Play date

I took my youngest 2 kiddos and Bella on a play date today with a friend, her daughter, and their 2 dogs. We went to a dog park, then walked a trail. While we were walking the trail, there was a little place where the dogs could get into the creek. Her dogs got in and swam around, but Bella is not the biggest fan of being in water, so she went right up to the edge, just far enough to get her paws all muddy, but didn't get in.

After the dogs dried off, we went back to their house and had lunch, then took all the dogs to a car and pet wash and gave them all baths. Those things are really pretty cool! It was only $5 and it was SO much easier to bathe her there than at home in the tub! I really wish there was one of these places close to my house, but so far, I haven't been able to find one.

Movie time

I finished up the book today that I started in on yesterday. I also picked up the movie this evening from the library when I went to select my next book. So, now I think I'm gonna lay in bed and watch it!

**Update: The book was much better than the movie. They changed up too many things in the movie, including the entire purpose of the "story". I hate it when a movie is so much different than the book it's based on. Why can't they just stick to the original story line? Sigh.

Summer Reading

So, I just started in on my third book of the summer. So far, it's decent. I need to start looking for my next couple of books because this one will probably not take very long to read. Ahh, it's so nice to be able to read leisurely again!

Snot, snot, go away!

I seem to be suffering from some sort of summer cold or allergies. I started out fine yesterday, except for a few sneezes in the morning. Then I was pretty much fine until late afternoon, when my nose started getting stuffy and running. (Still not sure how it can be both stuffed up and running at the same time, but whatever.) I think I'ma have to go pick up some lotion-y tissues to save my nose. Hopefully this doesn't last long!

Right now, I'm getting ready to take my oldest to an orthodontist appointment, then the kids are begging to go to the pool. I bought the pass and have only been able to go once so far so, I guess I should probably take them today if it doesn't rain.

Balls!

Once again tonight, I have 2 kids with ball games on the same night. And, pretty much at the same time! Which means, once again, I won't get to go to my son's game. This happened two nights ago, as well as several other times. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't force my oldest daughter to play also, like I thought about doing. I'm not sure how that would work! Sheesh! Oh well. Guess that's just how it goes.

Clean carpet, yay!

I had my carpet cleaned on the first floor today. They were looking very dirty. It hadn't been cleaned professionally in 2 years, so, it was needed. They look SO much better now! With 3 kids and a dog, they take their fair share of abuse.

So, I just need to deal with a bunch of stuff sitting in my kitchen for the next 24 hours until they dry, including the sectional sofa. Oh well, it's worth it!

Now, to find something to do with the kids to keep them off the carpet. They want to go see Mr. Popper's Penguins. So, I think I'll take them to the cheap theater here in town to see a matinee. :)

I made it!

I survived nursing school! This afternoon was our pinning ceremony. The school only holds actual graduation ceremonies twice a year, so ours isn't until October. At first, they told us that it would just be the students and faculty for the pinning, but after some people complained they let us each bring up to 4 guests. So, I was able to take my kiddos with me. :)

Oddly, I don't feel as relieved as I'd hoped I would at this point. Maybe it's because I don't really feel "done" because I'm still going to continue to get my bachelor's degree. I can still take the boards, find a job (hopefully), and work while I'm going to school. I may try to find a part-time job while doing that, but I don't know. I will probably have to take whatever job that will hire me to get started. I just hope I can find something in a department I don't hate!

Even though I'm done with this part of my schooling and will officially (after passing NCLEX) be an RN, I still feel kind of overwhelmed with all I still need to do. However, it does feel good to be this far!

Jump, jump!

The kids and I went to visit my grandma, SIL, and nephews yesterday. We went to lunch then back to my bro and SIL's house because my girls heard they got a new trampoline and wanted to jump. :)



The kids have been asking for one for quite a while now, maybe I should think about it, it's great exercise!

Bella Dog

I've been working on some commands with Bella. The newest one is "roll over". She never really got the hang of that one for some reason when she was younger, so I let it go and started trying again. Seems like she's getting it now.



Now, if only she were this obedient outside...

It did, however, take a couple of tries to get it right. Here's a "roll over" outtake:

14

14 years ago, today, my life changed forever. At 1:12 pm on Monday, June 9, 1997, I welcomed my first baby into the world. I did a lot of growing up in that moment. More than I'd ever thought possible. But, I wouldn't trade her for the world!

She weighed in at 8 pounds 3.5 ounces and 20.5 inches long:



(And yes, I know my glasses were ridiculously large. Ugh!)

