Picture post

I had a long, ranty post in my head about things that are bothering me lately, but I don't want to put that out in the world. So I decided this will be a post full of pictures from the last month (so basically just pictures of my kids.) Did I mention that the girls are at summer camp this week which means I have 4 hours of freedom for 3 days this week? It is wonderful. They have fun, and I have fun. It is win win.

Hannah's last day of school

Visited the mouse

She's cool and she knows it (my niece is on the right)

Meeghan did not like it when I woke her from her nap

Hannah's birthday party

We took a girls day trip to Disney 

And they are gone

My mother-in-law has been here for the last two weeks with my niece. It has been interesting watching two very different 5 year olds interact. I do not have a relationship with my sister-in-law, but I feel like I should send her a bottle of wine. Her kid is a handful. Let's just say, she didn't like the rules of my house and told me she doesn't like me. (I do have a lot of rules, but it helps keep the sanity with two kids around.) They left this morning, and it is amazing how quiet the house is even with my girls still here. E also left yesterday morning for a DET. It is only for a few weeks, but Meeghan doesn't understand yet so it is has been hard listening to her ask for daddy. She scraped her knee, and really wanted to show daddy. I told her I would have to take a picture and send it to him since it would be gone by the time he was home. The upcoming a deployment is going to be hard for that little girl.

I still haven't looked through my pictures from the last two weeks. Hopefully I can do that soon. Between playing hostess and student, I haven't had much time on a computer.

Summer vacation

Summer has started for Hannah, and ironically I am still in school. Her last day of pre-k was Friday, and we promptly left for Disney after her program. It has been a crazy 5 days.

Disney was hot and crowded which is to be expected for the end of May. However, E and I snuck out to Hollywood Studios Friday night after the girls were in bed, and we waited maybe 2 minutes for Toy Story Mania. There was no line! It was awesome. My mother-in-law and niece are visiting as well. It was Tiana's first time since she was 1 to visit Disney, and she didn't really seem impressed. Nothing made her happy, and all she wanted was a stupid sucker. Meeghan called it an early night on Saturday because she is terrified of public restrooms, and refused to go in a diaper. Her fear is making it difficult to go anywhere. Despite some issues, I had fun and my girls had fun. I have a ton of pictures, but I haven't even looked at them yet.

Since we have been home it has been constant go, go, go. Laundry, school, party planning, babysitting. I watched one of Hannah's classmates Monday so I had three 5 year olds, and a 2 year old. The classmate and Tiana ended up shutting Hannah out, and it really hurt her feelings. It was her first taste of mean girls. I cried a bit knowing it wouldn't be the last time.

It has been interesting having another child here for an extended amount of time. Especially one that is parented completely different than mine. The relationship between E and his sister is strained so we never see our niece. His sister has very different ideals than him, and so they take a different approaches to life. The way she parents is very different, and the stuff I have been able to get out of Tiana makes me sad. I have been asking questions to get an idea of what life is like at home for her. She spends a lot of time in her room. She doesn't play games with her parents. She is an only child, and she struggles with playing with other kids. She hasn't been in day care or school much. She doesn't know her alphabet, can't count to 20, she can't spell her name, or read and write. She is behind her peers for starting kindergarten, and it makes my heart hurt. I have tried some homeschooling with her while she is here to help her a bit, but I have no clue how much her parents will do with her. Plus, she is kind of mean, and full of attitude. I know a lot of kids have an attitude, but hers is nasty. Like I said, it has been interesting.

Hello?

I have been absent around these parts. Honestly, when I get a chance to write I usually pass. Typically I only have the evening to write, and I have been studying or cleaning most nights.

Tonight is my third class of the semester. It is harder than I imagined. We have tests every week, and we have to draw blood every week as well. Tonight's test subject has been kicking my ass. Hopefully I have retained enough of the material to make an educated guess on the test.

