Not Everyone's Mama

I received the new Scandle shimmering body lotion candle (first ever of it’s kind!) to try.  I had heard of Scandle many many times and I was really interested in trying it out.

When it got here, I opened it up and immediately was taken to a hot summer day as a teen, laying out, covered in tanning oil, it smelled so good.  Just this tropical coconut wonderfully intoxicating smell.  I kept opening it and smelling it.  My kids kept asking to smell it. 

I was nervous when I lit it.  Would it really only be 2 degrees above my body temperature.  Promise?  It’s not going to burn me.  Instinctively, you’re nervous, I mean we’ve always been told not to play with candles, they are hot!  I poured some into my hand (after blowing out the flame) and didn’t get burned.  It was warm, but not too warm.  I immediately started rubbing it in.  It goes on smooth.  It feels luxurious.  And it does give your body this shimmer.  Not an obnoxious, I put on way too much body glitter shimmer, just a shimmer that is really pretty and makes you feel a little sexy.  (Moms, admit it, we still want to feel sexy.)

Now, I don’t know if they recommend this or not, but with how good it felt on my body, I was wondering how it would work on my face.  It’s supposed to deflect light to hide wrinkles and imperfections.  I really wanted to try it.  If you’ve read my blog awhile, you know I have the driest skin.  I can put night cream on my face under my make up and my face still feels dry AND my foundation always looks powdery and just not attractive to me.  I took the plunge.  Rubbed some onto my face.  I let it seep in a tad and then applied my make up as normal.

I’m not sure about the wrinkles, I really honestly don’t have many, but I feel they are so noticeable to me. Since I know where they are, I always see them.  I need to ask Pato if he can tell a difference.  I can say, my make up it was perfect. All night.  I would almost describe it as how celebrities skin looks when they have their make up done.  Almost a dewy radiant look.  After 2 years of trying different foundations, both liquid and mineral, after trying tons of different moisturizers, I have found something that gets rid of that powdery look I get when I put on my foundation.

Do you know how happy that makes me?

Even now, 7 hours after I first used the Scandle shimmering body lotion candle, my face still feels soft and moisturized.  My hands and body do too!

Love this!

Here’s a little video with some more information:

Something else awesome about the Scandle shimmering body lotion candle is that is made with 100% natural ingredients. 

Scandle LLC is committed to providing our customers with high-grade, spa quality, skin care products that are made with the industry’s most natural ingredients – no petroleums or mineral oils,100% Vegan, drug-free, & cruelty-free.

I don’t think it gets much better than that!  Wait it does!  After you get your original Scandle in their pretty ceramic canister, they make refills.  No throwing anything away.  Love it when companies have greener options for us!

I highly recommend the Scandle shimmering body lotion candle.  For those who have horribly dry skin like I do, this just might be the answer. 

Check out their other products too.  They have quite a few things to choose from and with their dedication to providing natural products that are cruelty free and green, they are a company that I want to do business with.  I really want to try their Pumpkin Pie Spice and Autumn Harvest scents.  They look like they smell delicious!

You can find Scandle –

on the web

on Facebook

on Twitter

I want to thank Scandle for sending me their first of it’s kind Scandle shimmering body lotion candle!  So scrumptious!

This Product Was a Free Giveaway

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I recently was sent the Libman Freedom Spray Mop.

Detachable, 18 oz. cleaning solution bottle allows you to use and refill any solution you choose. Machine washable, scratch-free, deep cleaning pad provides a greener clean while saving you money. Self-powered solution sprayer with comfort fit trigger eliminates the need for batteries while letting you control how much solution you spray onto your floor.

I have one word to describe this – GENIUS!  Seriously.  I have my big plug in floor scrubber, which I love, but when the floor isn’t too bad, I have always wished I had something simpler than getting out the mop and bucket.  I mean, if I’m going to go to that trouble, I’ll use the machine.

I won’t use the other brand that so many people use, you know the one with the bottle of cleaning solution and the throw away pads.  I tried it a couple of times and for some reason, my floor felt sticky after using it.  Plus, I use natural cleaners in the house because of the kids and the birds.  Birds respiratory systems are different than other animals and so many things are bad for them, harsh cleaners, air fresheners, smelly candles, etc.

