Photography, yay!

So I've found out the cost to technically start business is less than a 100, but once you add in the website it goes over. Still not bad, and I'm hoping by the end of the year it'll be done! This month I have a family shoot, a model workshop, and a small wedding! Seems to be catching on which is cool, but could be a fluke too. Right now I'm going by word of mouth until I get up and running on the web and start formal advertising. Should be fun :)

Another weekend gone and it's almost October??

Wow, time is really getting away from me. I'll be breif because I want to be :) Chuck is back to starting at 4am, much better than midnight! So now we'll see him in the evenings for dinner as a family. He'll still need to go to bed by 8 or 9 at the latest, but at least he's got a few hours with all of us. That's nice..

Raegan has some form of a cold, seems like Logan only had a touch of it so lets hope it stays that way. She's moved into the nasty hacking cough now, but otherwise she's alright. My dad has it now, and Chuck had it for about a day and a half. My throat has been off and on achy, but I'm hoping to get through it without any issues. Only time will tell.

The third week of ballerina school went ok. Raegan has been very 'punchy' lately and is really getting a bit mouthy. I don't know what's gotten into her, but she's not her usual sweet self as much latley. Struggling to figure out her 'place' I guess. She didn't 'behave' as well as she should've for rehearsals, but did well in the class. I'm sure she'll get it, but it's hard for me to watch and know she's going to 'get in trouble' if she doesn't tone it down and pay attention. It's so unlike her, but I guess she's entitled to be 'off' at times. I just hope she kicks it soon.

Logan is a little more crazy than normal too, but nothing like her. He's adjusting well to school for the most part and seems to be listening better so that's good. He likes to go and doesn't seem as negative in terms of "I can't do it". So, some progress there I suppose!

We are down to one work week left before I much awaited family vacation. We are going to Disney for 7 days, 6 nights (not all days at the park) and while it isn't ideally what we 'wanted' to do, it'll still be fun, and it will be nice to get away from everything for a week!!

Pixie has her follow-up appointment today at the vet for her spay, she seems to be doing very well, so I'm expecting a good report. Heaven help me I hope that dog can have a bath! She is absolutely rancid! LOL.

Well, it's almost lunch time so I'm out!

Pretty tiring weekend!

Friday night we went for our usual pizza, then ice cream, and then we spent the remainder of the evening hanging out with some of our neighbors. It was fun, but it was almost 11 before they went to bed, so Saturday made for a few tired kiddos.
Saturday we had ballet, 10 am and 1:30-2:30 for rehearsal. She's still loving it and we're considering giving her a few private lessons to help her get her skills in order. She would probably really love that!
We've decided to hold off on putting Logan into anything for now I guess. We'll wait until after the holidays and let him have just school to adjust too. He seems fine with that idea!
Saturday night we had some friends over for a nice steak dinner and some fun hanging out and drinking...and staying up WAY too late (again...3:30-4am). Chuck let me sleep til whenever on Saturday morning and I felt good rest-wise but like hell from drinking too much. I wasn't really functional until about 2pm. The kids were great though, laid and watched tv with me, we played candyland..etc. Nice and easy. They rock. Then Sunday night after daddy went to bed (6pm to get up at 11), we went to Gramma and Poppa's for dinner. The kids played and we watched "What happens in Vegas". It was cute!
This morning Pixie was dropped off to get spayed. Poor muffin-cake. I'll pick her up after work today and I'll try and clean up the house this evening and do a few loads of laundry to keep up so I don't have to deal with it on the weekend as much. So, I guess that is that!

Trying to not fall behind

Quick summary! I don't want to burn out typing, so I figure if I keep it short I'll be more likely to come back, right?

• Raegan LOVES ballet. She started last Saturday and is in The Nutcracker on November 29th as a mouse and an angel. It's expensive to start, but I believe will be well worth it in the long run.

