As the world turns....

We keep marching! Somebody told me this week, this is the hardest your life is going to get. I have a feeling that it may not be. Our lives have taken an extreme turn and Robert and I are doing what we can to keep treading water. Though he's not quite as stressed as I am, we are both trying to keep some normalcy in our lives. Rob has been in class at night. I've been adjusting to not only a full course load of graduate work but also a high stress job. I've been told that it's different at other schools but at my school it's like a dungeon with the faculty and staff. Like most things the government has managed to intwine it's fingers around our school and it has caused the stress levels (and maybe even the blood pressure) of many teachers to rise! For this willing to please everyone girl, it's not making for a fun year. On a positive note, I have a great group of kids this year. I feel that as long as I keep my eyes on the goal that it will be a terrific year for them. Robert is almost done with one round of classes this semester and is about to start round two. This time his classes will be in the day time and online which gives us a little more freedom and flexibility in the evenings. Jacob is back in karate and is learning to make good choices at school. Abby is thriving in her little class and is almost potty trained!! I think daycare is one of the greatest tools for potty training! For the first time, Rob and I have become season ticket holders for the Jaguars. There has been two good nail biter games thus far at Ever Bank Field and we are looking forward to the rise of the Jags this year! One week from today the Jags battle the Tennessee Titans. Look for us as we cheer on our great hometown team. (I think I've almost won Robert over from being a KC Chiefs fan!!)

Long Time....

Okay, okay. I know it has been a long time since I've last posted. Here's a quick update: Jacob is still sucking his thumb, Abby is still potty training and the irrigation is fully in. Our lives have become immensely busy. I have started back at work. Still teaching third grade and I have a fabulous class this year. Both Abby and Jacob are in school. It took Abby a few days to let me leave in the morning but she's adjusting well and really thriving. Robert is back in school for his Fire Science degree and is still back and forth from the farm and here. I have been accepted to the University of Southern California's Masters in Arts program. I have classes online and skype with my professors and classmates twice a week. I'm already feeling the heat of the extra work and responsibility but I know that when next December comes it will all be worth it. Hopefully I can keep up with my blog posts now that I've discovered a fun app for my phone that let's me update straight from my phone. (I am currently sitting in a Dr's office waiting to see an ENT doctor. Fun!). Hope all is well with everyone. Talk to you soon.

A Thumbster is on it's way!

Most of you who know us know that we have been struggling to get Jacob to stop sucking his thumb. In my search to find the magical cure I came across the website http://www.stopthumbsucking.net/ which sells Thumbsters. They are made of a soft material, much like a glove to be worn over the thumb and velcroed to the wrist. Jacob seems to have a fetish for wearing just one glove. (Maybe he saw a Michael Jackson video?) So I called him in and asked if he would wear it. He said Yes, but we shall see. I was very pleased to see the price of just $12. I was dreading the $75 price tag that I have seen on many anti-thumb sucking devices. So if this does not work, then it was not a total waste of $75. I am very anxious to receive it in the mail and see if it will work. Of course I will keep you updated on his progress.

Today will be a busy day for the Tanner family. Robert is out working on putting more irrigation to some of the trees. I am working on a weekly menu and shopping list. I found a great recipe on food networks website for Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars by Tyler Florence. Seeing as I have a plethora of blueberries (and by plethora I mean gallons!) and some lemons in the fridge it seems like a great thing to make right now. I'll probably wait till Mom and Dad are back so that some one can enjoy them with me. Robert is not a big fan of cheesecake and I am certainly not going to eat the whole pan of bars by myself. (As tempting as it may be!)

Also on today's agenda, going to WalMart to buy Abby some big girl underwear. I am determined to get this girl potty trained by the end of the week. Wow, breaking thumb sucking and potty training all in one week. Let's see if I have my hair by the end of the week!!

From Diamonds to Denim

Well here it is. The farm house. We arrived on Friday and have been busy working and relaxing. Yesterday we had a visitor. A little chocolate lab puppy showed up in our drive way. Filthy dirty and wet but just as precious as could be. I cleaned her up gave her some food and was ready to give her a good home. Just to be sure we went next door to see if she belonged to someone. Which she did. Her name was chocolate milk. In my opinion a bit of a silly name for something so beautiful but with much sadness I handed her back over. I only had her for one hour, but that one hour I fell in love with the big brown eyes!

Body Art

How's that for belly art? When Abby came up to me and said "Mommy Look!" I couldn't help but think, I HAVE to get a picture of this! I laughed and laughed at how Jacob and Abby placed all these stickers on her round chubby belly!! I know what your thinking though, "What's with the face?" She had Doritoes with dinner tonight. We are going to the farm tomorrow and I have very few groceries in my house. And with Rob at the station tonight, dinner consisted of PB&J's with chips. (Mine dinner was a bowl of cereal!)

I am not sure what is more adorable; the stickers that adorn her belly or the roundness and beauty of this belly?

A New Do, Well, Sorta....

Today I had my hair appointment with my stylist Rhonda. It's always nice to spend a few hours sitting in a chair, being pampered, and talking. Rhonda and I go way back to High School Youth Group. She's so talented at what she does. She is expecting so a lot of the conversation was about her upcoming birth and everything else that Mommies talk about together. Today I was really ready to have my hair cut. It's so funny because I used to have such long hair and now when it grows to my shoulders it bothers me. It feels like its in the way and I just can't stand it. Even though the hubby is wanting it to be long again, I couldn't wait to cut it short! And short it went. It's still the bias cut I usually do but we 'stacked' it in the back. She actually had to use a razor on my neck, which has never happened to me before in my life!! (I know, I get excited over simple things!) I love the new do, and so far I've only heard good compliments. Okay, two compliments and one was over a text message, but still....
The kiddos went to Water Play Day at the church today. They seemed to have had a blast. I was still in training so all of the information was relayed to me through the babysitter. Abby was sure to tell me she had Purple, which I found out was a purple snow cone. Jacob's snow cone color choice was Red, and very delicious. From what I can get from their stories it appears they enjoyed themselves and are ready to do it again. Which is good because they are already registered for the August Water Play Day! Yeah!

Punching Beauty Queen

This past Friday we were at the farm in Georgia. I love it there but usually get an itch to get out and go to town (which is a good 30 minute drive from the house.) After doing some research on the internet I found a specialty children's shop in Dublin called Kaleigh's Kloset. I told Rob I wanted to go in just to see what they had. Upon stepping foot in the door I found a beautiful pink and brown smocked dress that would look beautiful on Abby. I put it up knowing the $65 price tag was a bit more than what Rob would want to pay for a dress. Just then a sales girl walked up welcoming us and telling us about their 50% off sale. Twenty minutes later Rob and I were at the checkout counter with two dresses and one outfit for Abby that he and I picked out. While we are checking out I spot a back room with very outlandish dresses. I mean beyond prom dresses. After watching Toddler's and Tiara's a few times on TLC I was pretty sure these were pagent dresses. I inquired about the dresses and was informed they too were 50% off. Images of crazed moms putting their babies in these pagents danced through my head and I continued on out the door.
On the way home I asked Rob if he would ever allow Abby to compete in a pagent. His response was if she wanted to then he would let her. (Which actually surprised me.) I then asked him if he would allow her to do it now, at the age she is. He started to laugh and replied "No! Abby would beat the other girls up on stage! You've seen her wail on her brother, imagine what she would do to them!" Now that would make for a great Toddler's and Tiara's!