Do you know how excited I was to see this?  You can fill the bottle with YOUR choice of solution.  Myself, I clean the kitchen floor with water and vinegar.  It doesn’t smell as nice as some cleaners, but it works just as well for what I need it to do.

Plus, no pads to have to keep buying!  Let’s face it.  With 4 kids (3 who are 6 and under), the kitchen floor gets messy all day long.  Do you know how often I was buying the pads when I used the other one?  A lot.  With this, the 2 microfiber cleaning pads are perfect!  One is washing while I’m using the other one.  I’ve been hand washing mine because I use it so much.  I have been filling it up with the vinegar and water each day and just using it as needed.

Even if I had to use my big machine, I would still pull this out.  My big one doesn’t have attachments, so I can’t get under the counters easily.  This slides right under the counter, right up against the table legs, under the fridge.  LOVE IT!

The trigger spray (no batteries! Another plus) reminds me of a bottle of cleaner you would use to clean your windows.  Squeeze the trigger, out sprays your cleaning solution.  And it’s not a little squirt, it’s a nice wide spray.

Here’s a little more about what you get from the Libman Freedom Spray Mop:

• Freedom to choose any cleaning solution you want to put in: Your favorite cleaner, plain water, environmentally friendly solution etc. Removable bottle for easy filling.
• Freedom from costly and wasteful disposable pads- reusable microfiber pad can be machine washed up to 50 times. Safe on all flooring surfaces.
• Freedom from batteries- trigger sprayer allows you to control how much liquid is coming out
  Just grab and go, no heavy messy buckets to lug around
• Quality manufactured in the USA (Arcola, IL) by a 4th generation family owned company.
• Sold fully assembled in the mop and broom section of your favorite store
• The Freedom Spray Mop will be available at retailers nationwide beginning August 2010 with a suggested retail price of $19.99 to $24.99.

Can you tell I love this?  Totally gets a HUMONGOUS

for being an awesome alternative to cleaning your floor, for being simple, for being cheaper, and thank you thank you for not needing batteries!  Do you know how often batteries disappear around our place?

So, you can see how excited I am.

Woot woot!  I’m telling you, when you try this, you will absolutely LOVE it!

Thank you to Mom Bloggers Club and Libman for providing me with a Libman Freedom Spray Mop to review!  Love love love love it!

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I think it just was.  Must be something in the water because my kids have done lost it.  Yesterday was a crazy day and in the evening it didn’t get much better. 

Last night nothing and I mean NOTHING could make Christiano or Alyce happy.  They were both whiny whiny whiny.  Did I mention they were whiny?

Katiana is always tired after school and she was snippy with the other 3.  She actually hit Jordan at one point.  I’m so tired of that.  She did it the day before too, he didn’t do what she wanted, so she came up and smacked him HARD on her his bare back. 

Alyce finally lost it when Katiana and Jordan were playing with bey blades and they wouldn’t let her play because “she always messes us up”.  I was on the phone with my friend Diane, who could not believe what she was hearing.  She’d never seen Alyce act the way she was acting and I haven’t seen it in a long time.  Tears, screaming, so out of control that she was having trouble catching her breath.  I got off the phone (obviously) and told Jordan and Kat that there was no reason why Alyce couldn’t play with them and if she was willing to calm down, she would play with them. 

Oh no.  That wasn’t acceptable anymore.  The world was against Alyce.

She laid down on the floor and started screaming – just screaming, no words.

I picked her up and put her in her bed and told her she was welcome to join us when her fit was over.  She laid in there screaming and crying for awhile and finally calmed down.

Then her and Christiano waited until the other 2 were asleep and I jumped in the shower to go destroy Katiana and Alyce’s nicely cleaned (by Kat) room and pull every toy out of Christiano’s toy box. 

So that was fun.

They picked up Christiano’s toy box and I sent them to bed.  They get to clean up the bedroom today.

This morning I went to get Kat and Jordan up for school and Jordan would not get up.  He finally climbed out of bed about 20 minutes after I started telling him to get up.

Then he wanders around the place in a daze.  I kept moving him towards the shower and he kept forgetting what he was supposed to be doing.  At 5 ‘til 8, I looked up exaxperated, JORDAN! GET IN THE SHOWER!

