DUH!

Austin if you are going to walk around with a shirt over your head, you know Erianna is going to drop you on the floor and either beat you up or tickle the hell out of you!! Look who is back.. Eric after two weeks! I celebrated by walking out the door and going to the mall childless to exchange something, then a couple drinks with a friend, and then I came home and took a nap. We had dinner at Gold Coast Grill in Coral Springs and walked to Barnes and Noble after, where Erianna read me a book.. and enjoyed doing so for a change.. I will make that tomorrow's picture. :0)

The Royal Wedding

I may be British, but I really could care less about the wedding.. I am more interested in seeing pics from my cousins wedding coming up later this year in England.. BUT for some reason for the first time EVER my dogs were barking NON stop from 4am that morning. Let them out, gave them food and water..nothing helped.. they were non stop, until I turned on the TV and started watching it. I watched it for a few minutes and was totally tearing up.. A. Because things that are beautiful make me cry.. anything.. music, children, weddings, births, sweet older people, this list could go on forever.. and B. I was also crying because I knew my mom and grandmother would have been ecstatic to watch this on TV. I wished I was calling my grandmother at 4AM (9AM) in England and talking to her about it. She would have loved it. ( I have gotten up three times now to wipe my tears as I am writing this.....) It would have been the highlight of her year, she would have referenced the Queen, and told me that she was born the same year as her, and named after her.. It would have been such a nice conversation.. (ok Last time I am grabbing a tissue....bringing the whole box to the computer now) Well, it was a long day.. A 4am to 1am kind of day Friday. A rough shift at work, but at least I got to see some good friends.. and my good friends Xavier and Lisa came in, and asked me if I saw it, and I told them I glanced at it, because my dogs were barking, and Xavier quickly replied, that was your Grandmother telling you to watch it. I laughed with him, and teared up, hoping no one noticed, and thought to myself.. that's twice.. that's twice that Xavier has referenced something about my Nana and been right.. Maybe I am strange to think that, but the fact that my friend said the same thing makes it so real... Well, besides all the other stuff I wrote, my kids enjoyed watching it, and got ready for school a little happier than usually.. in the picture Erianna is ready for school and about to brush her hair, and Austin is about to get ready.. and off to a long Friday we all go!!

After note-Notice the lantern on my dresser.. Yep my light bulbs went out in my room two weeks ago, and rather than change the lightbulbs, we had lanterns in the room.. was kind of a camping experience.. ha

Nana and Erianna

Erianna is still upset about her great-grandmother's passing in March. I think she was a lot closer to her, because since my mom passed away when I was pregnant with Erianna, my Grandmother became my motherly figure.. so I talked to her all the time, and went to England once a year to see her, so Erianna heard her name a lot, and went with me every time to see her. So I kinda figure that with her passing, Erianna had the love for her that most kids have for their favorite Grandma.. Eric's parents live in Philadelphia, and it's hard for us to get there, and his mom doesn't like to come here because it's so hot, so Erianna is not as close with her as she could be. She loves her, but she barely sees her or talks to her... My dad remarried after my mom dies, but that relationship didn't last very long, so Erianna really doesn't have that awesome relationship most kids have with a Grandma... it's super sad.. Well, the point of the picture is, Erianna found the soft animal in her super dirty room, and it's one that my Grandmother had laying around in her house.. so she gave it to her years ago.. Erianna named it "Mavis" in honor of my grandmother, and it's so sweet watching her cuddle with it, and call it Mavis. :)

Google

I must admit I am obsessed with Google Maps, Google Earth, Google anything! I LOVE looking up people's addresses on Google Earth, I find it so fascinating. I was so happy to have my camera on me when I saw this random weird car hauling butt around my neighborhood. I was on the phone with my best friend from elementary and high school, had not heard her voice in YEARS ( I messed it up in college... ) So I totally was multitasking and she was cracking up the whole time I was trying to catch up to this car to get a picture... That's him rolling through the stop sign!

Don't get to used to this.

