Almost October already!

I can not believe it has been almost a month already since I have updated my blog.  Time goes by too fast.

9/1: Nathan announced that he likes every color except blue.  He likes light blue, though.  His favorite color is red.  He wants a red mustang.

9/2: Critter Talk shared  a picture I took of an elephant at Reid Park Zoo on their Facebook page.  Nathan also went to work with daddy.  Nothing like putting him to work on Labor Day!

9/3: Reid Park Zoo chose my lemur picture as their fan of the week photo.

9/4: Nathan says he wants a mustang, a corvette, a beetle and a trans am when he gets older.  Unfortunately, he got a red card at school today, too.

9/5: Nathan and I went to Walmart.  The checkout lady called me ma'am and then said it must be strange to have someone twice my age call me ma'am.  I asked her how old she thought I was.  She said in my twenties.  She was surprised when I told her I was 38.

9/6: Nathan got a green card!

9/7:  We went to Patagonia Lake.  Nathan had fun playing in the sand and the water.  I was hoping to see the blue footed booby that has been spotted there, but no such luck.

9/9: Nathan has been thanking me a lot lately, even for things like buying paper towels.  He is also telling me that I am a good girl.  Unfortunately, he was a bad boy at school and got a red card.

9/11: I went to Reid Park Zoo.  When I picked Nathan up from school he got another red card.  He was so bad that she said she did not even write up a sheet for him today.  I decided to talk to the office about it.  I did not expect the conversation to go the way it did.  They contradicted everything I said.  They praised the teacher and made it seem like Nathan was to blame for everything....that we need to work on his attention span.  I got no sympathy whatsoever and they did not seem appreciative of the fact that I was approaching them first about his behavior before they had to talk to me.  I talked about the red card/green card system and they defended it.  I said that there may be too many kids in the class (maxed out at 13 most days...the ratio in IL is 10:1, but in AZ it is 13:1) and they disagreed saying the teacher keeps the class very organized and makes sure all kids get attention.  I talked about how most of the class is girls.  I talked about how he is one of the oldest kids in the class and he already knows things like his shapes and colors so maybe he is getting bored.  I left there that day not feeling very good about the school.

9/12:  I took Nathan to the Childrens Museum.  He was so well behaved.  He was great with the other kids and shared toys nicely, even with younger kids who were not very good at sharing.  It was hard to believe that this is the same kid who has trouble getting along with his classmates and keeps getting trouble at school.

9/13: Nathan got a green card!

9/14: I saw a hot air balloon behind our house so I took a picture of it and shared it on KVOA channel 4's Facebook page.  They aired it on the news that night!  That day Paul took Nathan to Sabino Canyon and to a U of A football game while I stayed home and cleaned.

9/15: We went up to Mt Lemmon.  We were surprised at how crowded it was up there.  There was also some kind of porsche club up there because there were porsches everywhere.  We wanted to eat at the Cookie Cabin, but there were too many people so we ate at Sawmill Run.

9/17:  I took Nathan to the Desert Museum.  We got to see the new young fox and we saw some late torch cacti blooms.  The best part was seeing a coati right up against the viewing window.

9/18: Nathan got another red card at school.  He was making pretend guns and shooting them.  He scared the other kids.  I think he knows about guns because he has seen military planes with guns and things like that.  All boys pretend to play with guns at some point.  We told him not to do it at school, though.

9/19:  Nathan and I went to Breakfast with the Bears to meet the new grizzly bears at Reid Park Zoo.  They are two sibling cubs, a girl and a boy.  Ronan, the boy, really liked Nathan.  He kept giving Nathan high fives at the glass.  One of the news channels was there reporting on the bears and took some film footage of it. They posted a news link on Facebook.  We were also lucky to get a good picture of Nathan with the female lion who was up by the window.  She was already there when we walked by so I had Nathan go up to the glass to get a picture of them.  I posted the picture on the zoo's Facebook page.  The zoo then shared it on their Facebook page and I got a lot of comments and likes.