Gooooosh mom. 

Oh give me a break.

He got in the shower.

He actually managed to shower and dress in time for the bus, which leads me to believe he didn’t actually wash with soap in the shower.  Oh well.

He takes off out the door and Katiana is scrambling for her homework folder, which last night she had told me was already in her book bag.  I guess it wasn’t.

Can someone tell me how it got under the area rug in the living room?

She heads out to the bus stop.

Next thing I know she is back in crying. MOM!  Jordan went to the first bus stop and got on the bus!!! He didn’t wait for me.

He had crossed the parking lot and waited in front of the other apartments.  They do that a lot.  If they wait until our stop, I guess none of the “prime” seats are left because we are the last stop.

Katiana, that’s fine.  Just go out and wait with Tyler.  (The kid who lives upstairs.)

No.  Crocodile tears welling up in her eyes.

I got my shoes on and went out and waited with her.  She made this whiny noise the whole time we were out there, and she was hanging from my shirt, burying her face into my stomach.

Girlfriend, what are you going to do next year when Jordan moves up to the middle school and his bus comes earlier?  You’ll have to ride yours without him.  It’s not like you are riding alone.  Your just waiting at the bus stop without him.

It’s now 8:53.  I am determined that the little ones and I are going to have a good morning.  We are going to turn this nasty gloomy crap away and be cheerful and happy today.  Maybe we’ll go to a park.

Then tonight, for some reason, Katiana has a soccer game.  It’s at 6.  It’s The Vampire Diaries tonight at 7.  I could be pessimistic and say, I’m going to miss part of it!  Who in their right mind schedules a game when my show is on???

But, optimistic me is going to say, the game gets over around 6:50, it’s a short drive to the house, I should just miss a few minutes and life will be fine.

Here’s a little more sunshine to brighten a day that started out cloudy.

Christiano climbing one of the playground toys at Kat’s soccer practice Tuesday night.

Alyce – can you believe that beautiful face through a fit like she did?

Yes, I would walk off a cliff if Alyce did it first.

Christiano has to do everything Alyce does including going down the slide face first.  He chases her around saying, yeece!  yeece!.

Christiano

Leecey

Peek-a-boo mom!

Have a great day!

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I didn’t get to blog before I left this morning.

Pato informed me at midnight last night that he volunteered me to drive Omar (Pato’s best friend since childhood) to court this morning.  He had to be there at 8:30 to meet his lawyer first.

I got up at 6:15 because you can’t show up to court looking like a scrub…or at least I didn’t think you could.  Did my make up, did my hair, put together my best “I am a business woman” look, which isn’t easy when you haven’t worked out of the house in 6 years, and took off.  I stopped and got a cappuccino and hit the interstate.  Big mistake.  I sat in traffic at one exit for 15 minutes.  (This is Iowa, not New York.)  I called Pato and told him to turn on the news and see what was going on.  He didn’t see anything.  I said never mind and turned off my iPod and turned on 1040 WHO.  Turns out there was an accident 4 exits down the road (maybe 5 – 7 miles?) that had traffic back up to me.  I got off at the next exit that I literally could have walked faster to, and took another route.

No one told me that there was a detour on that road too.  Accident on the interstate, people trying to get to work on time, and a detour do not lead to a pretty commute to pick up Omar.  Omar called me and asked where I was.  Too far away for comfort.  I was starting to get stressed.  Finally made it around the detour and hit EVERY.SINGLE.RED.LIGHT on the way to pick him up. 

Somehow (my good planning, I’m sure), we were only 2 minutes late to meet his lawyer, and the lawyer actually wasn’t even there yet.  YAY me!

So we sat and sat and sat and sat and watched people make the judge mad. (Never ever a good thing to have happen before you’re up!)  If you follow me on Twitter, you know I was quite impressed with the range of court styles out there – even by the laywers.  Some looked like they actually took the time to roll out of bed before coming to work.

WTH?

You go to court, you dress to impress, you don’t go in looking like a slob.  At least brush your hair women, please?  I spent all that time worrying about my appearance, and I wasn’t even there for me.  I was worried about how my appearance would reflect on Omar, who Pato said wanted me there as a translator, but who I think really wanted moral support, and I’m better at that than Pato is.  Believe me.  I’ve lived with the man for 8 years.  I’ve heard, what do you want ME to do about it?  In response to a problem more times than I can count.

