Quirks

Rules:
List the rules on your blog
Tag 6 people
List 6 quirks about yourself
link? I'm not sure how to do this one the person you tagged you.

Quirks:
1. I always do things in the same order-like the dishes-first the silverware and cups. Then bowls then plates, then everything else.
2. It doesn't bug me to have a dirty house when someone comes over but I usually clean it up while they're here. Especially if they have kids. Silly, I know.
3. I don't like to get ready for the day if I have any "work" to do. I'll just put grubby clothes on until after I mop the floor or weed.
4. I have to put the clothes from the washer right into the dryer. If they sit longer than an hour or two I have to wash them again.
5. I never really measure exactly when I'm cooking either.
6. I hate having snot in my nose. It's a gross quirk, I know. But I'm always blowing my nose.

I tag:
Deb
Rhonda (you really already did it so we're both off the hook)
Amy
Darci
April
Bethany

Happy Quirking!

Driving

I'm really glad we can drive and own cars and have nice roads and maps and everything. Dusty's been working out of town lately. It's been pretty tough having him away. This week he is in Afton, Wy. It's only a two hour drive from home so I decided to go suprise him for a visit. I have two days off work because of "fall break". It was a really gorgeous drive--reminded me of the canyon between Logan and Brigham City. I'm finally beginning to accept that it's fall and be excited about all the leaves changing colors.

Anyhow, so I show up in Afton (by myself with two kids mind you) and I have to use the bathroom really bad so I get samantha's carrier out and then unbuckle Brian and head into the Cheveron. but there is no BATHROOM. So the attendent says, "just head next door to subway" Subway is not next door, it's past a tire shop, kings and a couple other shops. Not that I'm against walking or anything but a 16 lb baby in a carseat in one arm and a toddler hanging on the other arm just doesn't make a quarter mile all that pleasant. So we used the bathroom, changed diapers etc. etc. A half hour later we get back to the car and call Dusty to find out where the hotel is. We had a great visit and Daddy was WAY excited to see us all.

I'm really glad we can drive.

Rollover!

Samantha Rolled OVER!! I'm pretty sure it was an accident because she started fussing. hehe. But I was SO excited. I probably scared her to death. She is changing and growing everyday. 3 months old and already over 15 pounds.
School is going well. I'm finally falling into the swing of things. I have some pretty good kids and a few tough kids but that's the nature of the game. I have one paraprofessional that I'm having a hard time with but it's really neat to see things change when you make an effort to notice and appreciate someone who needs a little extra attention.
My "nanny" is amazing. The kids love her and she has so much fun with them. She writes in a mommy journal for me everyday so I can feel a part of the things I miss while I'm at school. For instance, "Dang, your kid can eat! I made a box of pasta roni knowing it would be enough for the two of us. He ate more than me and then I had to make another box!" Or, "Samantha was all smiles and giggles today. I couldn't even feed her because she just kept smiling and laughing." It's sometimes really really hard to leave and go to work but the -run and hug- from Brian and the baby grin from Sam when I get home let me know that they know how much I love them.
Dusty is working in Pinedale this week so we're missing him a bunch.
I just signed up for facebook so I can try to keep in touch with everyone. I'm not very picky but sometimes I just wich everyone would belong to the same blog/facebook/email or whatever so we wouldn't all have to have a million different sign-ins and passwords.

My Favorite Boys

I really wanted to upload some pictures of our recent vacations but we really didn't take any pictures! So I found these recent ones of my favorite boys. Dusty is such an awesome dad. He takes Brian almost everywhere with him and they have a blast. Grandma Allen got this shirt for Brian and all her grandkids in while we were in Las vegas. It's the little things in life that count. Always remember that. These are two of my favorite people. I just love to see their smiles and hear them laugh.

Memories

I guess this is sort of like being tagged. I got this from my sister-in-law's "flog".

Here are the directions-
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together or it can be a memory with Dusty, Brian or Samatha. It doesn't have to be hilarious or mucho importante, anything you remember!
2. Re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. Or if you don't feel like commenting you can email me if you have my email address.

Let the memories flow.

Back-to-school jitters

Does anyone else get that excited nervous feeling before going back to school each year? Yep, it's that keeping me awake tonight, not my two-month-old baby. I've made it through the teacher works days and I've only cried once about leaving my kids at home so I'd say I'm doing really fabulous, or I'm just getting tons of help from above. Probably the latter. It's so wonderful to be able to call on Heavenly Father for help when we have to do things we know are going to be difficult. Even still, I do feel excited to meet my new students and do everything I can to help and teach those students who need it most. So ready or not, here we go. Good luck to everyone else who is going back to school this fall!

Update

So it's 2:00am and I just got Samantha back to sleep and decided it was time to check on my blog. I'll probable be regretting it tomorrow... Life is slowly getting more sane but Monday I go back to work so we'll see how well Samantha decides to sleep. I'm trying to get her on a schedule-which means you have to make her wait to eat until it's time to eat not when she thinks she's hungry. Yesterday it worked awesome and she slept all night but today...

Meanwhile, life goes on at the Allen house. Dusty's trying to decide if he wants to finish his teaching degree at BYU-I or do something other than teaching. I was one of those insane people that always knew what I wanted to do and I went and did it (As far as educaiton goes) so I'm trying REALLY hard to be patient while Dusty decides what he wants to do when he grows up. ;) He is really an awesome daddy and super good for me. I've been really tense lately with getting ready to go back to work and everytime I feel like I'm just going to flip out, I just take one look at him and he brings me back to earth.
I found a "nanny" for Brian and Samantha while I'm at work. Her name is Evelyn. She's a fresh out of high school, college bound, fun loving young adult. She's way cute and when she came over for the first time she reminded me of Cari on "The Incredibles". "I can totally handle anything your kids can dish out Melanie, just go." Needless to say I'm a little bit of a control freak. Hopefully someday I'll be a little calmer.
I really wanted to do a cute post with some pictures with a theme and the perfect captions but I know you're all dying for more so here's a couple...




This is Samantha in her blessing dress. It's the dress I wore when I was blessed (super neat)! We blessed her on August 3rd.

Brian was beggin for a slumber party but I put my foot down. Everyone sleeps in their own bed in this house.

Okay, so Samantha pretty much sleeps anywhere except mom and dad's bed. (This is Sam's Grandpa Fillmore pretending to be asleep too.)

I know this picture is totally random. This is our friend Burgess entertaining our guests at our get-to-gether after Sam's blessing. This kids thought it was the best trick ever.

Brian is such a proud big brother! He always wants to hold "mantha". We're working on the "sam" part.