Squirrels on the Move

Is it safe to say that we are finished? Are we out?
The Littles have already been out for two whole weeks; I am right behind them!
It has been a whirlwind of activity since the day they got out.

I had envisioned naps and sleeping in- who knew that that I would be taking such a different direction?
Squirrels is still working on that getting healthy thing!
I have been following some very inspirational people. People who made the decision to make their lives better and they have done it!
I am very grateful for all the "visuals"! I get tons of support from my IRL friends and online friends.
Very motivational, indeed.

I am at 3 weeks with no soda (or sweet tea.....Lord help me)!
I am 19 consecutive days working out. (There were others before- but not in a row)
I own workout clothes.
I have cooked and eaten fish.


{These are milestones, people. You should be applauding.}

I know it sounds like I'm being typical Squirrels and being silly- but this is for realsies!!!

All of this should have happened a long time ago-
Like THREE YEARS AGO!
Three years ago on June 3rd, I made the decision to quit smoking. Cold Turkey. And I stuck with it.
Two years ago, I said "One year ago,  I quit smoking- now I need to quit making excuses about losing weight and getting healthy"(That didn't happen)
One year ago, I said "Two years ago, I quit smoking - now I HAVE to quit with these darned excuses and DO SOMETHING!" (Are you seeing a pattern?)
THIS YEAR, I am saying- NO MORE EXCUSES!

With that being said, I hope there is a lot less of me to tell you about my June milestone next June!!

It might be a little easier this time around. There is quite a bit of activity. Both of the boys got new bikes, so Littlest Little and I have been doing lots of rides together.
We are at the pool almost everyday! {How many calories does "floating" burn}?
I have been sharing the yard work with Mini Mr. So that in addition to the actual planned workouts makes a good routine.

Too bad the thing I do most doesn't burn any calories.
Guess what that is...
{I'll wait}

Driving.
I swear, I am driving like all day long!
The other day I told The Mr. that I was waiting for the FEDS to start tracking my activity in the van because there's so much movement. I pull in the driveway and within 20 mins I am pulling back out.
I leave with 3 kids, come back with 1. I leave with 1, come back with 4. And I am always getting out of the van with bags.
I flinch if I hear a helicopter when I'm driving!


Need a reference? It's from Goodfellas (best mob movie ever)

Henry starts getting paranoid that he's being followed by helicopter because he keeps making trips back and forth from his house to deals and dealers.

While there is no illegal activity going on with the Squirrels Mob, they definitely cannot stay in one place too long.
Can you take me to {insert friend's name here} house?
Can you take us to the mall?
Can you pick us up?
I'm out of {insert name of ANYTHING} can you pick it up at the store?
I have to go to work.
I need to be picked up from work.
I need to get more contacts.
I need to get my hair cut.
Can we go to the pool?
His mom said she'll bring us home if you take us.
AGHHHHHHH!!!
So I have started looking out the windshield for that helicopter!

I guess I shouldn't complain. (that won't stop me from doing it, though)

By the time there is "down time" around here, I am down for the count. And then I wake up and we do it all over again.

I hope that wherever you are in your summer adventure that you are enjoying it!!
Gotta Go! It's time to leave again!

Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

Well only two more days and I am officially done with school for the summer (minus any PD that I sign up for ).

Hard to believe that there is another one in the books! And one in fourth grade to boot! 

I have to admit that I was a little scared to take on fourth graders after having been with K and 1 for all of my teaching time. Something happened though that made me fall in love!

I loved the (semi) independence! I loved being able to read and write and create on a level that I had never been on before.

I did miss so many things- but there was a trade off of sorts :)

I even put in for transfers to four middle schools for ELA positions (I know, what is that crazy squirrel thinking- but hey, you've known me long enough to know that I'm NUTS!!!)

It is district policy that they contact you by June 15th to let you know either way. I am beginning to get the feeling that these  middle schools have already made their teams for next year.

So I am not putting all my nuts into one nest. I am considering our neighboring state- there are three counties with middle schools, all less than a half hour from where I live. 

Scary, eh? 

I watch the Jobs Posted section religiously- and I wince each time the phone rings- we'll see what they think before summer's end!

While I am playing the "waiting game" with next year's assignment, I am not waiting around for other changes.

These are just a few "changes" that have happened for me:

1. Out of the last 10 days, I have exercised (on purpose) for 9 of them.
2. I have gone 9 days with NO SODA.
3. I made a concerted effort to make healthier shopping and cooking choices for ALL of us!