Omar’s there for driving without a license.  He had plea bargained before guilty.  After talking to a second lawyer about it, come to find out he would most likely be deported.  The law is the law is the law.  The new lawyer was making a motion to have his previous admission thrown out and the case retried because he hadn’t been informed of all the facts before he made his plea.

Oh the judge was not liking that.  (Neither was his previous lawyer.)  How do YOU know he wasn’t informed of all the facts.  He told me your honor.  But how do YOU KNOW?  Well, that’s why I am asking for an extension on this so that I can research the case.  I have only been on it since Friday.

She turned to Omar’s previous lawyer, do you feel he knew all of this before hand?

Lawyer – is attorney/client confidentiality waived in this case your honor?

Raised eye brows at the new lawyer.

New lawyer wanted to speak for old lawyer.

Sigh

They went off to the side where the new lawyer attempted to explain to the old lawyer that no, he was not incompetent, but that there had been a change to the law, and Omar had not been informed of this before hand.

On and on and on and on they went.

The judge came out.  Are you gentlemen ready yet?  Well, we are, but the translator left the building.

Banging my head on the pew in front of me

Raised eyebrows from the judge again.

She waited, and waited, and waited some more.

I kept checking my cell phone for the time.  I was running low on the 2 hours I put in the parking meter (in 3 inch heels, I wasn’t relishing running back down to fill it – why do I have 3 inch heels?).  I haven’t had a ticket in over 10 years and I’d rather not start today.

Finally she got tired of waiting for the translator and she gave the new lawyer an extension until October 11 to have the case completely ready.

Omar breathed a sigh of relief as we walked out and I passed him everything he had handed me “just in case” (wallet, house key, stack of money – that he wouldn’t let me keep – , book, cell phone, etc.).  He was prepared to go to jail.  He just didn’t want to be deported.

Dropped him off, boogied home.  Pato took me out to the Olive Garden (that was a condition of making me attempt to put my contacts in my screaming eyes at 6:15 in the morning – my eyes don’t like that).  Came home, put the baby to bed, attempted to take a nap, didn’t work.  Got up and am now blogging to you all about my exciting day.

Let’s not do that again for awhile.

Then I came home and for some reason checked my Twitter followers.  I always forget to do that.  Found out that my apartment was following me.  Blocked them.  If they happen to come across this blog post, sorry about that.  You all give me enough grief, I don’t need you receiving every tweet and blog update I make.  It’s my personal life, thanks!

I’m not even sure how you found me?  Did you search my email address on file at the office on Twitter? 

And no, I won’t like you on Facebook either.  I got the door hanger.  I don’t really like you period anymore.

Thanks for asking though! 

I have to end the Penguins of Madagascar giveaway tonight.  I am so sorry!  I just got an email that they need the winner by 9/30.  I’ll update the post to reflect that.

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Thank you to my dear husband who finally fixed my keyboard for me.  I can type now without hitting the space bar with a hammer and then having 300 spaces show up.  YAY!

I’ve got a few pictures from my niece’s 2nd birthday party on Saturday.  I would have more, but when I got there I realized my camera battery was almost dead.  I forgot to recharge it after Cambria’s birthday party. 

Seeing her pretty birthday cake.  I did not know they made cupcake birthday cakes.  Genius!  No spending 20 minutes cutting and passing out cake.  And no need to worry about the knife I always forget.  TONS of whipped frosting.  Yummy!

Opening presents.  This would have been such a neat family shot if that kid in the front would have kept his butt back.  I kept telling my kids to move back so that people taking pictures could get clear shots of Mikayla.  This kid didn’t take the hint and neither did his mom.  My sister had him move back a couple of times but he just kept scooting up on top of them. 

Because of that, I don’t have many pictures of Kayla opening presents.  He kept moving right in front of her and I couldn’t get a decent shot to save my life.

Josh and Cambria – taking off her socks.

Kayla was so cute.  She got a baby and a stroller and a set of doll bunk beds (among other things).  Once the baby was opened she didn’t care about anything else.  She would carry the baby around and kiss the baby, tell the baby everything was ok, tickle tickle tickle the baby.  I adore her.  She’s so cute!