This is Hannah's last week of school. My mother-in-law decided to come for Hannah's "graduation" Friday. She is also bringing my niece who is just a few months older than Hannah. I haven't seen her in 2 years. Some how it was decided we would go to Disney this weekend for a fun family getaway. It is a surprise for my niece, and my girls are happy we are staying at a hotel. Since we usually just go for the day, we never get to see Disney at night. That means this week is a bit crazy, but it will be worth it. Of course, I developed a sore throat yesterday, and I still have it today. I told my body to suck it up because I don't have time to be sick.

Blank

When I have a chance to sit at a computer, I usually do boring stuff like pay bills or arrange schedules. I will open a new post page, but it sits blank for days. The words don't come to me when I have the chance. Although, I do write great blog posts in my head.  

School starts next week. I am pretty nervous. I have trouble in social situations so walking into a classroom where I am sure I will be the oldest student makes me anxious. I am excited to learn about phlebotomy though. At least this skill can provide a job if I don't make it through the program.

Hannah only has 4 weeks of school left, and I am terrified about how to entertain her during the summer. I enrolled her in summer camp, vacation bible school, and she will be in swim lessons. I hope that keeps us busy enough. I am also considering setting up a homeschool session with her because she always wants to learn. Meeghan will also be going to summer camp so I will have 3 half days that are childless. I don't know what I will do with my time!

We canceled our cable a few weeks ago. The girls are taking it harder than the adults. We used to be able to watch different episodes on the Disney Junior app, and now we can't. Meeghan doesn't understand why she can't. I found some new puzzles, though, which Meeghan loves so she doesn't miss tv too much.

Other than that, things around here are the same.

Potty training

I am so over potty training. Meeghan was doing awesome, and now she has regressed. We went to Disney at the beginning of March, and we let her wear underwear. She only had one accident the entire weekend. I was so happy! We went to Magic Kingdom on Sunday, and she had two accidents within an hour. She is terrified of public bathrooms suddenly. She used to ask to go in them constantly. Now she screams if we even try to take her in one. I have started taking her little training potty in the car anytime we leave the house. At home, she does great. She even woke up during the night to tell me she had to go potty. It is when we leave the house that we have a problem. On Sunday, we finally put a diaper on her which is not helping her, but I was out of spare clothes. The other issue is she won't poop in a toilet. She will do it in her underwear, or wait until she is wearing her bedtime diaper. I am hoping a bit of time will solve these problems, but the kid is so darn stubborn I am not sure how long to wait.

Catching Up

Life lately has been consumed with trying to get into school, and keeping my kids entertained. I have been going round and round with a college here about assessment tests. They are used to determine your math and English placement. I have already taken those courses, and my academic adviser only has me taking program specific courses. They claim that I don't qualify for an exemption based on some Florida bill, but I found two passages on their own website that states students with bachelor's degrees can be exempt from these tests. Every time I call I am directed to a different department, but I think they all read the same sheet. I even directed one lady to the website, but conveniently her computer crashed so she couldn't see it. The summer class I need to take starts May 6. I have a month to sort through this mess. It gives me such a headache. I am tempted to take the tests anyway just to have this mess over, but that would mean 3 hours of testing for me and at least 4 hours of day care for my kids. If I can avoid that, I will.

The bright spot of the weekend was running a 10K on base. I set a new PR! I have been running with E to increase my sustained pace. Unfortunately we were only running 3 miles so I wasn't sure how I would do doubling the distance. I knew I could run for the time I wanted because I have done it a few times during training runs, but I have never done it in a race. I struggle mentally in races. I decided to use positive mantras during the race, and tell myself that I was capable. It worked. The race is timed, but they only have gun time and not a separate chip time. If you go by my watch (which would equal chip time) I set the new PR by over 2 minutes! It took me 25 seconds to cross the start line so my official time shows a PR of a minute and a half. It isn't a huge drop in time, but my old PR was set in November 2013. It was time for the record to fall. Plus it was a warm day which made the race more difficult. E pushed the girls in the double stroller, and still finished minutes ahead of me!

We don't really celebrate Easter, but the girls did dye eggs. Here is a picture of them before we started:  

I hope everyone had a great weekend!