9/20:  Paul's birthday.  He turned 43 today!  I ended up talking to Nathan's teacher after I dropped Nathan off.  We talked for about 45 minutes.  I felt much better after talking to her.  I brought up my concerns.  She listened and we said that we would work together to improve Nathan's behavior at school.  All of the kids were playing nicely while I was there, including Nathan.  Still, he ended the day with a red card.

9/21:  Paul took Nathan back to Patagonia Lake.  I stayed home because I just was not feeling up to it.

9/22:  Nathan started writing his letters and numbers all on his own!  The week prior I had bought a couple of dry erase books and he and I worked on our letters and numbers.  He was not doing well at writing them.  He did a little better with me holding his hand and helping him.  I quickly decided to just go over the letters and numbers and not worry about writing them just yet.  Then he surprised me today and started writing them all on his own.  They give examples of each letter and number so he was looking at the examples and copying them.

9/23:  Nathan got a green card!  In fact, he got no red cards at all that day!

9/25:  After being so good on Monday, he ended with a red card today.  One of the women in the office told him that if he was good on Friday she would give him a toy car.  

9/24-9/25:  Paul had to go to Downers Grove, IL for work.  I was not too happy about him traveling for work again.  That means I am left here to take care of Nathan all by myself, without the help of family.

9/26:  I took Nathan back to the Desert Museum.  Nathan got to see Cruz, the young mountain lion.  He is usually hiding whenever I visit, but today we got to see him.  He was hiding in the morning, but we decided to go see him one more time before we left for the day.  I am glad we did because he was out!  He was not walking around, but he was at least laying down without anything blocking our view.

9/27: I went to the zoo to try to get pictures of the new bears.  I was surprised to see so many people at the zoo and I still had trouble getting decent pictures.  My day got better, though, because Nathan got a green card!  She said he was so good!  He ran to the office to get his new car!

9/28:  We got a call early in the morning that Donnie was taking Pat to the hospital.  She was having trouble with her bowels.  That night Paul and I had a date night at Olive Garden while Bob and Ann Alvir watched Nathan.  He was good, but I think he exhausted Ann!  She took him for a ride in their golf cart, made dinner for him and they went for a walk.  He also loves their cat, Hobster, and she seems to like him, too.

9/29:  Pat is still in the hospital.  She listed her first contact as someone outside the family.  She also has not been honest with the family about her health and she is not mentally with it.  She will probably be at the hospital for at least a couple of more days while they do more tests, including a colonoscopy and testing for diabetes (when the doctor asked there if there was a history of diabetes in the family she said no, but Lisa had to correct her and tell the doctor that Paul has diabetes).  She is also having major back problems and they were considering back surgery for her, but now we are not even sure if she can go through it.  She may not be able to handle the surgery and the surgery could potentially leave her immobilized.  It is probably time for her to move in with a family member.  She has not wanted to burden anyone, but maybe now she will realize that she needs help.  

Happy September!

8/16/13: Nathan ended up getting another red card.

8/17:  We went to peach mania at Apple Annie's in Willcox. We had never been to their peach mania before.  We stared with peach pancakes.  We picked peaches, apples and pear and then we bought some veggies that were pre-picked.  Their homemade peach ice cream was very good, especially since it was hotter than hot that day.  They were selling peach fudge which I tried, but resisted the urge to buy!  I did buy the peach salsa and that was delicious....ready for some more.

8/19:  Another red card

8/21:  Yet another red card.  I went to the Reid Park Zoo that day for their lemur debut.  The zoo has a new female and a new male lemur that they hope to breed.

8/23:  Another red card.  We left for San Diego right after Nathan got out of school.  About a 6 or so hour drive.  We stayed at the Best Western in Oceanside.

8/24:  We went to San Diego Zoo.  Daddy and Nathan went their own way so I could focus on taking pictures and we met up for lunch.  Got to see the new koala exhibit.  The baby panda was way up in a tree where we could barely see him so that was disappointing.

8/25: We went to Balboa park.  We went to the Air & Space Museum which was okay, but nothing compared to the one here in Tucson.  We went to the auto museum and the model railroad museum.  I also walked around and took pictures of the flowers.  I really liked the water lilies.  That night we ate at Ruby's on Oceanside Pier.  We saw some dolphins swimming and we got to see the sun set.