Let's go through these changes one at a time

#1- My exercise includes walking. (And a "fitness hoop" that I am trying to master) I walk out my door, turn left, and follow the road and all the cul de sacs until I am back home. If I stay on track, it's about 5 miles. This is NOT my first time to say I was going to stick with this. I WANT to stick with it. I PLAN to stick with it.
The app I use says that I burn (depending on how fast I go) around 600 calories on each walk. This is what has lead to and helped with the #2.

#2 I have said for awhile that I was going to give up soda. My beloved soda. We had a "thing". I would send Littlest Little to the break room with $ to buy my soda before I was ever even thirsty in the morning!! And I would drink it all day long. Then if we went somewhere where they served it, I drank it. If I got it in a cup, I would refill it so that I would be sure to have some when I came home.


And then I looked at the calories.
That one soda is about 1/5 of the calories I am burning. It's about 15 minutes of walking. 15 minutes of sweating- profusely.
My time is valuable. And I AM NOT going to waste it! The way I think about it now is, if I drink that soda, then I have WASTED 15 minutes of walking!!!
So soda is OUT THE DOOR! As The Mr. and I grocery shopped today, I looked at the Nutrition Facts and did lots of mental math- "That's 10 minutes. That's 25 minutes. That's only 3 minutes! Get in the cart!!"

#3 We have been drinking a lot of fruit infused water for the last few months. Lots of lemon and oranges. Recently, we have been experimenting with other fruits. I even bought the Littles their own pitcher because they don't always like what I make for myself.

And we have purged the pantry, discussed the importance of eating meals at meal time and "snacks aren't supposed to fill your belly" (they hate that lecture), and I've replaced all the junk with much healthier choices. It's a transition for us all. And I am sure that we will be a household full of angry squirrels as our bodies begin getting used to not having CRAP snacks - but we will trudge through it together. The Mr. said that as long as I don't become the Food Nazi, we will be okay.

So there are a lot of changes. Hopefully a lot more to come. And hopefully all good ones. (I look forward to being able to post great news) As soon as everyone gets over the "grouchies"!

If you aren't out yet, here's to a speedy week!!

A Mother's Love... {and Lots of It}

Wowwee Wow Wow!

Mother's Day is gone.

 {insert sad face here}

There was such a "build-up", too!

I was all about having this one day. Just one day. (Can you hear the Les Mis...."Just One Day....")

 I had it all worked out in my mind that I would wake up to a glorious smell from the kitchen and then my beautiful children would come into my room with a pretty tray adorned with freshly cut flowers and a delicious meal.

Cue to the dream like music.

And.....

It's over.

Guess what part of that happened.

Uh- NONE of it! That's how much of it happened!

I was the first one up- AND I made breakfast for everyone. 

What the What!?!?!

I guess it's better that way, at least I didn't have to hurt someone for waking me up too early!

All of The Littles did  a wonderful job of helping out The Mr. to find just the right gifts.

***Disclaimer- I know that makes me sound greedy- which is not my intent. I merely think that if we are actually going to spend $$$ on each other that it needs to not be frivolous or wasteful. 

I love a handmade ANYTHING with all my heart- and I keep it all and will cherish it forever! But if you are gonna spend cash on a squirrel- be practical!***

After everyone was awake and their bellies were full, they came out of their rooms with my "loot". The piece of paper there is a GC for a pedi at the spa where I get my hair done- which is good- because these toes are not ready to be seen in those flops!

(The chocolate didn't last 24 hours).

We had a great morning ! I think the best part about the morning was that we didn't "do" anything! The boys sat in front of the ent. stand and went through the movies, trying to find something that we would all like to watch- while "looking" we got distracted with some of the other stuff that was in there. In the time we sat laughing and joking about what we found, we could have watched two movies!!!

These are some of the lovely finds from the back of the stand. These are from our- "everyone do thumbs up right before the picture" stage!!

Lucky me, three horrible "dos" in a row.

Good times. Good times.

And our "good times" do seem to out weigh the not-so-good.

I consider myself to be a very lucky mom of three beautiful Littles. Inside and out.

 They have their moments (they get that from him).

  For the most part my life consists of a table full of sweet faces that sit across from me at the dinner table every night. And even if it tastes like I was trying to poison them, each night they pass my chair as they are excused and say "That was good. Thank you". One of them still kisses my cheek when he says it.

I also have to "deal with" two of them getting out of the van every morning when I drop them off and saying "See you later, I love you". Ugh - my life, right?

(Littlest Little comes in with me, so I get his goodbyes when he leaves for his classroom).

And whether it's out of habit or genuine concern- I have to "put up with" all of them asking how my day is. 

