First Week Of School....

Well, my first week of classes are over and I have one more week before my online classes start. I think those classes will really add on the work load, but I think I'll manage fine. I'm going to be doing a lot of writing this semester and I have a feeling I'm a little rusty, but hopefully whatever writing skills I had (if I had any!) come back quickly. I've had a lot of good ideas come into my head as I've been writing up my outline for my first paper (more of a question and answer essay) so hopefully they keep coming and I can do a good job. Jacob was laughing and me last night because I was on the floor in the middle of the living room in weird positions writing away! I tried explaining that sitting in one position gets old so I move around a lot.....and sometimes writing on the floor with my legs under me and my butt in the air is what works comfort wise! I mean really you gotta do what works for you and what's comfortable! He just continued to laugh at me and said it must have something to do with having been home-schooled and having the ability to move around compared to sitting in a classroom at a desk all day. No worries though, I do remain seated in class! It's just during study time that I get comfortable, so I guess I will be a constant source of amusement to him during our study times! :) Hmmm, I wonder if it'll be harder to do my computer work since I'll be limited to what I can do since I'll be having to sit at the computer the whole time....that will kind of stink, actually.
Ok, enough embarrassing myself, but hopefully you all had a good laugh....or at least those of you who know me! The rest of you are, I'm sure, just wondering what kind of weird home-schooled kid I am....well, maybe I should consider myself an adult now since I'm over the age of 21 and the mother of two children. :)

Anyway, school is going great and it's been fun to start getting back into the whole school and studying mind frame.
Abigail and Bethany now want to "go to college like Daddy and Mommy!" They've also been really good with me having to go to class a few times a week, so that's been nice for me not to have to worry about them.

School!

These are my school books for this semester...don't they look fun? :) I'm really excited about them and the classes, of course! :)

So, to catch everyone up on the latest events......

I am now a full-time student at the college near here! It all started when Jacob signed up for classes and suggested that I should see if I could get any grant money and take a baking class or something fun. So, he filled out the FAFSA and I got the full amount that they offer with the Pell Grant! So, needless to say I was very excited and signed up for the baking class.....and for anyone that doesn't know, I can bake I just thought it would be fun to learn some new things that hopefully the class will offer. :) Then as time went by and I got to thinking, it seemed a shame to have all that money that I wouldn't use go to waste, so I went back in and talked to an adviser again and got signed up for an English Composition and Microcomputer Software Application class online since both of those classes are a requirement for any degree. I also signed up for a Water Recreation class because it was the 1 credit hour class that I needed to be a 3/4 time student....a plus with that one is that I can bring the girls anytime during the week that I want....so, we'll be getting to swim most of the winter! I don't think the girls will mind. :)
I thought I would leave it at that, but no, I then decided to sign up for the U.S History class that is also a requirement. :) Also, since I scored high enough on the reading and writing test I was able to sign up for their honors class, which the adviser said I would learn a lot and have fun with....so we'll see! That class made me a full-time student, so here I am....I'm going back to school and I'm super excited about it! I think getting the books has been my favorite part so far....and I've already started my history books just for fun...of course, it won't hurt any either. :)

So, that has been the latest with me and the continuing of my education. Oh, I have decided to refresh whatever math knowledge I had because, after seeing the score on my math test, I realized that I'm not that dumb in math and I'd like to be able to take it again and prove that to myself. :) So, Algebra....here I come!

I will definitely be busy this fall, but I'll try to continue my blogging and update you all on my progress. :)