8/26: We went to Childrens Pool to see the seals.  Nathan played in the sand with his toys.  Seeing the seals in a natural environment was awesome.  Later that day we went on a San Diego Harbor Cruise.  We saw more seals on the cruise.  After that we went over to Coronado and let Nathan play in the sand.  Then we ate dinner there.

8/27: We went by the lighthouse in Oceanside before leaving town.  We saw more seals!  Then we toured the USS Midway in San Diego to conclude our trip.  Got home late that night.

8/28:  Even though Nathan missed school on Monday, 8/26, he got a green card on Wednesday!  I was so excited!  I thought it was pretty impressive considering he did not get a full night's sleep either, but he knew he would get some of his new toys from our vacation if he was good at school.

8/30:  Back to the red card.  He pushed a kid in the closet, hit a kid in the face with a book and would not participate in another group activity.  I really do not understand why he is being mean to the other kids.  We did not have that problem last year.  I think there are too many kids in this class and he is not getting enough individual attention or positive reinforcement.  The green card/red card system just does not seem to working for him and I overheard another parent talking to the teacher that day with the same concerns since his son gets a lot of red cards, too.  Most of my friends, including those who are teachers, think that they are too young at that age for such a system.  I hope the year gets better.

8/31:  We used our last Groupon and went to the water park.  We were there for 3 hours!  That night I went to the last Saturday Summer Evening at the Desert Museum.  It was very crowded.  I got there later than I had hoped so I did not get to take many pictures before going to their two photo workshops, one of photo tips to make your photos stand out and the other on night photography.

So it is Labor Day weekend and tomorrow Nathan has no school and Paul will be home.  I don't think we have anything planned so it may just be a day at home.      

It's Friday!

Nathan ended up getting another red card on 8/7/13.  However, he ended the week with a green card!

For being good at school on Friday, we told Nathan that we would take him to the water park on Saturday. Unfortunately, as I was getting ready to go, I fainted.  I hit my nose and head.  My glasses got scratched up on the frames, too.  Paul let Nathan play in his little pool instead.

On Monday, 8/12, Nathan had another rough day at school.  He ended the day with a red card.  I found out that it is because he and another boy would not pick up their toys.  We have the same problem at home.  I got so tired of yelling at him about it and taking them away so now I have found that by helping him he will pick some of them up.

On Tuesday, 8/13, I took Nathan to the movies for the first time.  We went to see Disney Planes.  He loved the movie Cars so much so I was pretty sure he would like Planes, too.  I was nervous because I was not sure he would sit still for that long.  He did great!  We did not have to pay for anything because I had gift cards and we even got popcorn.  There were like a million previews so both of us were getting impatient with them.  There are a couple of good movies coming out soon, though.  The movie itself was kind of loud, but Nathan did well.  He sat in his seat the whole time and seemed to enjoy the movie.  I was so pleased with his behavior so I bought him Planes shoes and a Planes toy that day.  We also went over to Pappoules and had lunch together.  A nice mommy son day!

On Wednesday, 8/14, Nathan had a better day at school.  I think he had a couple of issues in the morning so he may have got a red card, but he ended the day with a green card!  I was surprised when I picked him up, though, because his teacher said we needed to work on his colors and shapes.  I said he knows his colors and shapes pretty well.  She said he would not point them out to her when she asked him to do so.  So we did it really quick before we left and he was able to point them all out correctly to her.  That boy needs to show off his smarts to his teacher more!

That evening Paul got home a little early and said that he needed to go to urgent care because he thought he had an ear infection.  We went over to CVS minute clinic just before 6, but they were not taking any more patients for the day.  Then we went over to Northwest Urgent Care.  We were there until after 8!  They flushed out his one ear that had a lot of buildup and then gave him a prescription for the infection.  By the time we got the prescription and got home it was like 9:30...way past Nathan's bed time!  They also tested Paul's blood at urgent care since they said he was a diabetic.  It was like 165.  I was surprised it was so high given we had not eaten dinner yet.  I think it is because he had a lot of bread at lunch since he took Nathan's leftover french dip sandwich from dinner the night before.  I was in the process of making strawberry spinach salad for dinner that night, but we did not get a chance to eat it so we ate at Sonic while we were waiting for Paul's prescription to be ready.  He ended up taking the salad to lunch the next day.

