Hmmm...

Today, there was a post on cafemom that asked what you would do with 640 million dollars (winning the lottery). I really started to think about it.

Chris and I started talking about it and our list would be:

• Build our dream house... we said five or six bedrooms, 2-3 bath (including a master bathroom), a large kitchen and livingroom,  lots of closet and storage space, and at least a two car garage.
• Buy both of us new cars
• Buy my mom a new house
• Put money away for both of the kids to be able to go to whatever college they want, both get cars, and be able to pay for Grace's wedding
• Open a fastfood chain, so that we continue to receive income

Then we both started thinking about what we would each want individually...
Chris said that he would want to open a garage where he could repair and customize cars.
It took me awhile to figure out what I really wanted, then it hit me. I would open one of those schools that is specifically for teen parents, and I would make it a support center as well.

Of course, this is all just fictional, but I never thought about that before. I really wish there was some sort of job that I could get where that would be my career. I mean, yeah, a psychologist maybe, but can the specialize in teen parents? And that's not so much support as it is trying to fix something.

Then, my friend Brittany was talking about a place that she volunteers, and she said that I could volunteer once a week to counsel teen moms. I would LOVE that. I really would. I am seriously considering it.

But then that little voice in the back of my head is screaming that I don't need to put something else on my plate, and that I don't need to be away from my babies anymore than I have to. I would have to wait until summer because the hours conflict with my classes, but since I am pretty sure that my summer is going to be free now, I don't think once a week would hurt anything. I'm going to look into it.

Do you guys think I would be good at that sort of thing? I mean, obviously, I have experienced it, so I would know where they are coming from. Plus, I know things like when to feed the baby the different stages of food, all about breastfeeding, car seat safety, safety in general, relationships struggles, time management, college... Things like that, that I have found a lot of teen moms (including myself when Grace was a baby) don't know much about.

What do you guys think? And please be honest! I don't want to end up hurting these girls if I'm not good at it.

It's almost time for Easter :)

We have gotten most of the stuff I want for the kids' eggs and Easter baskets.

For Grace's basket, we got some bubble gum (she loves gum and doesn't play with it or swallow it), some paint brushes and paint trays, some hair ties, some pink bunny ears, a princess rubber duck, and some Dora shampoo and conditioner.

For Brentley's basket, we got him an outfit, some sandals, a pirate rubber duck, some blue bunny ears, and some Gerber snacks. We will probsbly get him some baby body wash/shampoo to go in his as well.

For the eggs, we got Tootsie Rolls, M&M's, Skittles, a couple of bouncy balls, a few small rubber ducks, some stickers, some stampers, a bracelet, necklace, and some small fingernail polishes for Grace, and a rubber bracelet with cars on it for Brentley.

We are possibly going to be getting a grill within the next few days. If we do, we are going to cookout on Easter and have my mom, my sister, Chris' mom, Chris' brother, and Chris' step-dad over for lunch. Even if we don't have the grill, we are still going to have lunch, just not sure what lol. Then we are going to have the egg hunt. I'm excited :)

Grace has new friend :)

I forgot to mention this in my post about the nice weather, but Grace has a new friend. It's a funny story actually.
About a week ago, we went to eat at Pizza Hut. This guy and his adorable little girl walked in. The guy reminded Chris and me of a guy on a tv show that we both like.
Then we went to the park after we were done eating, and the guy and his little girl ended up coming to the park too. We noticed because we remembered how we were talking about him looking like the guy from the tv show.
Well, Grace and the little girl started playing. They played together really well. So, while they were playing, we ended up talking to her daddy. Chris asked him if he lived around the area, and he was like, "Yeah, we live up behind Sonic." Well, we live behind the Sonic too, so of course we were like, "Oh, so do we!" Ends up, they live in the same apartment complex as us! Lol. The little girl is almost exactly six months younger than Grace. She will be two just a few days after Grace will be two and a half, but she is really smart. She can talk really well, so her and Grace get along great.