And now, well, I don't think she'd appreciate me telling you what she weighs in at, but she's around 5 feet 2 inches tall. ;)



(She wouldn't let me take a picture of her today, so I had to steal one from her facebook.)

Happy Birthday, beautiful girl! I love you!

Ugh!

I am feeling kinda down today. I have a lot of things going through my mind. About school, life, etc. I'm just not really feeling optimistic.

Sick boy

My little boy has been home with me the past 2 days. He went to the Doctor's yesterday evening and found out he has strep throat. :( Yesterday he had a fever and was throwing up and just felt pretty miserable. He feels much better today, but isn't allowed to go back to school until he's been on his antibiotic for 24 hours. So, he'll be going back tomorrow and Thursday for the last 2 days of school for the year. So far, no one else seems to have caught it. Hoping it stays that way!

Summer time!

Summer is almost here! Which means it's about time to go buy a pool pass for the kids and myself. This will be the first time we will have to buy a pass. Last year we didn't buy one because we could go swim for free at the apartments that my grandma lived in. Now that she moved, if we want to swim, we need to buy a pass. Looks like they are 10% off through Monday, so looks like now is the time to get it!

Count Down!

What a long day today! I'm counting down the hours I have left with my preceptor. I have one more 13 hour day on Saturday, then I will only have 4.5 hours left to get in. I haven't decided if I will go ahead and stay the full day on Monday, or if I'll just stay until around lunch time. I talked to my preceptor about it today and told her I could stay the whole day if it would be easier for her. She said it didn't really matter to her either way, so I'm seriously considering taking off after a half day. Any extra time I put in doesn't do me any good, so I might as well.

Looking forward to having a day off tomorrow, even if I do have to do some studying for a test I have Friday.

Heck to the YES!

I took my RN HESI exam today, which is the exit exam for nursing school. We have 2 chances to pass it. If we fail both times, we have to retake the class. Today was our first real attempt at it. We took a practice test last quarter, but that didn't count, pass or fail, but today it counted.

In the past, the score would either show up immediately when the test was complete, or the proctor would give you your score in the hall. This time, they decided to email our results to us.

So, after having all my classmates announcing that they got their emails and they either passed or failed, I still didn't have my email. So I started panicking, thinking I was going to have to live with a knot in my stomach until tomorrow because certainly all of my teachers have gone home for the day. I finally decided to check my old email address. Nothing was in my inbox, but I had over 400 messages in my junk mail. Fortunately, I looked in there because there were my results. I passed!! Yay! It is such a relief to know that I don't have to worry about taking that again before I can graduate!!

Feeling better

Yesterday, I was not feeling too great at all. I woke up with a sore throat and by the afternoon, I was feeling rather nauseous. I was not looking forward to having to sit in class all day today and then work all day tomorrow feeling like that. Thankfully, I am feeling much better today. I still don't feel like sitting here in class (I am crazy bored) and I'm not really looking forward to getting up at 5:15 on a Saturday morning, but at least I don't feel sick!

Aww!

Puppy hugs!

Seven!

I can't believe my baby is 7 years old today! It seems like he was just born! He is such a sweet little man, too. Here he is opening up some of his birthday presents:


Lava lamp! (He asked for this). And his "boring clothes" behind him that he'd already opened.


Legos Star Wars III game. He has the 2nd one and LOVES it! He has been asking for this one for a while, so he was quite excited! He also got a Nintendo DS and a Legos Star Wars game to play on that. He's a happy birthday boy! :)

Blahhh

My stomach is not happy right now. :( I am super tired, too. Last week wore me out. I worked 12.5 hours on Monday, then between 8-9 hours each Tuesday through Thursday, and then had class all day on Friday. Of course I couldn't sleep in much this weekend either. Both yesterday and today I woke up too early and couldn't get back to sleep. It was better than getting up at 5:15 am though! Back to that again in the morning! I should seriously just go to bed right now.

So, uhh...

Can we agree that it is incredibly rude to not return emails or phone calls, especially in the professional setting? I am tired of being blown off! Not only have I had 2 emails to my teacher completely ignored, I have left 2 voicemails for the nurse manager of my preceptor trying to confirm my starting tomorrow morning. I was told Friday, by my teacher, to be there Monday-Thursday starting this week, so unless I hear otherwise, I am planning on showing up at the hospital at 6:30 in the morning. I will be extremely pissed off if I get there and have to turn around and come home!

On a more pleasant note, I am loving the weather today! It is currently 82 degrees, though a little windy. Took Bella to the dog park this afternoon, and now sitting here with the windows open in the house enjoying the breeze!