Thursday, 8/15, Nathan and I stayed home.  I thought he could use the rest since he got to bed so late the night before.  He still got up at his regular time and his nap that day was a couple of hours which is about normal.  Thus, I think he still needs more sleep!

So now it is finally Friday.  I hope that Nathan has another good day at school.  Mommy has a busy day of cleaning.

Nathan is in his new class now

On 7/3/13 we took Bella and Tulla to the vet for the 6 month appointment.  There was some kind of mix up, though, because the wrong vet gave them their exams.  We are supposed to see Dr Wilson, but for some reason Dr Tucker checked them out.  I really like Dr Wilson, but I do not care for Dr Tucker that much. Bella lost about 6 lbs and is only about 3 lbs from her goal.  The challenging part is that we can not really take her for walks because she may attack other dogs.  The vet suggested swimming, but that is not something we can do all of the time, especially during the year when the water is not warm enough.  Tulla also lost weight and is at her ideal weight now.  The vet made a big deal about Tull'a leg and said that she has very limited movement with it.  Obviously!  She was hit by a car and broke it.  We think she gets around pretty good actually.  She runs up and down the stairs.  Sometimes she limps a little, but usually only if she has been laying down for awhile.  The vet gave me the OK to take her for walks (I was concerned because I did not want to overdo her leg) so I think the exercise will do her some good.  Of course they suggested a different (expensive) food, doing physical therapy for her, talking to a surgeon and possibly amputation.  I think all of this is premature and the expense related to all of this is just not warranted at this time.  I want to try the walking and see how that goes, but it will be much easier when the weather cools down.  The other issue is that Tulla keeps itching a lot.  They said it could be a food allergy (one more reason to switch to their expensive food), a seasonal thing or something like that.  They said to try Benadryl.  I still need to buy some.

Nathan started school on 8/5.  Unfortunately, he did not have a very good first day.  They have a red card green card system.  A red card means they misbehaved.  He got a red card then got his green card back and then got another red card.  He was the only kid in class to get a red card that day.  He was also one of the only boys in the class that day.  I think there may have been one other boy, but there were a lot of girls.  I am not sure if that is affecting his behavior.  Hopefully, it was just because it was his first day and everything was new.  Today is his second day.  There are supposed to be 13 kids there today!  I like it when the class is smaller so I hope it goes well with that many kids.  There are supposed to be a few more boys there today, but still a lot of girls.

Yesterday I took Nathan to the Childrens Museum.  Our dentist gave us a card for free admission so we were able to use that.  Nathan had fun.  Then we went out to lunch with daddy.

My Little Boy's Last Day at School

Today is Nathan's last day in Ms. Carrie's class.  She has been such a great teacher.  She even made scrapbooks for her students and they were waiting for us today.  However, she is out of town right now and had to miss his last day.  Fortunately, I brought my camera in on Monday and got a picture of them together. Ms. Carrie also helped to get Nathan switched to a different class next year.  I no longer have to worry about problems with him and Cassidy.  The sad part is that Nathan's friend Noah moved to California.  His dad got a new job and their family decided to move.  Noah is a good kid and he and Nathan got along so well.  I hope he will make some new friends next year.  The new year starts already on Monday.  Tomorrow night we meet his new teacher.  Once again he will be going to school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  Today is also Dress like your Hero Day.  Nathan wore his blue polo today like daddy's.  He is also wearing his "smell good" which is daddy's cologne sprayed on his shirt.

On 7/23 I took Nathan to Reid Park Zoo.  I think he is getting bored going there as well as the Desert Museum.  It is not as exciting for me either, but since I like to take pictures I still like to go.  I just can't wait for it to cool down.