We exchanged numbers intending to get together and let the girls play. Funny thing is, we have run into them at the park two more times since then. And today I got to meet the little girl's mom. She was so nice, and she was in love with Brentley lol.
They are young parents like us, so we have a lot in common. It's like we were all supposed to meet or something.
My little girl is already old enough to make friends! It's funny because she went up to her the minute she saw her and was like "Come on girl, lets go." It was so cute! And they haved played together great ever since.

The crazy thing is, Chris really likes the guy. Chris does not get along with very many guys. They either annoy him or make him mad. He just has that sort of personality for whatever reason, but he talks with this guy like they have known each other for years. Finally, someone good for Chris to be around that he doesn't automatically dislike!


I have a few pics of them together, but I don't want to post pics of her on here without making sure it's okay with her parents first. If I get an okay from them, then I will post them :)

The Weather Has Been Wonderful! *Pic heavy*

The weather has been so nice around here lately... staying in the upper 70s and low 80s. I wish it would stay this way all year round.
And, I love where we live now because we have a large area for the kids to play right next to us, and it is a two minute drive to the park. We have been to the park like seven times since we moved here lol.

He is such a good daddy :)

Brentley's first ever trip to the park.

He was in love with the swings lol.

Grace can swing on the big kid swings now!

These are from another trip.

He let go and it freaked her out lol.

These are from yesterday.

All the swings were taken, so I put them together. Surprisingly, they liked it lol.

These are from today... for once I wasn't behind the camera lol.

And this is a videoof Grace riding her 4-wheeler outside of our apartment. She truly is our daredevil!

My little boy is 7 months old!

Today, Brentley is 7 months old. I cannot believe that he is already that old. He will be one in just five months?!?! There is no way lol.

He is really getting around now. He crawls everywhere, and he pulls up on everything. He usually only uses one hand to stablize himself. He can even stand on his own for a few seconds. He is also beginning to cruise. He doesn't go but maybe two or three steps, but it's a start. I really cannot believe how mobile he's gotten in the last couple of weeks.

He can say dada really well. He can say the "ma" sound, but hasn't said mama yet :( And I swear he tries to imitate us when we say "I love you." It's hard to explain, but I am pretty sure he imitates it.

He can wave and clap now as well.

His hair is more of a strawberry blonde now, and his eyes are hazel... light brown around the iris and a grayish-green around the outer part.

He is in *drumroll please*.... 18 month clothes! Lol. He wears a size 4 shoe and a size 4 diaper.

He eats baby food, but not much. He surprisingly likes the veggies, but hates any and all fruits... complete opposite of Grace lol. He would rather eat breastmilk or something he can chew on though. He likes the Gerber puffs and the Gerber teething cookies.

Speaking of teeth, he still only has two. I don't think he is working on anymore yet.

He loves his sissy. He always wants to get in the floor and play with her. But he is still a mama's boy. Most of the time, he is content just chilling with me lol.

Here are his six month pictures...

I love this one! His smile, his dimples, he little teeth, everything :)

This one is another favorite.

He is definitely "King of the Crib" lol.

He kept trying to crawl to me lol.

Always so curious about everything.

Plans in the making...

There are two things coming up that I am really excited about.

The first is that my mom offered to watch the kids for us, so that Chris and I can go out one night. We decided that we are going to go out to eat and go see The Hunger Games. Neither one of us have read the books, but we both think it looks like a really good movie, so that's what we picked. I think we'll like it better not having read the books because the movies are never as good as the books, so we won't be let down lol. This will be the first time Chris and I have gone out by ourselves in over 7 months. It's about time!! Lol. We are going sometime after the first of April. Probably like the 6th.

And the other thing that's coming up is not until May, but I am really excited. I am going to take Grace to get her pictures done (we get them done every six months). I know, that doesn't sound very exciting. What's exciting about it is that I am taking her by myself. Chris is going to watch Brentley, so that Grace and I can have a mommy daughter day. This will be the first time since Brentley was born that it will just be Grace and me. We're going to get her pictures done, then go eat, and then (if it is nice out) I'm going to take her to the park. If it's not nice, we'll go do something. I don't know what, but I want to spend a good bit of time with her because it probably won't happen again for awhile. I miss being able to spend one on one time with her. Don't get me wrong, I love my baby boy to death, but I spend lots of one on one time with him because he goes pretty much everywhere with me. It's time for my little girl to have some uninterrupted mommy time.
And, let me just say... I cannot believe my little girl is going to be two and a half in May!! Wayyy toooo fastttt...