I got irritated at another point during the party.  Kayla had her baby and another little girl came up and took it from her.  Kayla was so upset.  She wanted her baby.  I don’t know about you guys, but in our house we have a real.  You don’t have to share your birthday presents on your birthday.  They are brand new to you, I don’t expect my kids to share them with their siblings that day. 

So, this girl ripped Mikayla’s baby out of her arms and Kayla is begging for it back, tears are brewing.  I look around, my sister was in the kitchen with the cake.  The girl’s mom is right there behind the kids.  Does she step in and say, no honey, give the baby back to Kayla?  No.  I went over and asked the girl to please give the doll back to Kayla.  She turned away from me.  So, I gently removed the baby from this girl’s arms and handed it back to Kayla.  The girl started crying.  I ran and found another baby.  No, that baby wasn’t good enough, she wanted Kayla’s new baby.  Her mom finally noticed what was going on.  No honey that’s Kayla’s new baby. 

Does it drive anyone else nuts when parents don’t pay any attention to what their kids are doing at all?  I have 4 and I try to keep my eyes on all of them at all times to make sure they aren’t doing anything to another kid.  Christiano wanted Kayla’s stoller, he loves strollers, regular strollers, doll strollers, he just loves to push them.  Sorry dude, when Kayla wants to play with her new stroller, she’s going to.  He kept watching for her to abandon it, but even he wouldn’t take her stuff from her.  And he’s only 19 months.

I’m not a perfect parent, far from it, if you’ve read any of my posts ranting about my kids not listening to me at home, you know that.  But, I am happy that for the most part, outside of the house, they are kind, courteous, and respectful of other people.  It’s rare my children have a meltdown at a store or in a restaurant.  I think it’s because I have enforced the rule that if someone isn’t behaving that we will leave.  And we’ve done it.  I won’t subject other people to my children’s bad behavior.  If we are at someone’s house and my children aren’t behaving, we leave or they get to have some time alone.  Ripping toys out of someone’s hands will not be tolerated, not at home, not at someone else’s house.  I don’t care how old my kid is.  Even Christiano, with how young he is, has been made to give something back to one of his sisters when he goes up and just takes it out of their hands.  It’s rude and you don’t do it.  If he was allowed to do it at this age, without someone teaching him that that is not right, it’s going to be harder to stop that bad behavior when he gets older.  No excuses at our house that he is just a baby.

On to other things.  The pest inspection was had and it’s over.  I asked them not to spray without mentioning the birds.  I told them that we have 2 asthmatics in our house, which is the truth.  I have asthma and when Kat has trouble breathing, she has a nebulizer that we use.  We haven’t had to use it in awhile thank goodness, but it’s there for when she needs it (usually when she is sick).  They said they would only spray if there was a problem.

I came home from my mom’s yesterday and there was a note that they were here and they didn’t spray for anything.

Glad that’s over.

Now we just have 2 more inspections before winter hits.  One when they put the air conditioner covers back on and one when the manager comes back over 90 days after the last one where she inspected because maintenance had run and tattled when I was incredibly sick and couldn’t get out of bed.  My kitchen was trashed when they came over (including Christiano dumping bird food all over the floor right before they knocked). 

I thought I’d share a few Artscow promotions that I have gotten recently.

900 photo prints – COUPON CODE – SEP10PRTS – expires – 9/30/10

Christmas hamper includes:

Retailing for excess of $100, the gift set includes various male-orientated items such as a flip top lighter, twin-sided necktie, business card holder and a cigarette/money metal case. To compliment these accessories, we have also thrown in a full print apron, a set of men’s flip flops, CD wallet, customizable notebook and a couple of 12 and 18 months calendars for good measure.

COUPON CODE – EBSGIFTS – expires – 10/5/10

Personalized Dog Tags $1.99 + free shipping – COUPON CODE – 2BUCKTAGS – Expires 10/5/10

8 coasters $4.99 + free shipping – COUPON CODE – LOVEDRINKS – Expires – 10/6/10

3 cosmetic bags $8.99 + free shipping – COUPON CODE – 3COSMETIC8 – Expires 10/2/10

The last 3 are check out coupons (the others you enter under credit & discount).

