A bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils

Yes I am that stereotype!

I love my summers and could bask in the sun all year round. I'm not a big fan of fall, don't get me wrong it is beautiful, but I love my summers!!!! (I think that's why God gave me fall babies! Something to look forward to.)

That being said. I LOVE back to school shopping. Might be the little kid in me getting super excited to get my letter from the school letting me know who my new teacher would be accompanied by the list of supplies I'd need!  I love it.

When my Liam started Kindergarten "WOW" Chris was worried I was gonna buy anything school related I could get my hands on. And worse then that, I was starting my last semester of college that same time! So yes I went CRAZY!!!! 

One major plus I have is that Liam is at a private catholic school. That means clothes are limited to uniforms. (Which can totally add up, but I love the used sale before school starts. So far I've bought 2 pair of pants new. Everything else is used). So as much as I might want to buy school clothes, I don't. 

Regardless my love is in the notebooks, crayons, markers and planners! 

Once again my budget loves our catholic school. At their school they try to keep things very focused and avoid distractions as much as possible.

Which means

-yellow #2 pencils

-simple blunt tip scissors 

-24 pack crayola crayons

-12 pack crayola colored pencils 

-2 plain folders

-4 wide ruled notebooks (blue, green, red, yellow)

-plastic 5x7 pencil box

For this school supplied crazy mom!! I can't take it I must have MORE!!!!

However I know that the school is doing the right thing. 

I love that the kids get to pick their own backpack, and lunch box! 

This year Liam has a mindcraft backpack coming in the mail (back ordered put it back 2 weeks, so he gets his last 2 year one for the first day) and I got 2 lunch boxes! Paw patrol and r2d2!!!

As I look over our summer I feel blessed beyond belief for the fun and life we have!!!

Here goes another year!!! Yeah!!! 2015-2016

Domestic?

I've said it before and I'll say it a million more times. I'm not a sahm in not a homemaker, but I do what I can!

I'm started THIS on Saturday so i'm trying my best to get things OUT of my house.

I had originally signed up for it when I thought I would be down with my test..... However that is not the case.  However NO EXCUSE!!

For the past 2 days I have cleaned out from the boys room.  I REALLY want to get onto decorating the boys room. (however that must wait until after I pass my test). But I thought it would be a good place to start.  And even more with the fact that Liam starts school in about a week, we will be all ready for that too! 

My amazing sister in law is pregnant with their first little one! And she is having a girl!!!

With that in the back of my mind I have been working on boy bedroom ideas! My goal is by their birthdays (sept and oct) I'll get working on their room as make it perfect! 

What are you thoughts?

Working with a struggling reader!

I hated learning to read. I don't even really remember even having a basic understanding of reading until I was about 9-10 (2nd or 3rd grade).

Now no real shock my Liam doesn't want to learn to read. He is amazing and has phonics down to an art! But he still doesn't want to read.

After my test on Saturday he and I had an amazing discussion about reading, he asked me why I didn't pass my test. I tried to think of how to explain it to a 7 year old, and came up with. "You know how you don't like to read because it is hard. Well mommy thinks it is hard too."

Wow!!! Never thought that phrase would stop my son dead in his tracks.  I see his precious little eyes in my rear view mirror and the confusion on his face. We talked about comprehension and how learning to read is more then just the words on the page, it is a lot more.  He was floored. He said something like "you don't like to read either, and it's hard for you?"

Who would have thought that me failing a test was exactly what I needed to help him read.

I wish I could say after that he is all ready to push through and read, but nope it is still a battle.
However, with the help of friends family and the world of PINTEREST here are a few ideas that we are working on.

-When reading his simple school books, we would switch off pages and then I would ask questions of him at the end to make sure he is retaining topics discussed.

-Now we are reading chapter books so we stared with ch 1, he would read the first line and I read the page, then ch 2 moved on to another line, now we are to 1 paragraph for every 2 pages.

-Read 100 Easy books! -This one is from my paternal grandmother, as a mother to a extremely dyslexic child (who is my daddy and the smartest most amazing reader on the planet) and a school teacher for her entire career

-Never forgetting to go over comprehension

-Mix it up, read with mom, dad, and sometimes read to brother!

-NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE UP!!! And motivate like crazy!

-As a parent know that it isn't easy for any of us! We are all in this amazing journey together

What have you done as a parent, friend, family member, teacher to help struggling readers? 

When life doesn't go your way!

I was hoping to be back to my post a day blogging this week, however that's not the case!

I work in the finance industry and took my series 66 (investment adviser) exam yesterday.... That's why I haven't been posting, and well..... I didn't pass. I was at first completely devastated and wanted to curl up in a ball and cry! So I did! For a bit then wiped myself off and got back up! Thanks to an amazing husband, friends, sushi and the best boys in the world! I'm up and ready to face the world!

There is a very high chance they will allow me to take the test again in 30 days.. So I'm back to re reading the study material. But I'm gonna try to blog, be mommy, clean house and be the wife my hubby deserves! I've been all me me me and Mia at home. Now time to try and do it all!!

Regardless of all the stress and studying. I do have some amazing memories from the last 3 weeks!!!

Ewan thought "sir reads a lot" should help me story!

Studying while watching Elmo!

Break time to get the boys buil a bear. Chewie for Ewan and toothless for Liam

Floating the river on our family summer vacation! (Of which my books got more attention then anything else!)

And as always!! Letting the boys drive!!!

-FYI there are no keys and the car is parked safely in the garage!-

My Little Golfers!

When Liam was born we had won FREE CABLE for a YEAR!! Chris lived for watching golf.  Liam quickly adopted this obsession.  And for his first Easter the Easter bunny brought my little boy plastic golf clubs.  Soon after he was so good with those Santa Clause decided to bring him real clubs for Christmas.  Each year as Liam grows he goes a few times with daddy and gets better and better.

When he started Kindergarten when asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" his response "A race car and a golfer!"

This year we decided to start him in golf lessons.  It was time for him to learn from more then just dad, and to see if he really is passionate about the sport. 

He did one week of classes and they were amazing. We did decide to buy him new golf clubs as well. He has out grown his and since he is now old enough to OFFICIALLY go with daddy. He needs the appropriate tools! 

Such a proud mom of my little man!     

My new normal!

I am very proud to announce that I got a promotion at my day job!! That being said  I have a new licensing exam coming up in a few weeks. Sadly that means that any moment I'm not at work will be spent with this in hand!!! 

I will try to post a few things here or there, but no promises!! I love you all and hope you understand!!!

Lots of Love!!!

Mommy at daycare

I I say often that I love being a working mom, which is true.  But there are days like today that I wish I was home loving on my boys!!

Last Wednesday my Liam had a field trip to the City. I decided since he was so close to my work I would join him.
We went to the planetarium.  It was an amazing experience. My daddy always has loved the stars. He took me to star parties growing up, and one year Santa clause brought me a telescope.

I loved getting a day with my little man! However it did make me a bit sad my boys spend all day apart at daycare!

One of the sweet little girls sad. "You should buy a job here, and play with us everyday!" Made my heart melt!

Thank you to all the amazing stay at home moms who do all that running around! Thank you to all the dads that work their tails off to have their wife's home with kids. And the biggest thank you to amazing daycare that allows me and my husband to love our work and be a stay at home parents (on nights and weekends!)!

Such a blessing 

THANK YOU!!!!

Today he came back to another place just by my work again and I got to play to my hearts content.  I have an amazing boss that allowed me to take a long lunch to play mommy!!