School, school, school.

I know I talk about it a lot, but it pretty much consumes my life right now... second only to my babies.

I have brought my American Lit grade back to an 80. I can live with a B. I really don't want to, and I have a little over a month to bring it up to an A, but I know that is going to be tough.
I brought my pre-cal grade up from a 79 to an 88.5. I am confident that I can bring it up to an A before then end of the semester.
In my other two classes, I am already making As, and I am confident that it will stay that way.
I finished my weight training class just before spring break, and I made an A in there... yay!

Finals week begins May 1st, so there is only about a month left of school.
I have finished all my student teaching. I had a really good time doing that. However, the students weren't really responding as well as I anticipated. They enjoyed the lessons, but they seemed lost. Then, I found out why... they gave me a second grade kit, but placed me in a first grade class! I ended up having to change most of the lessons because the content was too advanced for the students. The teacher said I did really well though, so I guess it all worked out in the end.
I also observed a 4th grade class for 10 hours. Boy, was that interesting. The teacher was amazing. I would love to go back and talk to her for hours. It was seriously like we were best friends. We talked about all sorts of stuff, and she gave me some great advice for teaching. However, 4th grade is NOT for me. I will not even go into that because it would take forever. Lets just say, being in that classroom confirmed for me that I was to teach K, 1st, or 2nd. I think I could even do high school, but I really don't want to do anything in between that.
I will be certified for K - 5 though, so I will take whatever job I can find... even if that means 3rd, 4th, or 5th.

So, with only (basically) one month of school left, apparently all my professors thought it would be great to pile on the work *rolls eyes*.
This is what my planner looks like for April:

April 4th:
- Pre-cal test 3

April 10th:
- Education Philosophy paper due

April 17th:
- Education Psychology test 4
- Year Round School debate

April 19th:
- Critical Issues in Education Board of Education paper and documentation due

April 24th:
- Critical Issues in Education Field Experience paper and documentation due
- Sexual Harassment Powerpoint Presentation

April 25th:
- Pre-cal test 4

**There will also be an American Lit test sometime during April as well. It is not yet scheduled.
My calendar page for April is so overwelming to look at.

Then, I have four finals and a research paper due between May 1st and May 7th.

I CANNOT wait for summer!! I NEED a break!

First room showcase: The kids' room!

Our set up has been stalled by the 24-hour bug that has been passing back and forth in our house, but I finally got one room completely set up!!

I have come to realize that my children are spoiled! Lol. But they are happy children :)

This is Grace's side of the room.

This is part of the middle that has both of their stuff.

 

These are the decorations on Grace's side of the room.

Some more decorations...

Think she has enough bows?? Lol!

Decorations on Brentley's side of the room.

And more decorations on Brentley's side.

Another decoration.

Brentley's side of the room (with Brentley playing lol).

A view of that whole wall.

And this is their closet...

Like I said, spoiled, lol.

Everything in the room has a place, which makes cleaning up so easy! I love it! What do you guys think??

School is becoming more and more stressful :(

For starters, I am making a 79 in my American Lit class! I don't like the teacher at all. He never explains anything. He wants us to read two short stories and a poem between each class. That is just not possible for me! I have four other classes for one thing, and two kids. And over our spring BREAK he wanted us to read a 55 page story! Well, I lost one point off my grade because I didn't read it. I know that is my fault, but I still think it is ridiculous that he wanted us to read that much on what was supposed to be our break! And our first test cover about 16 works of American liturature... way too much content for one test!! I made an 80 on it, but losing that one point from not reading that story put me at a 79 :(
I still have two tests and a research paper that I can try to bring my grade up with. Hopefully I will.