Oh wow... The "laundry table" is clear. The place mats are ironed and the centerpiece is not dead. I wish I could say we used this dining room table but we don't.... because as you see it is right there next to the daycare... and after 5:30 I want nothing to do with that room or looking at anything in it!!! So like the classy Americans we are, we eat at the bar and our kids eat separately at their table.. or they eat at the bar and I stand up and eat.. Hey it beats bright colors and random toys making noises while you are eating! I can't wait to close my daycare and remodel the house. It's going to be so fabulous :) I am for sure going to miss the awesome kids and working from home, but I can't wait to have the house the way I want it, and not the way it has to be "to be in compliance." I can't wait to have unlocked kitchen knives, and uncovered outlets.. free roaming dogs and great wines on display on the countertops, a nice TV in my living room and not gates in every hall way.. and not have to lock every door in the house up high and down low.. oh and I can't wait to have a much lower electricity and food bill :) But, it's going to be a while, so let me not get too excited!!!

Fish Tank

Well, it's quite the best money spent on my kids in some time.. The kids LOVE it. There is so much going on in there, a bunch of fish, frogs, crabs, shrimp, snails, plants and lots of babies. This is Erianna and Austin (left) showing the fish tank to their Aunt and Uncle (right, yep...) Welcome to 2011. Where it is accepted to have younger siblings younger than your own children!! I must say it is weird having a brother and sister that are 27 years younger than me... but it is what it is... and I love them to pieces...

My new PRETTY orchids!

Went to the Orchid Show yesterday, and picked this up. It's so pretty! Super tall, too. Easter today, which unfortunately won't be much fun this year.... I work all day and Eric's away, but luckily the kids will get to spend it with my family.

"MOM, THE EASTER BUNNY IS A HUMAN!!!!"

Austin and Erianna did not want to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap today. They did it just for me to take a picture, but they weren't too happy about it. They Easter Bunny looked run down and didn't talk. They got their egg with candy in it, and skated. We came back to the area where the bunny was and he was not there anymore. As I was looking at the Orchids on display (We were at an orchid show,) Austin was snooping around and in back of the wall he found the costume and yelled as loud as he could that the easter bunny was a human. Everyone started laughing, and I thought, well there goes that Holiday for them.... but nope...guess who cleaned his room so the Easter Bunny would fill his basket tomorrow?!?

Lazy Day

Good Friday-Day off School for the kids and a day off work for mom. It's been a very very long time since I was off of both jobs for more than one day. It was nice. I laid in bed with my kids till 3:41PM. We cuddled and watched movies all day. With a lot of runs to the kitchen for snacks. We loved our lazy day, and we need more of them!!

Easter Goodies

Erianna and Austin are very lucky. They have awesome Godparents who send them the cutest care packages almost every single holiday. Totally makes their day, and I think it's so sweet!! I wish I was half as good as them. I can barely remember my own kids!!!!

Literacy Pirate

So, I spend most nights after everyone is asleep on the computer editing pictures, posting on facebook, working on projects. Well, it took me about a year to perfect what I wanted as a website for my day care. I had a myspace page forever, http://www.myspace.com/fl9542059056 Then companies started blocking myspace so people weren't able to access my website from work, so I worked on a new website with a real domain name. The domain name was the tricky part, but my friend Danny helped me, and I couldn't have picked a better name. I got with a client, and we turned my myspace into a website, and it was amazing. I love it. A couple years later and we haven't changed anything about it, but add a couple pics here and there. It took a lot of time, but I love it. Lots of hard work, but it's my baby, and I am super proud of it. http://www.childcarebroward.com My friend is a teacher and travels across the USA and does business management seminars, and always pulls my web site up to show people.:) Well, I was a little hurt last night, because a friend posted a link to her new website on facebook. I clicked on it, I thought it was really pretty. She boasted it didn't take her very long at all. Then I read the sections and discovered she had word for word copied and pasted from my website!! Even my "about me" section!! I was so surprised. All her friends were commenting on how great the site was, and I wanted to post a link to mine and say something silly, but I decided not to. I decided just to post a vague status on facebook about plagiarizing. It started quite the discussion on facebook! I didn't call her out though. I carried private conversations on with people, and directed them to her web site. Everyone was disgusted, and said I should have said something..but I didn't. Then first thing this morning, she sent me an apology email. It was sincere, kind of... so I guess she learnt her lesson. I also have learnt mine!! 

