pretty cool.  We are also going to make the cake.  I am going attempt to make a LEGO cake like the one in the picture…and I am going to call Meijer bakery and see if they will sell me some red and blue frosting.  Plus we are going to see if we can buy some lego candy for the loot bags at Cracker Barrel. I love doing parties…but I wish I wasn’t on a limited budget. I could have made this a really cool party with more money and a little more time.  But I am sure it will be fun, and Max will love it.

Oh…and I have to tell you the best story of the day.  Tonight Sam and I took the kids to KFC. We drove two vehicles because we split up afterwards.  I had to shop for the party, he had stuff to get for this weekend at Menards.  He took the boys and I took Jasmin.  My gas was really low, (and I don’t trust my gas gauge lately) so my first stop was Meijer gas station. I had to go inside to pay for my gas and brought Jasmin in with me.  As soon as we walk in & she sees all the candy displayed at 2 yr. old level, she starts in with “starvin’ mom” and repeats it twenty times because she thinks her mom can’t hear her…and remember we had JUST eaten dinner.  So this guy in front of me is watching her, thinking she’s cute or something, and asks what her name is.  So I tell him…then cringe as I think about how creepy it is that this stranger is now calling my daughter by her name and asking her what she wants.  Seriously, mister, she’s two.  She wants everything she sees! And then I politely say, “please don’t buy her anything, sir, she just ate.” He totally ignores me and purchases a Hershey chocolate bar and hands it to her, then walks out the door.  I am in complete shock, trying to comprehend how anyone could ever think it would be a nice thing to buy a 2 yr. old child a full size chocolate bar on a hot summer day when her mother nicely asked him not to. So I grab the candy bar, she fusses for a second and then completely forgets about it by the time I have her buckled in her car seat.  She did, being the polite child I raised her to be, remember to thank him as we walked by him to our car.  I was looking in my rear view mirror all the way home, checking to be sure he wasn’t following me.  That was just a crazy, weird experience, I tell you. Oh, and just in case you are wondering about the candy bar…I gave it to Sam.  I am not going to let my 2 yr. old eat an entire chocolate bar.

Actually today wasn’t that horrible…we had plans, though, and had to change them. Jasmin woke up this morning with a fever, a rash and was cranky and clingy all day. I’m not sure what she has, but now her eyes hurt, her nose and eyes are watering and she is complaining of a tummy ache.
Poor kid.

We were going to go swimming at Archer’s new pool today…but the thunderstorms this morning pretty much nixed that from the plan.  We had a birthday party this afternoon, but I am not going to take Jasmin to a birthday party with a bunch of little kids in her condition.  So we just dropped off the present, delivered a package to the post office for Dad, and I signed up the kids for Kidz Kamp at Trinity Wesleyan Church.

So next week, I get 3 days with just me and Jazzy from 8:45-3:30!!! Awesome.  It’s a great program, too!  The kids went last year and totally loved it. We almost didn’t get them in.  We weren’t going to because it costs 115.00 for our 3 kids, but then decided we could – and they were pretty much full by the time I called, but they put our name on a list, and today I got a call back, saying they could go! Yes! Karson isn’t too excited.  We are pretty much making him go.  But I know he will have a good time.  He just is really uncomfortable in new situations when he is by himself.  The good thing is that Max will be in 2 of his classes with him.

So other than that…we’ve done very little today.  Got in a nap, did a bunch of laundry and right now I should be cooking dinner…but it’s so hot. I really don’t want to!  It hasn’t been much of adventure today at all.  We’ve played a lot of Strawberry Shortcake and Barbie movies today.  The boys are very glad that the recent selection is Toy Story.  But it’s pretty much all that Jasmin wants to do, and I don’t blame her.  I hope she feels better tomorrow.

So our new chore sticks are working pretty well.  Savannah did great today and did every job she has sticks for and earned 1.30!  Max had a hard day.  He didn’t get much and Karson…still working on how to motivate him to care about doing jobs.  Money doesn’t really work for that kid.  I chose three things I want them to get done everyday…clean their room, have a good attitude and read.  Those sticks have stars.  If they don’t have those sticks turned over when we pay them at the end of the day, they actually have to pay me a dime, per stick.  I’m not quite sure about paying my kids to have a good attitude.  Something about that doesn’t seem quite right, but I’m thinking it’s worth more than just a dime to me to have them have a good attitude for the whole day.  Also, I should say:  this system isn’t set in stone.  Very likely there will be some adjustments, I am sure.  But it’s somewhere to start…and it’s working so far.

