Job Hunting

SUCKS!

I have such mixed emotions about going to work. I am really really excited that I am FINALLY an RN, I've worked so hard for it. I'm excited to learn new things, help people and go back to work but I'm really scared at the same time. I've been a stay at home mommy for 6 years. I'm used to doing everything for my kids and being there for them anytime they need me. It makes me sad to have to leave them. But it's time. My husband has carried the burden of being the sole provider for all of us since he was 22 years old. That's a lot of weight to carry. He's done an amazing job and I can never thank him enough for the gift he has given to all of us. It's time to share some of that burden, especially since our family has grown in size over the past 6 years! It's time for us to buy a new house (we are renting right now so our kids can go to a good school, we rented out our Casa Grande house). We would really like to buy something within the next few months in our current neighborhood. We also need a new car. Our van has like 110k miles on it and it's on it's last leg. So yeah, this couldn't be a better time for me to start working.

On the lookout......for a job. I've applied pretty much everywhere. Hospitals in the valley are NOT hiring new grads unless you already work for them in some capacity or know someone to get your foot in the door. So either I go out of the area or I look for work in other areas such as homecare, public health, etc. I really don't mind doing that, the schedules may be easier to accomodate with my kids' school schedules. The only downside is that I would really love the experience of working in a hospital. My dream is to work in L&D or postpartum. I will just take what I can get at this point. I have my application in at a few hospitals so we'll see. I also have an interview tomorrow with a pediatric homecare place. It sounds promising and they pay well. I will update soon!

I Lied

Remember in an earlier post when I said I was going to wait to put Taylor into dance class until she turned two?? Yeah, I lied. I was at Drew's gymnastics practice and I was looking over the class schedules and what did I discover?? A parent-tot ballet/tap combo for 18 month-2 year old's! I am well aware that she is ONLY 18 months old and she really doesn't have a concept yet of taking directions, but I couldn't resist and the leotards are SO cute. Anyway, I took her to her first class for free to try it out. We bought her her little leotard and ballet shoes but I couldn't find tap shoes to fit her. Good thing I waited because at her class, the teacher was selling some used pairs for $5. So now Taylor owns her very first pair of tap shoes and they are SO stinking cute!

So far she has been to 2 classes and she's doing okay. The other two girls in her class are a bit older, closer to 3 years old. They take direction a lot better than she does. She just wants to have fun and that's what I let her do. The music comes on and the teacher wants them to point their toes and plea. Taylor pretty much does her own thing. She spins around with her arms up above her head. She looks like a little ballerina in her movements, she just doesn't like to follow direction and I'm okay with that! Afterall, she IS only one. She does better at tap than ballet. Ballet is a little slow for her and she likes to MOVE. She loves the sound that her shoes make when she stomps her feet. Her teacher is so good with the little ones, she has fun ways of making the kids do the movements. She "stomps the bugs" when they are practicing tap. They have a recital coming up in December. They are dancing to "I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas" and they even have tiny Hippo costumes for them to wear (with giant bows in their hair, of course!)

I know I'm her mom and I'm biased but I really think Taylor's a pretty talented little dancer, for being only 1 year old, girl's got some rhythm!

She's Crafty...

I never considered myself to be a crafty person and finally figured out why....I hate getting out all the supplies, making a mess and then having to clean it all up. That's why I never got into scrap booking. It took forever to unpack and repack the massive amounts of paper, stickers, stamps, pictures, glue, etc. It would be easier to just be able to leave it all out but my anal self would never be able to do that and I couldn't see myself dedicating an entire area in my home to any sort of craft because well, my house isn't that big and even if it was, who does that?

I do enjoy being creative though! When I have the time, which isn't very often, I really enjoy creating things for the house and things for the kids! I'm so happy I have a little girl now because she's a huge part of my craftiness lately. Without her, I wouldn't be able to make bows or tutus or bow holders, etc. Here are a few things I have made over the past year or so!

Wipee Cases...so fun and easy!

Halloween Centerpiece

Minnie Mouse flip flops and pigtail bows for Taylor! We're going to Disneyland at Halloween time this year and she has to be accessorized!

Bows made to match one of her new outfits!
Fun Marshmallow mummies made with fruit by the foot! The boys actually made these....I just came up with the idea.
Bored one day and decided to make use out of Taylor's exersaucer box. Aren't these fun?? The kids had a blast!
Taylor in her birthday tutu....I wish I had a better picture of this, it looked SO cute on her. It's hard to get a good picture at Peter Piper Pizza though. Too many distractions!