AFTER NOTE:
I went to share this on facebook, but was going to block her from seeing it, and she unfriended me! I guess she didn't like the fact I had yet to respond to her apology email. I wasn't going to share her apology email, but I guess I can now!!
Here is her apology email:

Subject: Apology
Wicked Sorry. Sincerely. I would hate it too. I know I would. I had to throw together a rate sheet for our local toy store owner who I am a big fan of and his little girl adorable!! I thought it would be a bit more professional to whip up a site opposed to an email with numbers. Not so much when it's plagerized I suppose. It was just SO perfect! I did revise it, and it is still a work in progress. If I was gonna steal your shit prolly shouldnt have linked it to FB... I'm sorry Jordanna especially because you have been such a help. :/

Froggy Funeral

DO you have any clue how detrimental this was to Austin? At least one hour of crying. Absolute devastation. Am I the bad mom? Or realistic mom? I saw the dead frog this morning in the "frog cage." I left it there. I could have thrown it away, but I wanted to teach him a lesson. Frogs don't belong in cages, they belong where you found them. Yes, we bought live crickets and put them in his cage, but we didn't give him enough water or shade to survive the Florida sun. So what's for dinner?

Yummy!

So want a slice of deliciousness? Make these!! Dark Chocolate Caramel Nutella Twix Bars. YUMMY. For the last step I used Lindt Excellence Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Bars. Double YUMMY. Everyone that had one, loved them. I had one too many!!!

http://savorysweetlife.com/2011/03/dark-chocolate-caramel-nutella-twix-bars/

The Frog Cage

Great, a real cage for trapping real frogs.. I wonder what is going to happen.. Well being as I am uploading this days later, I can tell you. The frogs went to school Monday the 18th, and my husband wanted me to pick Austin up from school. HELL NO, am I going to be that mom... the mom who let her son take frogs to school. Tuesday the 19th, we came home to a dead frog. WE had a frog funeral. We cried, we didn't eat dinner. Mommy drank two glasses of wine. ;)

MOM, WHERE'S MY FROG?

Really Erianna, really? Thanks. SO OVER THE FROGS, LIZARDS AND SNAILS. As we speak there is a frog hoping around doing a frog show. He swims through the "pool," he hops across to the finish line, he climbs out of a box, he goes to find his baby?? Who knows. I am officially over it, and can't win this battle. Every time I try to put a stop to it, I get the tears, the guilt.. UGH. When does this stage end?

Reading Time with Daddy

Erianna is extremely smart, but she just got pulled from her advanced reading group because she wasn't keeping up. It's my fault. After being with babies and toddlers for such a long day, come 5:30 when the last two leave I am drained. I don't want to read for 60 minutes, I want to do her homework, bathe her, feed her and put her to bed for 7:30. I really need to get better at reading more with my own kids. I don't want my kids to suffer because I am out of energy when they come home. I really need to work towards my two year goal of being a teacher. I know teaching is exhausting too, but the fact that you finish teaching at 2:00 and you are off all summer, is pretty awesome. I need to be there more for my kiddos. The daycare is a 50 hour a week job, and J Alexander's is another 20 hours in the weekend, doesn't leave me too much time. I am looking forward to using my substitutes a little more over the summer, and hopefully catching up with Erianna, and making sure Austin is ready for Kindergarten.

Pets

Woo hoo, I thought I forgot to take pictures this day, and then found this is the wrong folder :) 
As you know by now, Austin is obsessed with "pets." He went fishing today and caught three bass fish. He said he didn't want to let them go, he wanted them as pets. So this is him releasing the fish into the canal behind our house!