• Both kidlets tried Tae Kwon Do (was more for Logan, but she wanted in on it). Logan didn't like it, she liked it ok, but we've decided against it since it was mostly for him anyways. I guess we'll find something he'll like after the holidays...maybe soccer or gymnastis. School seems to be sufficient as an activity to him, he's still getting used to it. We'll slow down a bit, let him get into the school groove, and then re-visit activities for him.


• Chuck's schedule is still starting at midnight. We've been having lunch together every day so we can at least see each other, and then he heads out to see the kids for an hour or so. It's rough, and there's little to no weekday 'couple time' if you know what I mean, and that sucks too. We're making it through, but it's definately not a 'choice' schedule.


• Pixie the puppy gets spayed on Monday. She's about 5 months old and 5 lbs. She's pretty funny and awesome and overall a pretty darn good puppy. She's pretty much potty trained, although she doesn't bark to go outside if you remember to let her out every few hours she doesn't have accidents. She's a crate dog, and she does great with that too.


• The house is coming along, we are wanting to do more and more to it, but don't want to get carried away because we're still contemplating moving in the next year - two years. We want to improve it, but we don't want to break the bank doing it. We do love it though (minus the well water).

Put a few shots from Raegans ballet class in too :)

Ugh!

I'm having an ugh sort of day today. I'm just getting more and more annoyed that I come to work to sit on my butt and do nothing...and not see my kids while I do it. I'm seriously counting minutes until I can leave.

Anyhow, on from that. They seem to be adjusting well to school and the teacher has gotten better about communicating whats going on. I have a few more questions for her, but I'll get to them...nothing super pressing. Raegan is doing well, the teacher has to drum up new things for her to do to keep her going. Logan gets frustrated about writing, holding his pencil, etc. but he's getting better. He needs constant encouragement because more often than not he's telling me he 'can't' do it. He's a smart little dude, he just takes a little longer for certain things to 'click'. That's fine, it's just a different approach. The one concern of mine is the teachers husband. They also run a daycare and he pretty much deals with the little ones while she works with 4 year olds. Well, he's not exactly a 'charmer' and is the mean one. Logan is always telling me that he doesn't like the guy and that he puts him in time out. He tells me why he's in time out and I've agreed with it every time so it's ok. Well, yesterday he said the guy held his hands and put them in his lap "hard" and it was mean. Now that bothers me, so I'm going to have to watch this biz. He doesn't need to be forceful with the kids. Put them in timeout, but i'm not thinking grabbing their hands/shoulders or whatever is a good thing. Chats to come about that shiz.

Saturday morning at 10 Raegan has her first ballet class. Then at 1 she 'auditions' for the Nutcracker. I'm guessing the audition is to see how quickly she can catch on and follow instructions. She'll do well, I just know it. It's going to be a surprise, so I know she'll be excited. I'm leaving it up to Logan if he wants to do ballet or karate, we'll check out either he chooses. So, that information is yet to come! Should be fun though. They'll love having the activity that's for sure.

Well, I guess I should go back to doing absolutely nothing while looking busy. Yippee.

Another weekend gone and we are steadily rolling through September...I just can't believe how quickly time flies by anymore. It started picking up speed after the birth of the kids, I was amazed then how quickly days went by and how fast their little faces changed. Now it's nearly blinding...just bought Raegan some size 5 shirts and Logan is in a boys size 6...no more baby clothes for him...she can still range from 4T-5/6 girls, so I have a little more variety for her (and it's a little cheaper on the 'T' side of things). I just look at them now and see little boy/girl, not baby. How bittersweet that the time should go so quickly. In a flash I'll be sending them middle school...then high school. Wow.
So, not a lot going on really...we made it through the first week of midnight shifts and we all pretty much hate it. Oh well. I'm geared up for another stressful week that'll fly into a weekend that in turn flies by. I hate that. We had a fairly nice weekend I guess, not really any major happenings. We attempted to go shopping Saturday and that was foiled by a tired little girl, and then Saturday night we hung out with our friends again (that also have a 4 year old) and stayed up far too late, once again rendering Sunday a useless sort of slug day. I really can't keep that business up, staying up til 4 or 5 and getting up at 8...not workin' out so good for me physically...guess I'm not 20 anymore.
This Friday we were supposed to meet up with a friend with twins for Mickey's not-so-scary halloween, but it's looking bleak actually. I would've loved to go, but I think we'll be better off saving that money towards our own vacation in October. I really can't wait.
Today's plan, work as usual...try and get an impressive amount of things done. I have to get out some thank you cards!! I need to go grocery shopping and clean at least my bathroom that is really gross (to me anyways), and somehow fit in an eye dr. appt at 5pm, time with the kids, and have them clean and to bed by 8pm. Not a lot of time there...ugh. Well, I guess I better get the ball rolling here at work.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