This morning after breakfast…which we all ate together (except Sam – he was in the shower), we came up with our schedule.  For our exercising activity, I thought we would go geocaching.  I found one close to our house within walking distance.  So we had a snack and set off on our adventure.  The kids weren’t totally sure what it was all about, I think.  We did one as a family in the fall…but we didn’t leave anything (or take anything from the cache).  So before we left we scouted around our house to find a small treasure we could leave in the container.  It was a miniature monkey in a tree – an antique.  I also told the kids that they all needed to find one treasure from our walk and that the object we take out of the container was to stay in a family collection (hopefully eliminating fighting about who claims it).  So we walked.  We were almost there when the boys started to complain.  Then seeing our destination across the street was enough to keep them going.  They were kind of afraid to walk into the cemetery.  I assured them it was fine.  Reminded them to respect the gravesites.  They were really good about it.  They asked a lot of questions about the gravestones, and I showed them how you could tell what war they served in.  It was a beautiful setting and very peaceful.  I’ve been there to draw before.  It took us just a few minutes to find the geocache.  We backtracked a little.  But Savannah found it.  She’s really good about looking everywhere.  I signed the log book and we all decided that the army guy would be a good treasure to take away, since it was where all these “real army guys” were buried.

And the treasures we brought home from our walk…me: a stone from Mt. Evergreen Cemetery, Savannah: a tiny stone, Max: a lucky penny, Karson: a feather, Jasmin: a shrek baby.

Ok.  I knew I’d have to tell you more about the Shrek baby Jasmin found.  I don’t even know what possessed me to pick it up, but I did, and as soon as Jasmin saw it, she loved it.  She held it in her arms all the way home.  I think it might be one of the Shrek babies from the 2nd Shrek movie.  Maybe it had a diaper on at one time.  But the back (butt) seam was ripped out, the eyes were partly rubbed off, and who knows where it had been…oh yeah, and it was missing a lot of stuffing!  So we brought it home, threw it in the washing machine, stuffed it and sewed it up, and fixed up the eyes.  It doesn’t look brand new.  But at least now I am comfortable with letting Jasmin carry it around.  I think she really likes it because we just saw the movie the other day.  I am going to make some clothes for it though.  We added a little length to the eyelashes with a sharpie, so we named it Felicia.  Savannah and I were thinking a little tutu would look really cute.

Ok…this may be the actual first day of summer…according to the calendar. But I am going to claim tomorrow, June 22 as our first day of Summer. True, my kids actually started their summer vacation on June 3. But I still had to go and clean up my art room today.  Our school didn’t get out until last Tuesday, I worked on records all day on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, spent all my time cleaning up my Kindergarten room.  It was a lot of work.  I had some help from my kids and my sister.  I am very glad it is done.  I just need to clean up my porch now…because that is where I temporarily stacked everything I brought home.  It’s one of my goals.

Speaking of goals…I really want to get organized this summer.  I want to be consistent with making motivating the kids to do their chores.  I found a new idea from Mummy Crafts that we are trying with a little twist.  So tonight we made up our chore sticks.  The kids got busy doing chores.  At first a little reluctantly, but they loved the immediate gratification of being able to turn over their stick when it was completed.  Tomorrow we will implement the mandatory chores.  More on that tomorrow.

I also want to start a schedule with the kids, which includes time for school work, journals, play, snack, exercise, craft time.  It might be a little ambitious…but it’s good to be ambitious, isn’t it.  Better than not caring and wasting all of our 62 days of summer vacation.

So, onto day 1!  Hope it’s a great day!  I have some things to get ready.

Yeah! for Summer vacation! (It’s what I love most about being a teacher.)

This week has flown by and we are back to our normal crazy schedule…I haven’t had any time to sit and draw or do anything fun.  I did catch a little American Idol yesterday.  That was too funny…the old guy, Larry…who sang “pants on the floor” just cracked me up!  I probably needed a good laugh.