I passed! Sara Morrison RN

The past 5 years of my life have been spent having babies and going to nursing school. Love the having babies part....nursing school....not so much. Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome experience and I met some REALLY great people but I'm SO tired of studying, taking tests and being away from my family....and not getting paid for it!

I hit a few bumps in the road along the way, that's why it took me SO long. Actually, for all that I have been through over the past 5 years, I'm surprised it didn't take me even longer. I started school in August of 2005. Connor was almost 1 year old. In January, I found out I was pregnant with Andrew and he was born on the first day of classes that August. I made it to class later in that week. Minor bump. Then in April that following year, when Drew was 7 months old, I found out I was unexpectedly pregnant again. Nolan was born in January. He was diagnosed with cancer and he passed away that March. Needless to say, I took that semester off. MAJOR bump but I'm so glad to have known my little boy and to have gotten to spend every single day for 10 weeks, 2 days with him. He made me even more determined......I was accepted into the nursing program that following August. Before I started school though, we got pregnant with our little Taylor princess baby. :) She was born in March, by scheduled c-section during my spring break. I returned to school without missing a day! Minor bump. It was smooth sailing after she was born. The end was in sight with only 5 more weeks of school left. Then I fell down the stairs at school (in front of my entire class by the way). I totally broke my foot in 3 places and dislocated my lisfranc joint. I had surgery and they placed 4 pins. I was in a cast for 6 weeks and a walking boot for 6 more weeks. MAJOR bump. I almost didn't graduate. Thankfully, the Dean at the school allowed me to participate in the nursing pinning ceremony and finish up my 5 clinicals over the summer. I was not eligible to take my state boards until my technical graduation date of August 5th since my clinicals were not done.

So I finally finished my clinicals and I scheduled my test on the next available date which was September 20th. I have never studied so hard in my life. I heard horror stories of how difficult the test was and I've personally known people that have failed. Smart people. I was totally freaked out. I read 3 NCLEX books, cover to cover, well, 4 including a review workbook that someone lent me. They weren't small books either! I would estimate that I read a good 2000 pages of information and took at least 1000 NCLEX practice questions along the way. So yeah, I was freaking out.

So the day came that I was driving in the car on my way to the testing center. This sounds really stupid but the last 5 years totally flashed back. It all came down to this test and I was doing it for my baby Nolan. I really felt like he was with me that day.....and a calmness set in.

I got to the testing center....man, they're not fooling around. First I showed my license and my testing form to the lady and had to put all of my stuff into a locker and spit out my gum. Then I filled out a form that said I wouldn't cheat or tell others what was on my test. After that was over, I showed my ID again and she took my fingerprints and I had to put both of my hands on this this contraption that read the unique outline of my veins in my palm.....yeah, totally James Bond. I got my picture taken and was advised that I would be videotaped for the entire test. Then she made me empty out my pockets, take off my flip flops and sweatshirt, I had to frisk my own pantlegs and then I showed my ID again. She finally escorted me to my computer. I snuck a peak at a few other people's screens...just out of curiosity. The guy next to me was taking his abdominal surgery certification test. Not just nurses in there apparently.

So I sat down at the computer and the test flew by. It was all a blur. I had tons of "select all that apply" questions. Those are REALLY hard because you have a really good chance of selecting something or not selecting something and having it count wrong. I just did my best and crossed my fingers it would be over at 75 questions, the minimum amount of questions. I have never known anyone to fail after only 75 questions. The way the test works is that the computer asks you an easy question. You get it right, so it asks you a harder question. You get that right and it asks you a harder question. If you get it wrong, it goes back to easy again. It's not about how many you get RIGHT, it's about the level of questioning that you are getting right. The computer stops the questions when it knows with 95% certainty that you are at the "level". It tests your ability. The maximum questions is 265 or 6 hours, whichever comes first. So, if you get 75 and it shuts off, you are either really dumb and the computer knows with 95% certainty NOT to give you more questions because you won't pass or you are super smart and you passed with flying colors. You can also tell by the level of questions the computer is giving you. If you get super easy questions and NO hard ones, you are pretty much failing.