Summer Happenings

Well, I'm sitting here all ready to go out for my run so I don't know how much I'll get done, but I figured I'd at least get started and then finish up later. I'm needing to get back into serious running if I want to do a 1/2 marathon in November with my Mom and sister, but with the recent heat wave I wasn't getting any running in....having two kids and trying to get up really early doesn't work that well. I think the weather is suppose to be cooler from now on so it should be a lot easier to get out there and start putting on the miles! As for the girls, they continue to keep me busy! Bethany is now potty trained, so hurray for no more diapers! :) It was actually surprising how quickly she picked it up...she pretty much had it all figured out the first morning and had less trouble than Abigail. Of course, I thought I was going to go crazy that first morning since we were in the bathroom, literally, every 5-10 seconds! But it's much better now and it is a relief to be done with diapers...those things are expensive! We do have trouble (since we only have one bathroom)because both the girls will decide they need to go at the same time and will be fighting over who can get to the toilet the fastest or who can peel out of their clothes first.....one of the problems with only having one bathroom.We've been spending a lot of time in the pool this summer, especially since most of the time it's been hot enough to where if we go outside it has to be to get in the pool. The girls haven't minded at all and it's been nice for me to get to lay out in the sun some....first time I've gotten much of a tan since before both of the girls were born... so, woohoo! :) Sadly, I didn't get many pictures, partly because the camera was broken, but also cause I kept forgetting.....pretty bad, I know.I love how they like to hold hands and put their arms around each other when I tell them I want a picture....it's sweet. I took some picture on my phone, one day, of them hugging each other because it was hilarious what they were doing! They would both walk in a different direction and then turn around and walk back towards each other and when they met they would hug each other while Abigail would say "I've missed you, sister!" It was making me laugh, especially when they continued to do it multiple times without seeming to mind that it had been a whole 10 seconds since the last time they had hugged and exclaimed over missing each other! Kids are definitely entertaining and you never know what their little heads are going to come up with. :)

Well, I don't really have time at the moment to go into all the details of the other things that have been going on this summer, but Jacob is back to work doing construction with his Dad after a few months of being a Correction Officer at a prison near here. That was definitely an experience, but not something any of us were happy with and it just wasn't providing enough for the hours he spent working, so it was a big relief to have him go back to work with his Dad...and thankfully construction work has been plentiful even during the heat wave so that has been a huge relief. I'm very happy to have Jacob back on a more normal routine, since while he was working at the prisons, he was working an evening/night shift and then sleeping most of the day until he had to leave again, so it was limited time of actually getting to spend time with him. The girls were effected by it too and their attitudes have changed dramatically since he's gotten into a more normal routine and has been able to spend more time with them....it's interesting changing a routine messes everyone up! So, we are all a lot happier now and we'll just pray that there continues to be construction work. :)

Jacob and I are both enrolled as full time students at the college near here, but details on that will have to wait until the next time I post, which might be awhile since my sister Hillary is coming to spend a couple days with us! :)

So, until next time!

What Can I Say....

I feel horrible about being such a boring, non-updating blogger, but at lot has been going on and things probably aren't going to slow down much around here for awhile! I don't have time to go into details now, but I will try to blog again in the next day or so and do some major updating along with pictures. Bethany, unfortunately, pretty much broke our camera, so picture taking has been hard to do for the past month...which has made me very sad. :( I'm sure I will recover over time....or whenever we get a new one, which I'm not sure when that will be. Bethany has proven she likes to take things apart and has broken quite a few things lately...I hope she grows out of this phase soon!
Well, this will have to be all for now...it's bedtime for the girls and probably some math time for me! :)

The Second Endeavor at Hospital Hill

Yes, we were all crazy enough to do it again this year, but it was still a fun little get away! :) I have to attempt I didn't do as well as last year and last year definitely wasn't the greatest for me, so I wasn't completely happy about that, but it was still a fun and learning experience. Last year I didn't focus on hill training at all and this year I focused on it so much that I didn't get the benefits of training without the hills. So, I was stronger on the hills, but with the combination of heat I slowed down and something was up with the pace group I was making sure I stayed ahead of, because although I was ahead of them my time was slower than them....kind of weird, but oh well. I finished and I felt much better than last year!I think the only thing that was really bothering me at the end of the race was a blister that had started to develop around 3.5 miles and both of my toenails on my big toes...one of which was already black from training on a lot of hills and my shoes needing to be a little bigger(ugh, now I know). Of course, I don't know if it's just this race (lol, or just me in general), but every time I feel like I'm about to die at the end! I was thinking though, it's kind of like when you have a baby (naturally) and you feel like you're going to die, but as soon as you have the baby you kind of forget how bad it was and before too long you're ready to do it again! Of course, the pain is no where near the same, but maybe some of you get the idea! Lol, so all that being said just to say that even though it's a tough race, you still kind of want to do it again....obviously since we did it again this year! :) We are thinking of trying a flat race this fall since no one else really got better times either and we kind of want to try something that isn't nearly as hilly! I definitely want to, I've only been running a little over a year now and not consistently (unless I was training) and I've only done two races, both of them being Hospital Hill, so I would love to see how I do on a flat course!We actually don't look too bad for having having been running 2+ hours in hot humid weather :) Although, I don't think it was quite as hot this year, it was definitely more sunny and still way too hot! I didn't get any pictures on my camera (forgetful me) so I had to steal these pictures from Hillary. :)All cleaned up and in our new "I conquered the hill" t-shirts! I wonder how many people that look at this picture would realize that the "young looking" girl on the right is our mom. :) Hopefully it runs in the genes, cause I would love to look like that when I'm her age! Of course, the lady at the desk during check out, couldn't believe that I was as old as I am or that I had two kids....hmmm, I'm not so sure that's a compliment.
We had a fun time...although for me I missed Jacob being there; he tried to get off of work, but that didn't work out so he had to stay and work and my awesome sisters Kayla and Adalie were stuck with the two "monsters"! lol :) They said they didn't mind, but looking after these two.......isn't easy! I'm thinking next time we do a race I'll see about leaving them with someone here at home so it's easier on everyone. They did do soo well during all the driving and it was a lot of driving in two days for kids, but they were so good the whole way...of course, Bethany had to remind me at random times on the drive home that she didn't get to see me run! I don't think she's going to let me forget either, cause it's been almost a week since the race and she will still randomly say "I didn't see you run, mom",in a very injured voice...it's funny. :) Oh, and Abigail now wants me to teach her how to run fast so she can race with me...it's cute when your kids think you can run so fast and they want to be like you. :) Hmmm, I wish I could run fast! :D