Love Artscow!  At Christmas time they really ramp up the coupon codes they send out. 

Have a great day!

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I am blogging from my phone to tell you why I haven’t blogged.  My “spill proof” keyboard was spilled on Friday night.  It still works yes, but the keys are stick.  When I type N you see nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.  All the keys do that.  Pato was supposed to take it apart and clean it for me but he keeps forgetting.  I just sent him a text that said I can’t blog, I can’t respond to emails, the house is clean, the kids are sleeping, I am staring at the walls.  Thanks for forgetting again.  He said he’l clean it tonight.  I’ll hopefully be back with pictures tomorrow!

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You know how much I love these!  They are coming up with creative ways to come into our apartments more and more!

Could they schedule these when they do the 2 other apartment inspections – when they take off the air conditioner covers and when they put them back on?  Could they schedule this when the city inspector is coming around to each and every apartment?  Could they schedule it for any of those other times when they come into our apartments? 

No.  They make it two more times a year that they are in our apartments.  That will be at least 5 times a year for inspections alone.  Not for any maintenance fixes that need done, just coming to inspect.

I think I’m all worked up because I also don’t like insecticides sprayed around where my children are.  Color it safe all you want, I don’t want it around my kids.  We have the occasional spider and a fly here and there because the kids are in and out of the sliding glass door, but I know we don’t have bed bugs (I’m a tad noid about them actually and I’ve looked for them) and I don’t appreciate strangers that I didn’t ask to come in telling me to strip down all of my beds or they will do it for me.

Now I have to take the birds to my sister in law on Saturday and pick them up on Wednesday.  Saturday and Wednesday because those are Pato’s days off and the only time I can get all the bird cages in the car without all the car seats.  Plus, it gives the apartment time to air out, but the word residual bothers me.  Will that just keep the bugs out?  After the initial spray it won’t bother my birds (or my kids)?

Like the time frame too?  Between 8 and 5.  I want my kids out of the apartment when they are spraying.  So, I need to make plans that involves coming back and picking them up from school and then leaving again because I don’t know what time they will be here.

Do I have any rights here to say I don’t want insecticides sprayed where my kids sleep?

I’m all for using hedge apples and natural things to keep spiders and other bugs out.  I use a fly strip and fly swatter when the kids have been coming in and out of the sliding glass door and leaving it open for minutes at a time.  I don’t spray anything in here like that.  I use natural cleaners, I don’t spray air fresheners.  Now even though I do all that stuff because I don’t want my kids (and birds) breathing in that gunk, now it gets forced on me. 

What would you guys do if it was you?

Besides move.

We’re working on that.  There’s two houses we are thinking about in our district and my ex-husband told me we really need to check the banks for foreclosures in this area.

But that takes time, it’s not going to happen by Monday.

(In their defense, I understand with the bed bug craze happening all over the place, I get it.  I understand it.  The little boogers are almost impossible to get rid of.  They have to be contained.  But, if I don’t have bed bugs, I should have a choice about whether they spray my apartment or not I think.)

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I cannot believe that child is 1 already!  She actually turned 1 last week, but we had her birthday party last night.  She is such a little doll baby!!!

I took 104 pictures yesterday, so I’m sure there are going to be tons in this post, but I really tried to edit it down to the best ones I took.  That was hard!

The glitter filled balloons that the kids had a blast popping.  Katiana loved it when the glitter hit her in the face and she was all sparkly.

What is that I see?  A Monchhichi?  I sounded like this in Target when I saw it Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel!  Pato actually turned the cart around to see what was wrong with me. This was one of my absolute favorite toys when I was a little girl.  My niece totally had to have one!  I’m getting one for my other niece for her birthday next Saturday, even though my sister doesn’t remember these and actually thinks they are a little creepy.  I think my girls need one too.  I found them on Amazon too.  Let’s all sing – Monchhichi Monchhichi.  Oh so soft and cuddly!

Alyce playing with balloons

My little nephew Carter – isn’t he a cutie? Those eyes are going to break hearts when he’s older.

My niece Taylor – she’s growing up to be such a beautiful girl!

Who is that I see?  The birthday girl!!!  Cambria and her mom Shelley.

