Jalen's Bridge

I thought this was pretty hilarious! As I said in my last post, I was laying down and woke up to Jalen's creation.. Oh his imagination is starting to roll at full force..

Oh, Jalen!

If you could picture me screaming with my hands in the air 'going oh my, when is this day going to end' or 'when he is going to settle down?!' that would be a correct image of myself right now! Today Jalen....

* made a bridge with a belt and a big rubber band that was from the bathroom door into the tub, on the top of it was a million pink cotton balls... while eating red Doritos!
* dumped all of his bath toys on the ground in the other bathroom to try and make another bridge
* almost dropped a 20 pound weight on his foot (whew!)
* has hit, screamed, and had 100 tantrums today
* decided not to eat, 'no thanks!!!'
* pulled every single toy out downstairs -- including baby pool toys!

and needless to say... I did not go to Target today or get Lindsay a birthday gift because I may have been arrested because my child broke everything in the store!! Ahhhhhh..... Just another day in paradise and I will miss this one day!!

I would post pictures of this mess, but in the midst of this mess, my camera cord went missing!

Thankful Tuesday

Last week was a week of trials.. It was a week where I know God won't give you more than you can handle, but at times, I was questioning if He was getting too close to that line. Needless to say, He pulled through for me and made me realize how much I allow myself to rely on Him and I am very thankful for that. He pulled me through, along with a sweet little boys smile! :)

* I am thankful I do not have to start a new job this Wednesday, then go to school right afterward, come home, prepare to teach a lesson for Thursday at 9:15, wake up, take Jalen to school, teach my lesson, rush to work for 12:00.... I am thankful I do not have to repeat that b/c I may not make it through this time...
* I am thankful for such a wonderful family. I texted my sister at 1 in the morning telling her I was giving up and couldn't take this stress and she pulled me through with her wisdom and kind words. I receive support from both of my sisters and I am so thankful to have my sisters as my best friends. I am not only thankful for my sisters, but my entire family... My Mom and Dad are awesome and make me eat those words I used to say of 'ugh, my parents get on my nerves' or 'gosh, they are WRONG!' Those things you never realize you didn't mean until you have children of your own and know they were just loving you (most of the time.. ha!)
* I am thankful Sunday was such a beautiful day and I was able to take Jalen to the park with Allison and her girls. Jalen had a blast playing with them and to see him walk hand-in-hand with Mikayla carrying on a conversation made me realize how sweet and big he is getting.. pictures to come!
* I am thankful I like my new job! I do enjoy it.. it's a lot to take in and I've realized it's probably all I can handle. I don't know if I'll be able to handle 2 jobs, but we'll see where time takes us...

I'm very thankful this week.. How about you?!

One thing I am praying about is.. I found out from ECU that Wake Co. is not in their circle of counties that you can do your practicum for Senior year in. I contacted them and they said they'd allow me to do it in Wake Co., but there are rules of you can't do your practicum in a school 1) you've attended, 2) you are employees, or 3) have a child enrolled. Well, I attended Farmington Woods and have been doing all of my work there and sadly, Jalen would go there, too, more than likely. I am hoping something pulls through and I can continue to work at Farmington Woods and I'll cry if I miss Jalen's kindergarten adventures...

Remember When...

...I was 9 months pregnant and at the beach, due only in the next few days!
I was not suppose to go to the beach because I knew it was too close, but I was too hot and went anyways. I quit work from the beach and stayed until my next doctors appointment... and the next time we went to the beach, we had this little monster!!
and now, we have this little monster who is ready to go to the beach NOW b/c he's tired of warming up by the fire....

A Fresh New Look...

I had been wanting a 'personalized' header and I knew it had to be possible to do yourself... so, with all of my playing around I came up with my new 'Just Another Day in Paradise' blog header! I want you to know people charge around $30 to make those and that's outrageous. Enjoy! I'm sure I'll be playing around with it to see what else I can do, but until then, enjoy the new face lift.

Thankful Tuesday

What a week of love! I hope everyone had a great weekend and a lovely Valentine's Day!

- I am thankful I start my new job today.. Hopefully it will go well and be a perfect match for my family and myself. I will be working at Chesterbrook Academy, 4 days a week, 12-6 with weekends off. I'm praying it works out and I love it..
- I am thankful for all of my Valentine's Day suprises.. Love my Jalen and Nicholas, they make a pretty good team!
- I am thankful I had a night out with my sister.. we were able to go see Dear John and cry together.. Ha! It was really good and can't wait for The Last Song to come out this summer.. That'll be a tear jerker.
- I am thankful for my family <3 Love them to death and can't wait for my new niece or nephew to come and join us!
- Allison is pregnant! My great friend, Allison, found out she was pregnant and due at the end of October. God is GREAT!
- I was able to spend a little bit of time with my Mom before she ventured out into the world. Cherish is staying with us and Jalen loves that!

