Mason just lost his 2nd tooth!

We are anxiously awaiting a visit from the tooth fairy. I need to
rustle up some money. Thank goodness Joe is still here to witness this
exciting milestone. He leaves tomorrow for three weeks in Florida. The
next time we see him will be in Hawaii!!!

Brianna McCarthy
Sent from my iPhone

Back in School

Well, the first week of school is underway. I am already drowning in homework and material to read, memorize and all that fun stuff. Talan claims he now hates school but his teachers tell us he is having a great time there. Mason went back to school a week before Talan and I started. He has a big screening test coming up at the end of the month so we are really working on our recognition of letters (upper and lower case) as well as the sounds associated with them. He thinks lower case "l"s look like "i"s and he thinks a lower case q is really a p. It is confusing, I can only imagine. When he sees a "Y" he says yellow instead of "Y" and for "W" he says water. Close but no cigar!
I love having Joe home. It is so wonderful to jointly care for the kids and all the responsibilities at home. Joe has been making wonderful meals for me since I started the food addicts diet (no sugar, no flour, no snacking). I am taking it one day at a time although I have lost three pounds which is exciting. :)
The weather is cold but not snowing. We've actually had some rain. In some places there is still snow on the ground but for the most part it melts almost right away. I am reminded of the bumper sticker Barclay had on her car when she was a teenagers "The weather is here wish we were beautiful". I look forward to beautiful weather and Hawaii at the end of March to celebrate my father's 70th birthday.
Lucy and Luna got spayed last week which was quite dramatic for the boys even though they were only gone half a day. You would not believe the tears that were shed for "my baby kitties". Joe is convinced Lucy thinks she is a dog. She begs for food like you wouldn't believe. She sits on top of the garbage can which is just slightly lower than the kitchen counter (which she knows she is not allowed on) and waits for scraps. We have taken to calling her "garbage can kitty". She is not offended in the least. :) She is where the food is, at all times.
I haven't been blogging as much as usual but you will find me on Facebook which is just so quick I can't resist being on that site.

Academy of Sciences visit

Baba took the boys and me to the Academy of Sciences to enjoy Claude the albino alligator and the planetarium. Joe met up with us which made it extra special.

Sent from my iPhone

Baba took the boys and me to the Academy of Sciences to enjoy Claude the albino alligator and the planetarium. Joe met up with us which made it extra special.
Sent from my iPhone

Multimedia message

Talan got dominos so we played a round. Fun fun. 

Posting to blog from iPhone

I am studying, again, all day with my lab partner for our final exam tomorrow. Wish us luck.

Sent from my iPhone

Final Stretch

My last final is Monday. I have pulled off two great test scores (90 and 83) to put myself at a 78% average. So, I have a little breathing room for the final but still need to do well. My mom has been here over a week now and she has been a godsend. I am having so much fun with her, when I am not studying. I am so glad she is here. We will all fly to Marin on the 16th so that is a very tantalizing carrot at the end of this grueling journey. I can't wait to see my dad, Joe and Fred and all my friends! We haven't booked a flight back to Idaho yet but we will be there through Christmas.
Yesterday, I got to volunteer to greet the incoming class of nursing students. What a trip! In the audience I saw my lab partner in A&P, my first semester back in college, who was so patient with me while I learned how to be a student again. I like being involved with the RN program and it probably earns me a few kudos with my professors. I had my last clinical on Thursday and so I finally put my nose pierce back in as I haven't been allowed to wear it all semester, one of the many small sacrifices for nursing school. :)
It has been an amazing journey and I trust I will pass my course and progress on to the second semester. Being so close to not passing is just going to make it all the sweeter. :)

Black Friday

We are laying low avoiding all the crazy shoppers out there this morning. Unlike last year when Barclay and Joe went and got smoking deals on a flat screen TV. There is nothing that we really want or need this year so we are skipping the chaos. Instead, the boys are having tons of fun playing with the gigantic box that my new office chair came in. They have made it into a fort and all sorts of other things. Amazing how much fun a big box can be. :)

We had a wonderful time up at Luke and Casey's new home in Rathdrum yesterday for Thanksgiving. Luke is Mr. Matt's brother. We had Easter Dinner at their house earlier in the year but that was before they moved so we were excited to see what they had built. It was gorgeous and comfy! They are great hosts and it was a really relaxed atmosphere. Despite Mason accidentally giving Zachary a bloody nose, the boys all got along great. It is so nice to have friends that have boys of similar ages. I got to sneak in a few sweet moments with baby Riley who just turned one last week. Keira and Barclay and I (and Zachary) played a game of Yahtzee. It was the longest game ever as all kids kept interrupting and wanting to know what we were doing.

We were home by 6pm and I managed to do about three hours of homework which is great as that has been my goal to do some work every day. Yesterday morning I volunteered at the hospital to hand out blankets to patients to fulfill some of my community service hours that my program requires. When I got home the kids were telling their neighborhood friends that I had gone to donate blood! Crazy rumors.

So anyhow, Joe finally figured out how to download my iphone photos onto my laptop so I can now post them onto my blog. My one and only attempt to blog from my iphone was unsuccessful. It takes a lot of time to get familiar with all these new tools.

My mom is flying out next week to help me with the boys while I finish the last two weeks of my nursing program. Then we will all fly out to Marin on the 16th to catch up with Joe who will be out there catering. Barclay is flying out on the 23rd for four days so that we can all spend Christmas together. I am exciting to have something to look forward to. It's been a very long semester to say the least. Mason is counting down the days to Christmas. FYI 28 days to go!