Anyway, my test shut off at 75! I felt okay about it but still really nervous. The following day I looked at my State Board website and there was an RN license number next to my name!!!! I PASSED! Thank you Lord (and Nolan)....I passed!!!

We celebrated by going out to dinner last night to Buffalo Wild Wings. Yummy food and a loud atmosphere....a must when you go with three kids under 5. Bryan sent me flowers and Bryan's mom brought over balloons and a cake the day of the test. I treated myself to a pedicure. I figured I deserved it after all of my studying! My boys made me a card, they were so proud of their mom.

My next mission is to find a J-O-B. It's really hard for new graduates to find jobs right now....our economy sucks and the hospitals don't want to spend time and money training us. Wish me luck!! I want to work in postpartum or labor and delivery. That's where my heart is and I think I'd be good at it. After all, I've had 4 babies and breastfed and pumped (for Nolan) a total of 3+ years of my life. I also really like working with the mommies. I can relate to them!

**Just got my license in the mail today! It's official!

Labor Day 2010

For Labor Day this year, we planned a trip with Grampa and Grandma Morrison to go up to Hawley Lake in the White Mountains. We rented a rustic 3 bedroom cabin just yards from the water. It was so nice to get out of the heat! I think the high was in the 70's there, while it was 110 down in Chandler! Huge difference! It rained every afternoon but it wasn't the kind of rain you get in the valley. The clouds would roll in with lots of thunder and lightning...but no dust! It would down pour for like 20 minutes and then the clouds would move on out, the sun would shine again and the water would soak into the ground. No humidity, just cool, crisp air. I really love it up there and the kids loved it too!

My boys are finally at the age where they can do more outdoor things independently and they are really enjoying it. This weekend Connor caught his first trout, with his tiny SpongeBob fishing pole. He also found a caterpillar in front of the cabin. They spent hours on the rocks catching crawdads with their poles, baited with night crawlers and cheese. They both went out on the their first fishing boat with mommy, daddy and grampa....we made lots of memories up at the cabin. I'm so happy my kids were able to experience the outdoors.

Thanks to Grandma, Taylor has become quite the little outdoors girl too! While we were out on the boat, Grandma stayed behind and took Taylor on a hike where they picked wildflowers. She saw chipmunks, a heard of cattle roaming free and was able to just enjoy being outside in the dirt.

While down at the lake in front of the cabin, one of the boys handed Taylor a LIVE worm. Yes, that's right, a worm. I sort of freaked a little. I love to fish but I don't touch worms, I don't want my princess touching them either! Taylor calmly held it in her hand and Grandma explained to me that she's already held a worm earlier that day....she "gulp" likes worms. Eww! That will change when she's older, I'm sure!

The boat was.....interesting, but lots of fun. We aren't experienced boat fishermen, to say the least. Once we got off the dock and started going (at a whole 1 mile per hour), we found our spot and Bryan asked me to drop the anchor. I picked up the giant, rusted coffee can that was filled with cement. It probably weight 20 pounds or so. I dropped it in the water and watched the rope go with it. Didn't think anything of it. So we fished for another 30 minutes or so and then decided to go somewhere else. Bry told me to pull the anchor back in. I looked around for the place this fancy anchor was attachted to......didn't see it in the boat. Uh, oh! We all had a good laugh because lame-O Sara threw the anchor in and it wasn't attached....so we thought. Okay, so we decided to go further into the lake. Bryan was having a hard time steering and the boat was going like 1/2 a mile per hour (if that's even possible). In the mean time, Drew's line got snagged on something, Connor wanted to go back to the cabin and we weren't catching any fish. As we were going, the tiny lake waves were pushing us toward the shore. We heard a clunk clunk clunk. The rocks were deep enough were it wasn't the massive engine that was scraping them....it was the anchor. It was attached on the outside....duh! We all had a good laugh again....at my expense. So I started pulling in the rope when Drew's snagged line and hook sliced my hand. It got snagged on the anchor! My injury was very minor and again, we all had a good laugh. So after the anchor was back in the boat, it felt like we were flying at 1 mile per hour to the other side of the lake, where we docked at the shore and let the boys out to go back up to the cabin with grandma. The guys and I went back out onto the lake where I caught the ONLY fish of the day out of the boat....GO ME! We had lots of fun that day! I hope to make Hawley Lake a Labor Day tradition! Here are some pictures of our adventures!

