Enjoying the last few weeks

My summer feels like it's coming to a screeching halt. I was done with spring semester by May 1st so I've had some time. It's been nice. I have been a little oblivious to the craziness that will come once fall semester starts, mostly because we have not had many details about our schedule until this week. Final details about my clinical schedule came yesterday. On paper, I am taking 11 credit hours. In reality, most weeks I will be at the school from 8 until 3 two days a week and then clinicals are another day a week - some weeks we have clinicals two days a week. That doesn't include the time that I will be spending on my online OB class when I'm home. Add in driving time and I'm easily putting in 35 hours a week where I'm not home because of school, and at least another 20 hours a week of studying (but probably more than that). Good times. :)

Maddie's school starts on August 18th. She's very excited. We are starting her back-to-school shopping on Monday with Grandma and Great-Grandma. We are trying to decide between school lunch or sack lunches, and she is looking forward to meeting her new teacher at the school's open house.

I am working on finalizing childcare for the twins. Miraculously, in spite of Aaron's work schedule and my school schedule, we will only need a sitter 4-5 hours one day a week. This is a huge blessing for many reasons. It will save us quite a bit of money and the twins have really grown *more* attached to me this summer. It will be good to only have that separation from both of us once a week.

I am sure we will get through the next several months just fine and then really enjoy the winter break before the chaos starts again in January. In just 4 more months I'll be HALF WAY DONE with nursing school. I had no idea I would be able to say that a year ago. :) I have to say, it feels really great to be working on this life-long goal.

After the popsicles

I gave the twins a bath. We went downstairs to get diapers on when Maddie came home, she had been playing at a friend's house. She came home to see if she could play for a little bit longer and I said yes. The twins watched her leave from the window and then were intrigued by the neighbor mowing her lawn. I just had to take a pic - again, this is with my cell phone, sorry.

Popsicle fun

I gave the twins popsicles so that they would be content and out of my way while I got dinner started. What was I thinking? It's a really good thing I decided to put off mopping the kitchen floor until after the kids are in bed tonight. This is Cami in the pic - sorry for the quality, I took it with my cell phone.

Maddie loves to draw

She has gone through nearly an entire ream of paper since May. I'm cleaning today and found a few of my favorites.

"Lots of books for Belle"



This one she cut out to use as a paper doll of me. I'm flattered. :)

Lagoon

Aaron and I took Maddie to Lagoon on Thursday. We'd been planning it for two weeks. My sister and cousin watched the twins for us so that we could really enjoy the day. Maddie was so excited! Once we entered the park Maddie decided she didn't want to go to Lagoon-a-beach so I had to run our swimming stuff back to the van. Aaron took her on the terror ride while I did that. Once we joined up again I took her on the old white roller coaster. She wasn't sure what to think of it. Maddie's funny when she's on rides - even at Disneyland she has this face with no emotion on it until the end when you get her opinion of the ride - either "that was fun!" or "I didn't like it!" The big roller coasters brought on a new one though "When is this going to be over?" She decided she wasn't a fan of the white roller coaster but she did like Spider. She also liked Tidal Wave, the log ride and Rattlesnake Rapids. She *hated* the big ferris wheel but loved the miniature version. Some rides she opted not to try and I didn't push her to do anything she didn't want to do. Towards the end of the day we spent some time in KiddieLand and she enjoyed the rides there. I think I'll take her back with the bounce-back passes and spend some time at the water park.

I have never seen Lagoon so un-crowded. It made the day more pleasant, but it was HOT! Maddie really enjoyed having a day with Aaron and I to herself. She deserved it! It also gave me a glimpse into the future when the twins are a bit older and more portable. I mentioned to Aaron that one of my reservations about having another child is that two years from now we will be able to go and do things without worrying about naptime and who is going to have a meltdown when (for the most part) which will make outings much more enjoyable. Am I going to want to throw myself back into baby and toddler mode? Maybe I'll be more open to the idea when the twins are no longer two. :)

I've been tagged

Thanks, Kirsten...I think this is a first for me!

Need to do list: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about myself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

3 joys
1. My girls
2. The quiet in the house once my girls have gone to bed for the night
3. Ben and Jerry's Cinnamon Bun ice cream

3 fears
1. Losing what I love most
2. Not being good enough
3. Deep water

3 goals
1. Finish nursing school and pass the NCLEX
2. Lose some weight
3. Make better use of my time

3 current obsessions/collections
1. Coke Zero
2. Reading
3. Lost - I'm not so patiently waiting for Aaron to catch up to where I am so that I can finish it! I'm somewhere in Season 3.

3 random surprising facts about myself
This is always hard for me. I have no idea.
1. If you've never met me, you might not know I have a birthmark on my neck that some have mistaken for a tattoo, a large bruise, a hickey (gross) and even a vampire bite. Seriously.
2. I expected to hear I was pregnant with twins with my first pregnancy, could NOT have been MORE shocked when I found out I was twins with my second pregnancy. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind.
3. If circumstances allowed, I would love to be a traveling RN for a bit. Somewhere tropical or maybe even foreign. This might have to wait until we have an empty nest. How's that for planning ahead?!?