I love my life and I'm thankful to have everyone in my life that I do.

He's My Valentine !

Conversation with Jalen

I was cooking dinner the other night and this is the conversation I had with Jalen:

Jalen: 'Whatcha cooking, Mommy?'
Me: Chicken.
Jalen: Ooh, I like chicken. What's that?'
Me: Rice.
Jalen:'Oh, I like rice. 'What's that?'
Me: Potatoes and green beans.
Jalen: 'Oh, I like that! I love potatoes.'
Me: 'Are you going to eat it?'
Jalen: 'No, just potatoes because I love potatoes.'

Oh, what it's like to be three!! and for a side note, he only ate potatoes..

Thankful Tuesday

I look around right now and Jalen is playing, Nicholas is sleeping on the couch, and I think to myself how darn lucky I am to have everything and everyone I have. I know nothing is guaranteed and I try not to take things for granted, but I have to say, my life is beautiful...

*I am thankful for my family. I am so blessed. I have no clue where I'd be without them and yes, my sisters and parents are my best friends!
* I am thankful for Jalen. I know I always say this, but he is so beautiful and so amazing. I still wonder how he's stronger than me. I was crying as I was walking out the door to take him to his Oma's so I could go to work and I just had told my Mom good-bye and he said 'Mommy, why you crying? You wanna blow?!' He's my world...
* I am thankful for Nicholas. We have our moments and we have our moments if you know what I mean. We have our good times, our bad times, and our times we don't have a classification for. I am lucky to have someone that I can walk with and he's not in front of me or behind me. We have our days, but our bad days are better beside each other.
* I am thankful the snow is melting and Spring is coming... :)

Take a look around, you're blessed and so am I...

Not Me! Monday

* I did not wake up and go teach this morning, come home, eat breakfast, and then, proceed to lay down. I laid down, Nicholas went to work and it was just Jalen and I. I did not lay down for 2 hours and Jalen did not eat M&Ms, fruit snacks, and put baby powder in the toilet. Nope, not me!
* I did not not cook this week hardly any. Nope, not me! I think we ate at and with everyone else because I really did not feel like cooking. This week will be better... Nope, not me!
* I did not leave work early for the reason of, I didn't feel like being there... Nope, not me!

Did you do something this week that you'd rather forget?!

Losin' my Marbles!

For Ryan's birthday, we (Jessica, Ryan, Aj, Nicholas, Jalen, and I) headed to Marbles in Raleigh, which is awesome. It was their first time and our second. Jalen loves playing there. He hates going to a new room, but then when it is time to go to another new room, he cries because he has to leave that room. He made me lose my Marbles that day.. All in all, we had a great time and it's neat to see them play together.

Thankful Tuesday!

What a week to be thankful for..?

* I am thankful for the beautiful snow.. It was very pretty and it was a lot of fun to see Jalen in it and how he reacted.
* I am thankful I got to spend Ryan's first birthday with him and all weekend, pretty much.
* I am thankful that I my Mom is going to still come visit soon since she wasn't able to come this weekend, which did make us sad.
* I am thankful to hear Jalen say 'Grandpa'.. It's too cute!
* I am thankful that my new mindset of being with Jalen and that 'one day I'm going to miss this..' has worked on calming me down some with my frustrations...
* I am thankful that Lindsay's ultrasound went well the other week and she is growing along perfectly..
* I am thankful I was able to forgive..

I am thankful - what are you thankful for?

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Okay, okay -- Jalen did not have to wake me up one time last week by banging a spoon on a glass beer bottle saying 'wake up, sleepy head!' I did not proceed to about fall out of the bed laughing!

I did not let Jalen stay up until 1 in the morning because I couldn't get him to sleep. I did not text Nicholas from upstairs saying I didn't care where he went or when he went to sleep because I was tired of laying in the bed with him. I did not do that!!

When Nicholas asked me what was the one thing that was holding me back from taking a new job, I did not say I was just upset because I'd only have one complete day off to spend with my sisters since they work the weekends! I am not completely attached to my best friends!

I did not stand outside in the snow with Jalen and tell him to take a picture with the snow, so I could blog about our wonderful snow, I'd never do something like that.

Well, I am not super-excited that I do not have school because it is canceled. Nope, not me! I love going to school... But, I was super-excited they canceled church this weekend because I was suppose to work and I didn't want to miss it...

I will end on this note-- I was not holding Ryan in the middle of Party City when he looked at me, puked all over me, and then proceeded to laugh! Nope, not my nephew and nope, I didn't get mad and start laughing. NOPE!

Oh, what shall this week hold for us..?