I’ve been a little on edge this week.  I don’t really know why, I mean, I don’t really have a good reason.  It just seems like little things are stressing me out. Today I have been worried all day because I had no one to watch Jasmin tomorrow.  My babysitter is leaving tomorrow on a trip with her family, and I didn’t know about it till a couple of days ago.  I was really stressing out because I really didn’t want to take a day off, but wasn’t sure what else I could do when I had called everyone I could think of.  Finally I called my friend Angie, and she was totally willing to take her for the day.  Didn’t even hesitate!  How awesome is that?  I didn’t even need to worry about it…and won’t need to.  She’ll have a blast with her kids, I am sure.

My emotions have been all over the place…a friend/co-worker of mine passed away yesterday.  She has been battling cancer for over a year.  We knew it would happen soon.  It’s just hard to let her go.  I wasn’t super close to Randi, but just knowing she’s gone is so sad.  She was a great teacher and friend to all of us.  We have missed her…but the best thing is that we know she is with God in Heaven.

I was talking to Savannah the other day when I was tucking her in and she was telling me how one of her classmates keeps saying mean things about her and to her…she is devastated…she cried.  She has also been very scared lately about our house burning down.  We talked about how fear is from Satan and that God protects us and watches over us. Then I remembered that verse that she read in church a while back, and reminded her that if God cares for little birdies and lilies he will certainly take care of us.  I think I need to remind myself of that verse, once in a while, too.

Anyway, busy weekend…Savannah’s birthday…and a bunch of other stuff.

And, I still haven’t taken down any Christmas decorations!  This is the latest I have ever had them up!  Though, when I drove to Walmart tonight, I noticed at least 3 houses that still had lit up Christmas trees inside…so that made me feel better about it.  Maybe I can get to it this weekend.

Sam’s dad got us a new front loading washing machine for Christmas.  I think I am in love!!! It’s so quiet – and SO sparkly!  It even sings a little song when you turn it on!  I love that it uses SO MUCH LESS water and less soap.  I can even use fabric softener in every load because you can add it at the beginning.  Today when the guys brought it, we also had them haul out our chest freezer.  We have been wanting to get rid of it.  We just don’t use it enough to keep it.  We found someone who wanted it, so we had them haul it upstairs for us since they had the equipment and experience of hauling appliances up and down stairs.  I only got one little tiny scratch on my door.  We had them leave the box, so we could make a little fort for the kids.  I did 5 loads of laundry in my new washer yesterday…and while I was drawing this, a load finished and much to my surprise it played an entire little song.  I don’t know what the tune was, but it was so fun and made me smile.  And I just have to say that whoever thought of putting a happy little song on a washing machine was a genius…because now I actually love to do laundry…and hearing that little song makes it even better.  It’s fun to do mediocre chores like laundry when you have a washer that IS SO AWESOME!!!

This post was originally written in my journal on Dec. 30th.

Last night, we took the kids to see the Chipmunk movie, “Squeakuel”.  It was cute.  Jasmin was probably the best she’s ever been for a movie.  I’d say this may have been her 4th or 5th…but some of the earlier movies I wouldn’t even count because I spent most of the movie in the lobby with her because she couldn’t be quiet.

After the movie we went to Bob Evans for dinner.  We ended up having to wait like over 45 minutes for our food.  They took some of the cost of our bill off and we only had to pay $13 something.  Karson was so tired and wouldn’t order, and then fell asleep on the table.  I drew a picture of him on the back of my placemat with a purple crayon.  This drawing is one I drew from that.  I taped it in my journal, but it’s kind of big to scan.  I like how this drawing came out except I messed up the hair, which kind of sucks…but oh well.

Anyway the best thing about today was I took Savannah shopping for some new jeans.  I had to get rid of most of her pants because they are getting to small for her.  We tried on the next size up and they fit great!  We found 2 very cute pairs of jeans at Gap for $13.00 each!  I also dragged her into Gymboree because they had some great sales on some old lines that they may have had like last spring or something…anyway, we found a super cute pair of capris, some sandals, leggings, a swimsuit (for $4.00) and a ballerina skirt for Jazzy.  She just adores that skirt.  Ava brought over a little tutu one day and wore it around and Jasmin was so wanting to wear it too.  And much to her delight, Ava accidentally left it at our house, so Jasmin wore it to bed and most of the following day!  I had to get it for her and it was only like $5.oo!  Savannah also saw some cute charm bracelets at GAP that she mentioned she would like for her birthday.

I did this little sketch in my new journal…kind of a chaotic drawing, I know.