Woe is me. 

I guess it isn't so bad that it's over. I get a little Mother's Day "love" each day. 

I guess the moral of the story is that 

"A mother should be happy that she has the love of her children".

or

"A child's love is priceless"

or

"Let your heart be filled with the smiles of your children".

Screw that- the take-away here folks is-

 "If they didn't make it by hand at school and you have to buy it, make sure it's worth it- also it wouldn't hurt to let her sleep in and  bring her breakfast in bed every once in awhile".

BWHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Speaking of Love

there's a WHOLE LOTTA BIRD LOVIN going on in my hood! This top pick is the nest that is in the bush next to my front door.

Dear Robin #1,

I'm so happy you have built your home in a location where we are able to scare the $%^!> out of each other EVERY morning!!!

Love, 

Squirrels

Dear Robin #2,

Thank you for watching my weight for me and making sure that I don't have any juicy burgers or gigantor steaks until your CHILDREN decide they can feed themselves and get the $#^@ out of my grill.

Love,

Squirrels

NO matter if you gave or got Mama love this weekend, here's some Squirrel-love!
Hope you all had a great Monday!

Throwback Thursday Trio

It has been a year since my friends, Fern and Michelle began their Dynamic Duo monthly giveaways.  They have had a fun time working together and of course they love to give stuff away!

Fern recently came up with a new idea.  Each week, they  are going to make one of their normally priced packets free for one day.  This is their way of showing a little appreciation to their followers who have loyally followed their blogs.  As an added bonus, they are going to invite a different blogger friend each week to join them.  Not only will you get free stuff, you might get to "meet" someone new and want to follow his or her store, too.  How great is that?!!!  Make sure you visit their blogs every Thursday!

This week- they chose me!!! Have you met me? Yes? Well, have you met them? If the answer is yes, then you are so lucky already. If the answer is no, then you need to get over there and meet them- they are both amazing!

Today you can click here and get this great assessment tool that I made when I was still in first grade FOR FREE!!

I used it when they entered my class and I was able to have the cards ready and at hand when I needed to assess a new student on beginning skills. They also made for great interventions for some students!

Click HERE to download your freebie.

Just a reminder:  You will not be able to leave feedback after we change it back to a paid for lesson.

Five for Friday {April 12}

Doodle Bugs Teaching

Good Morning and happy Saturday!
You should celebrate Saturdays. You don't have to throw a big party or buy decorations or anything, but you should celebrate it.
You should also celebrate the fact that I have 27 instructional days left in my school year. I know it's sad to see the little ones go, but there is hopefully some great news on the horizon for me (that's a different post).

Let's start this off with the fact that it is absolutely GORGEOUS here! These are my two favorite trees that I see everyday on my way in and way out of the neighborhood. And when the wind blows, it's like something out of a dream....and then the little boy who lives there comes out of his house and ruins that dream yelling "Miss Squirrels! Miss Squirrels! " when I drive by- he's zoned for my school:)

Now let's move on to this little lovely Lego set that I came across while playing on my phone yesterday. It's a Squirrel! With her own private tree! And her own little collection of nuts! Um, I totally went to Toys R US last night looking for this. OK, We were also looking for a laser tag thing that Littlest Little wants to hook up to his iPod. But I also scoured the Lego Friends Section.

I'm kind of going to cheat with my last pics and mush them all into one. This is one of my favorite dinners that we had this week. It's SO easy and so delicious!
And being a teacher, I am sure that the word problem
 kitchen + easy = dinner
 makes you happy.

So simple!
Such an easy crockpot dinner. I set it up in the morning while the boys are in the bathroom fighting over who's turn it is to use the toothpaste and I am done before they both make it out.
Add the roast, fill the bottom of crockpot with Coke (don't cover the top the of the roast with Coke). Then cover the top of roast with ketchup and one packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix. Put the lid on, set on low, and when you get home you have a yummy roast that is not soggy and gooey. But instead it is melt in your mouth tender with this yummy, crusty flavorful top.

Easy Quick Dinner

Coke Roast

When I make this, I usually throw a bag of red new potatoes in foil bag, with butter and garlic in the oven when I get home. They cook while I am unpacking and unwinding- and before I know it, I am ready to open a package of vegetables that everyone will complain about and no one will eat and we all sit down together! Ah, dinner time. The time that brings us all together.

It is time for me to go enjoy this Saturday! There are lots of busy squirrels in the nest today and I get to be the nutty chauffeur!
Enjoy your sunshine (and cross your fingers for my good news)