So, Labor day weekend! Thankfully it was 3 lovely days long :) Friday night the kids and I met my friend Jamie and her 4 year old girl, Emily, for pizza! It was tasty (as usual) and afterwards we went home and just chilled.
Saturday morning at 10 Pixie had another appointment to get some more puppy shots and get her spay scheduled (it's sometime this month...I think the 25th. We got to Petsmart (where her vet is) and I looked over at the kids when we got to the coutner (back of the store) and Logan had plopped himself on the floor in the middle of the store and was a terrible shade of white (absolutely zero pink in his lips). I was like, "Whoa! Are you okay, bud?" He just sat there with this blank stare looking at me without knowing what to say. So I put the pooch down, handed the leash to Raegan, and picked him up. We got back in the room (they were fast) and they took her out to trim her nails and give her shots and he proceeded to throw up in the sink in the exam room. Yikes! So we left, got half way home and he threw up ALL over himself, his seat, and a little on the seat under his carseat. So I had to strip the poor thing down to his undies, take is carseat out and put it in the back of the van, put a towel down on the seat and put him in it so he didn't have to ride home in vomit. Luckily I had a small packet of wet wipes that I used to clean him up. We stopped at my moms house, washed the carseat, his clothes, and cleaned the van. Everything is back to normal now and he was totally back to himself by 1pm in the same day. He ate 3 helpings of everything at dinner that night! Nothing funky with Raegan yet, so knock on wood it was a fluke! We did nothing Saturday to make sure he was back to good!
Sunday I had a photo shoot for a baby's dedication. I got home from that at about 1. Took the kids to eat at Boston Market, went to the park with them, came home, cleaned the kitchen, had pizza and booze with some friends, hung out, and stayed up WAY too late...again (4am), got up at about 8:30, went to breakfast with everyone at 10, cruised A1A in the Jeep, went to the mall, had some Subway, bought a couple books, went home so Chuck could go to bed. I had some yummo Ramen noodles, Raegan had Cocoa Puffs, and Logan had mac n cheese (and then cocoa puffs). What a dinner!
A shizzy new schedule. Chuck is back to working midnight-whenever and it sucks. We were in a pretty good routine with the kids starting school, dinner, gym, etc....now it's a little screwy and we have to work out some sort of schedule to get it right. He thinks its "probably" temporary (maybe a month or so) and then he'll have normal hours once they get that shift in order. It's not cool, but we'll get through it as best we can.
The kids' school was closed Thursday through Monday and sure enough Monday night when I was getting my loves to bed, Logan's apprehension kicked back in. It took me an hour to get him to stay in bed and relax. He was asleep by 8:30 or 8:40 so still not bad, but he was set that he did not want to go back to school today. So, my mom dropped him off and said he did just fine. No tears or hesitation, he just needed to get there and remember that it's still ok. I need to devise some sort of 'plan' to get more involved from the sidelines. I don't pick up or drop off the kids so I don't have interaction with the teacher. I will have to see if she'd be willing to e-mail me what they are doing/learning, what their snack for that day was, if there were time outs or any behavior problems, what they like to do at school, etc. Gives me a path to discuss what they've done with them. They aren't so great at remembering, so the best way for me to engage conversation is to have some sort of guideline. So, I'm working that one out...
Enough for now.