On 7/27 we went up to Phoenix again.  We went to the Phoenix Zoo.  I wanted to see the new Andean bear cub.  He was adorable, but it was challenging getting good pictures with the fencing.  It was so hot and humid that day.  We went to lunch at Macayo's in Tempe.  They have a train themed restaurant and it is related to our favorite Mexican restaurant here in Tucson.  Afterward, the boys dropped me off at Butterfly Wonderland.  I became an annual member and this was not my 2nd trip there.  I love taking pictures of the butterflies.  However, I was even hotter in there that day than the first day, probably because I was already battling the heat that day at the zoo.  Paul and Nathan went to the railroad park and they got their hair cut at Great Clips.  Paul and I were both feeling exhausted that night, but luckily Nathan seemed to be doing well. It was not the greatest idea on my part to go to the Phoenix Zoo during the summer and then also battle the humidity at Butterfly Wonderland.  Summer just needs to be over now!

In a few weeks we will be going to San Diego for a long weekend.  We have also already booked a trip to go to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta in October.  Now we are just praying that Paul hangs onto his job and that we are not being foolish for spending the money on these trips.  

Another weekend gone

My baby, my Grand Prix, went over 100k miles on 7/13/13 as we were coming back from Scottsdale.  Now both of our cars have over 100k miles.  I hope they both last awhile because we would like to hold off on another car payment for as long as we can.  Of course I miss having a new car.  We need to buy at least one new car in the near future and we need to replace our cooling & heating systems in the house, but all of this is on hold still because of the uncertainty of Paul's job.

Yesterday we went to Sabino Canyon.  We got to play in the water and sand.  Last night I went to a Macro Photography class at the Desert Museum and to their Summer Saturday Evening.  I was a little disappointed because the animals were not very active...they were all getting ready to go to bed for the night.  They also had some exhibits and paths closed.

Tomorrow I hope to talk to Nathan's school about the upcoming year starting in about a week.  I found out on Friday that somehow Nathan and Cassidy got put back in the same class for next year.  They were assigned to two different classes per his current teacher's recommendation.  When I questioned it, they said I could move him to the other class, but one of my requested days, Friday, is full for that class.  I told them to just keep in the same class then.  After thinking about it over the weekend I am a little upset about it.  I turned in his application a long time ago, one of the first parents to do so, with my requested days.  Additionally, I was reassured weeks ago that Nathan and Cassidy would not be in the same class.  Now we are the ones who have to be inconvenienced because of this kid.  I doubt anything will change after I talk to them again, but I also want to find out if Nathan's friend Noah will be in his class next year.  That may also help me determine which class to put him in.

Yay for the weekend

Today we found out that they moved Cassidy, the boy who causes trouble in Nathan's class, to another room.  That is good for us because he was a bad influence on Nathan.

Tomorrow we are going to the Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale.  Not sure what else we will be doing in the area.

On 7/6, we went to the races at Tucson International Raceway.   Nathan had a lot of fun.  They also had a fireworks show.  We left after the fireworks which was during the half time intermission.

7/7 was the Queen of the Night event at Tohono Chul Park.  Last year I went for the first time and I went again this year.  My pictures this year did not come out so well because the flashlight I was using had a yellowish tint.  I was trying to steal other people's light, but that did not work too well.  I tried to go the next morning after I dropped Nathan off at school, but the flowers were already closing up.  It was hotter than heck already, too, but their prickly pear lemonade sure was refreshing.  I went to Sprouts the other day and got some Simply Lemonade and some prickly pear juice.  I have been making my own prickly pear lemonades at home and they are so good!

On 7/9 Nathan and I went to DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun.  They posted on Facebook that a bunch of their cacti were blooming so I wanted to go take pics.  Nathan wanted to eat at Firehouse Subs for lunch so we went there afterward.

On 7/10, I went to Tohono Chul Park and Tucson Botanical Gardens.  Both had posted on Facebook the day before that they had beautiful cacti blooms, but I did not see much when I went.  I also decided to go to the zoo since I still had time.  It was a little boring.  I am waiting for the new lemurs and the grizzly bears.  I guess they just got the grizzly bears today, but they will not be on exhibit for at least 30 days.  There is talk about putting a hippo/s in the old elephant exhibit.  I am also hoping for some tiger and/or lion cubs soon.  For lunch that day I ate at Pita Jungle, one of my favorites.  They are building a 2nd location that is closer to our house.