And then, they just put up the class times for summer and fall. Well, the classes I need all conflict with each other or the are really far apart.. like one at 8am and another at 6pm. With how far away the school is, I cannot drive there and back twice everyday. We cannot afford it :( So, this leads me to thinking that I'm going to have to take two of them next spring, which then leads me to thinking I'm not going to take a summer class. I would be taking one summer class, two fall classes, then two spring classes. Makes more sense to take three in the fall and two in the spring. But either way, I will be a semester behind :(
I like the idea of having the summer completely free to spend with my family, but I don't know. I feel like I should be forcing myself to do the classes that are hours apart, so that I won't be a semester behind. What do you guys think?? Honest opinions please.

When it rains, it pours.

You all know the whole, my diaper bag got run over story. Well, my computer quit working a couple of nights ago, so I had to get a new one, and then today we found out that we are $120 in the hole in Chris' bank account. We thought it was strange that we had that much money left over, but two different people told us that we did. And Chris' bank account is supposed to be set up, so that it declines if that money is not available. Well that didn't work either. I'm usually on top of the money, but all the extras we had when moving threw me off. We have the money to cover it, but that is going to take almost all of our savings between rent, deposits for the apartment, electric, and gas, the moving truck, having to buy a new phone, diaper bag, calculator, and computer, and now this. We are going to have about $80 left to make it until the next pay check. We've easily gone through $2000 in the last couple of weeks. It makes me sick just thinking about it.

Luckily we will be getting $500 back from our old place (the deposit), and we are supposed to be getting about $100 back from our electric deposit at our other place. So, that will out money back in our savings account. I hate not having money in there :( At least we have money to pay our bills every month though! And now we have this nice place, a brand new phone, diaper bag, and computer. So there is a bright side.

We are almost completely done setting up. I am going to do a post for each room. Kind of like a showcase I suppose lol. Those will be coming up soon :)

So, let me tell you all what happened...

First off, we are in our apartment now! Yay! And we just got the internet set up.

Now, the bad stuff...

The night that we moved, I had gone to my mom's for a bit once it got dark (because we didn't have heat yet), Chris came to pick us up later, and he had his friend (who was helping us move) with him, so I had to sit in the back with the babies. I usually sit up front. Well, I sat the diaper bag on top of the car and got in, then Chris put Brentley in behind me, got in, and we drove off. Neither one of us gave the diaper bag a second thought. I thought he had gotten it, and he is used to me getting it when I get in the front seat. So, we drove for about 3 minutes before I realized it wasn't in the car. My mom's street is not busy at all, so I just figured we'd turn around, go grab it, and go back on our way... Well, as we are coming up on my mom's street I see stuff covering the road... the diaper bag didn't fall of until we turned onto the main road (a very busy road), and people ran all over it! My iPod Touch... destroyed. My phone... destroyed. My calculator (which I have no idea why it was in there)... destroyed. The diaper bag itself... destroyed. My nursing cover has tire tracks all over it. I'm going to try and wash it to see if I can get them out. My camera got ran over, and the battery came out and the video button was messed up, but Chris fixed it thankfully. One of Brentley's toys was completely in pieces. And the diaper wipes were all over the road. I was really upset because we didn't find his favorite little monkey toy, but I found out later that I had left it at my mom's, so it was unharmed :)
Now, on the bright side... we found my wallet, $25, six of Grace's bows, two dollhouse people, a teether, a little ball, a few baby spoons, three diapers (with a few tire tracks), an outfit for Brentley, and a bracelet that my grandmother made for Grace all intact.

It took us about 30 minutes to search for everything. We were running all over the busy road trying to grab stuff, and people kept driving over stuff right in front of us. A cop pulled up, turned his lights on, and after he realized what we were doing, he helped us look for stuff. I was afraid he was going to try to make us stop or give us a littering ticket or something, but he was really nice.

Luckily, I have insurance on my phone, so we only had to pay a $50 deductible, and I'm supposed to be getting it today. We have a service plan on my iPod. Chris is calling about it now to see if that covers anything like what happened to my iPod. Kind of doubt it though.

We still have to get a new diaper bag, a new calculator, and possibly a new nursing cover.

I'm just glad we were able to save the things that we did.

Oh, and later that night, Brentley said, "da da!" His first word!!!