I adored her little outfit!  Shelley got her the tutu, which came with the headband.  Then she bought the pink shirt and had someone embroider 1 and Cambria’s name on it.

My sister Abby and my cutie patootie little niece Mikayla – who might, just might be getting her Aunt Heather’s curls.  Her hair is curling up in the back at the bottom.  I’d be a proud Auntie.

Had to get a close up of the headband.

Daddy (my brother Josh) and Cambria.  Do you not love this picture?

My husband (Pato), who still makes my heart skip a beat.

Katiana, Cambria, and Josh opening presents.  Totally random picture.  I didn’t even ask Josh to look at me, just snapping away, this ended up being another favorite of mine.

Jordan was feeling down.  You know when your a preteen/teenager.  Who do you want to hang out with most?  Your other cousins of the same gender who are close to your age.  I understood both sides.  Jordan felt left out, but I remember being that age and I just wanted to hang out with my cousin Wendy, not the boys.

Christiano telling Pato a story about something.

Opening more presents, she was getting the hang of it.

Kayla looks so serious here.  Not sure what she was thinking about.

I’m telling you, it’s in his blood.  Child was born to play soccer.  He’s been kicking the ball since he could walk.

What’s that I see?  My brother Steve almost smiling for a picture?

Cake time!

I took tons more, but I’ll put those in another post.  I brought along some toys I had gotten to review so the kids could play.  I’ll get that up later.

We had a good time, all in all, except for Jordan.  He insisted on being depressed the whole party.  He just wanted to play with Taylor and Syndey.  (I noticed I’m missing pics of a few of the kids, it was hard to catch them, they kept running to the playground.)  We tried to get him involved with us, but he didn’t want to hang with the adults or the little kids.  It’s tough being the only boy that’s in that age group.

In other news, I will be taking my kids to school and picking them up for awhile.

Yesterday they came in the house, and the only word I can use is to say they were out of control excited, and not in a good way.

I don’t know what the kids were doing on the bus, but the bus driver got angry.  He hit a curb, then slammed on the brakes saying, this is how I treat the high schoolers (or something like that).  Some kids flew out of their seat.  Jordan hit his neck on the seat in front of him.  Katiana almost hit the floor, the little boy who lives above us did hit the floor.  He also made comments about how if he hit the brakes they’d meet his windshield at 35 mph (which, I have said to my kids when they take their seat belt off when I’m driving, but combined with the other, does not make me feel very good about putting my childrens’ safety in his hands.) 

I left a message with the principal after school and another after I talked to the head of the busses.  I didn’t feel to confident in her response.  She said that in his defense, he was driving a snub nose bus and it’s very easy to hit the curb in those.  I understand that, I have hit the curb myself a few times, but to combine hitting the curb, with slamming on the brakes, and the comment about the high schoolers leads me to believe that it was intentional and this is not the first time he’s done something like that.

I told her if the kids were acting up on the bus that the bus driver needed to pull the stinking bus over and wait for them to calm down.  Then he should have gone back to the barn after dropping them all off and started calling parents.  Not putting their safety in jeopardy like that.

She said she’d take care of it, but she’s told me that before and it’s come back to bite Jordan.  I don’t have a lot of faith in her, but I do have faith in the principal.  I am really hoping some action will be taken.  Kids could have been hurt yesterday, and honestly, I don’t know that no one wasn’t hurt.  Jordan said one kid said, he almost broke my nose.

I don’t know what that guy was thinking when he did that.  I don’t know where our district hires their bus drivers from anymore.  When I was in school, we LOVED the bus driver.  She was awesome.  The one we have now pulled what he did yesterday.  The one last year was actually good.  I liked him and so did the kids.  The one before that, she was HORRIBLE and mean.  And when I talked to the head of busses about some of the things she did on the bus she said she’d talk to her about them and not mention Jordan.  She mentioned Jordan. 

Then the bus driver called Jordan out in front of the entire bus and blamed him for her getting in trouble.

Excuse me?  How old are you?  Are you not an adult?  For real?  At the time Jordan was 9.  You are going to call out a 9 year old in front of 70 kids and blame him for your getting in trouble.  It was your actions that caused you to get in trouble, not Jordan’s. 

Now that I’m steamed up, I think I’ll go get some stuff done.

Have a great day!

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