Lizard

Well, the picture of the day was supposed to be the scantily clad lady on the play ground smoking a cigarette...grrrrrr...my BIGGEST PET PEAVE! but....... Austin running up to me with a lizard in his hand ended up being a great shot. You can see the excitement in his eyes! You can almost hear the complaining and whining when it got away when we got home.. yep he took it home with him!!!!! Some battles I just can't win!!!

Brianna!

I met Brianna at my work a few months ago. She invited me to lunch with her and another coworker, and since that day, it has become a weekly event for us. She is ten years younger than me, but we get along so well, partly because she is so mature and I am so immature!!! We normally go to the same restaurant, but this week we went to South Beach for lunch, because I had a mystery shop to complete. Nothing beats a free lunch on the beach with Brianna!!! I love her!!

Swimming

Erianna's class has swimming lessons for the next two weeks. Pretty awesome. I think people worry so much about guns and animals when they let their children go to other people's houses, but they don't care about pools. Of the 16 kids in her class, about 5 would for sure drown if they fell in a pool, 7 are ok, and 4 can swim! SCARY!!!!!

Ice!

Sugar and Ice are best friends, and possibly more, but they get into these weird fights, and Ice won't go in the back yard with her. He runs to the front door, and insists on going out there to pee. It drives me nuts, and I normally drag him to the back door, but this is Eric, giving him his way!

Capone

Went to my very close friend's daughter's communion party today, and of course I had to take tons of pictures. Well, I could not stop taking pictures of their new puppy! Isn't he the cutest!??!?! LOVE him!!!

New shoes..new jeans....

Can this child stop growing? She is getting HUGE!

Mom, can we keep it?

The awesome part of being a mom probably isn't this part. The part about every animal becoming a pet. We have had five dogs, five iguanas, two bearded dragons who has about 50 babies, fish, snails, tadpoles, frogs, parrots, fish, fish and more fish. So, what do we still continue to do? GIVE IN. Austin is obsessed with finding frogs (toads) in the garden, so today 4/9 we got two frogs from the pet store that we can keep in our over crowded tank. When will I learn to say NO?!

Mom, can we keep it?

The awesome part of being a mom probably isn't this part. The part about every animal becoming a pet. We have had five dogs, five iguanas, two bearded dragons who has about 50 babies, fish, snails, tadpoles, frogs, parrots, fish, fish and more fish. So, what do we still continue to do? GIVE IN. Austin is obsessed with finding frogs (toads) in the garden, so today 4/9 we got two frogs from the pet store that we can keep in our over crowded tank. When will I learn to say NO?!

Bite and Run!

I'm afraid it's just another bite and run accident... I was dreaming this up for weeks, after I saw this post: http://365project.org/mhensley/365/2011-03-12

I finally remembered to buy the chocolate bunnies last night... Do you have any clue how hard this was to do with my son watching? MOM..MOM.. Can I have one? No fair, you have three. What are you doing with my police car? What are you doing with the green slime? Can I play with it? YIKES! At least it's done! Enjoy!!!

Lame, I know....

Feeling like crap, didn't want to take any pics, but did want o show you my amazing new camera bag! I love it! This is my fourth bag, and I think I have found a winner. Great buy at $42 on Amazon! :) LOVE it!!

Baby Yoga!

Livi is slightly obsessed with Yoga already at the age of 14 months old. You can always catch her doing random positions and holding them for a couple seconds. She was driving me nuts though, I don't mind her doing things like this on the grass, but not a fan of baby yoga on concrete!

No Mom!!

Mom, I am not in the mood for photos. I am doing my home work, leave me alone!!

Great Day!

A great day today full of adventures... And then they crashed on the way home, and now they are awake bickering back and forth! yikes! Went to the beach with my family and then back to my dad's for dinner. I didn't bring the big camera, couldn't be bothered with the extra weight today, and super paranoid of sand getting in/on it!

Blah!

Fridays just aren't my day for picking up the camera. My dreaded day of the week. A LONG DAY... Sorry for the lame picture! That is my perfect uniform for work, any thing less and you can possibly be sent home. I have to use Staflo to starch my clothes. Any clue how uncomfortable I am all night?