The Ornery One...

I know I've been neglecting the blogging world, but hey, sometimes that happens when you have two kids. :) Even now, Bethany is digging in the fridge, because obviously, having just eaten lunch and now eating crackers isn't enough for her. *Sighing*...she is soo much of a handful and she literally never stops needing something or getting into stuff.Doesn't she look so cute and innocent...haha...what I didn't know at the time was that she was diaperless! Yep, here I was thinking "she's being so cute and I'm getting some cute pictures"...till she decides to pull up her dress to reveal that for some unknown amount of time she has been going around without her diaper. And although she tells me quite adamantly that she will not pee on the floor, it has happened before! It did make me laugh as I ran inside to retrieve the diaper though, so it wasn't too bad. :) I guess this would be a more fitting picture of her orneriness.... :) Yep, she's definitely ornery, but cute at the same time I have to admit. :)They both love to dress up, but Abigail wasn't in the mood for pictures that day so I will have to post pictures of her playing dress up another time.

Well...

I haven't forgotten about my blog, but there seems to be a lot keeping me busy lately. Nothing real exciting, just the everyday happenings of a mom with two kids....one (Abigail) in the middle of being potty trained. Which I must say is going really well! We started about two weeks ago and after the first couple days I would forget to constantly be asking if she needed to use the potty and she would come to me and say she needed to. So I'm pretty happy with her progress, of course, we've had our share of accidents....one being that twice when Jacob or I raised our voices and it startled her she would have an accident and end up crying about it. So, I've tried to be careful about suddenly saying something when she's around. :) She's done really good when we've been out to church and stuff; I do put her in a pull-up on those occasions, but she's so thrilled about using all the different potties that she loves telling me she has to go! This past Sunday as we were pulling up to church I reminded her to let me know if she needed to go potty, to which she replied in surprise "do they have a potty?!" She usually has to remark about something in the bathroom too...I have no clue why, but lately it's been about the little trash cans so every time we go into a new bathroom she has to look for the trash cans and then talk about them! The part I really don't like....is the touching...why do they have to touch EVERYTHING! The wall, the door, the toilet...literally everything! I keep telling her that they are dirty and have germs.....*sigh* it doesn't seem to effect her. I guess I'm just used to going into a public bathroom and trying not to touch anything!
Bethany keeps telling me she wants to use the potty, but I have a feeling things would be a lot more difficult if I were to start training her right now, so we will give it a little more time. She does tell me constantly she has to go potty and I'll tell her she's still to young to potty train so she just needs to go in her diaper, to which she usually tells me "no!" I guess that's good that she doesn't want to go in her diaper, but I really think she needs more time before we get serious. I do need to start watching what I say to her, because lately every time I pick her up she pushes my cheeks together and tell me "chubby cheeks, chubby cheeks!" She's our little clown/entertainer and if Jacob and I are talking and start laughing she immediately starts laughing and then starts telling us some story! It's pretty cute when she'll randomly start dancing all crazy cause she wants us to laugh at her....it's works every time too!

Well, time has gotten away from me and the girls are up, so my day begins....hopefully soon I'll be able to post some pictures!