Andrew is 4!

Wow, time sure does fly! It seems like not long ago, we brought home our little Andrew from the hospital. I can't believe he's already 4, in school and so independent. Here is our little "Poodie" at 1 week old.
And here is my handsome little man on his birthday....
Andrew loves to swim and he wanted a swimming party, which actually works out perfectly since his birthday is in August and we live in Arizona. I foresee many swimming parties in his future! He had an AWESOME birthday. We were fortunate enough to be able to use Grampa and Grandma's timeshare and we rented a suite at a fancy resort in Scottsdale for an entire week! We only celebrated for the weekend though and had to give up the hotel at the Westin to it's rightful owners. :) So on Saturday night, we had all of Andrew's cousins and Aunts Hilorie and Heather come up for a slumber party!! We went to the big pool and swam, stayed up late, ate Chinese food, stuffed our faces with candy and popcorn, watched tv, went for a late night swim, and then everyone crashed including the adults.
The next morning we were up bright and early (thanks to our wake up call from Connor....he literally yelled, "Wake Up!!") We went down to the pool to reserve our cabana and set up for the party! The hotel kindly let us set up his Power Ranger birthday party in the owners lounge. This is the area that they have wine tastings, white linen couches, beautiful tile floors and art on the walls. Needless to say, we had 16+ children and 25 adults eating messy pizza and cake on the furniture. They were so nice though and really didn't mind. They even brought us extra plates and silverware.
Andrew was on top of the world that day. He is our middle child which is a really hard place to be in a family. We really try to spend extra time with each of our children as often as possible and they all enjoy it but I think Andrew really appreciates things like birthday parties the most. After cake, presents and pizza, we did some more swimming with our friends and family. Andrew's favorite was the water slide. He went down that thing at least 30 times that day. That's why he's wearing his life jacket. He can swim but I just didn't want to have to worry about my crazy water boy!
I really try hard to plan a special day for each of my kids' birthdays every year. This was one of the very best. I loved how each of the families were able to spend time together during the party, making memories! We had all of our best friends there with us and our family at a beautiful resort. It was so much fun and I want to thank everyone that came to celebrate our little Andrew!

Bikes!

Can't leave out little Taylor!
Go Connor, Go!!!
Go Andrew, Go!
Yaaay!


Connor learned to ride his bike without training wheels! I was dreading the day that he learned how to ride a two-wheeler. I anticipated skinned knees and bumped chins. I was so shocked when Bryan took him outside with his bike, got him started and then LET GO! Connor just took off and never looked back. He learned to stop and turn the very same night with only minimal falling. He was definitely ready. Now we go on family bike rides with Drew and Taylor in the bike trailer and Connor rides along side mom and dad! If you ride fast enough, it's not THAT hot outside! LOL! Look how sweaty my boys are! Oh, well, it's good exercise!

Kids activities

Our summer was so busy with moving, my broken foot and all the doctors appointments that accompanied it, physical therapy, make-up clinicals for school, etc. My poor kids didn't get to do a whole lot of fun activities. To be honest, they spent a lot of time inside. Bryan and I thought it would be a good idea to get them both involved in some sort of physical activity. We let them choose.

Connor chose ice hockey. I though it was a wonderful choice since it's SO hot outside. Polar Ice is a very refreshing place to be when it's 110 degrees outside. He's in a learn-to-skate hockey class. He wears almost full gear and practices learning how to skate. He's also learning some beginning hockey techniques. I think it's a great sport for him. He's such a big, strong, kid. He's only had three lessons and so far, he's doing good! He falls much much less than he did the first week and he's even shot a few goals during practice. I think we are going to try and give him a few extra private skating lessons in the near future just so he can start concentrating more on the hockey part and less on the not falling part. He's having fun and getting lots of exercise, so that's all that really matters. He loves to tell people that he plays hockey, he feels cool, like the big kids/adults that he sees practicing. It's funny because after practice, he takes off his helmet and his entire head and back are covered in sweat when he's done. I'm hoping he sticks with it, I think it could be really fun for him!

Andrew decided he wanted to do gymnastics. I loved this idea because he's on the small side but he's a ball of muscle and energy. We enrolled him into USA gymnastics and it's a great fit for him. He's in the preschool class but his teacher said he'd be moving up very soon into the boys novice class because of his listening skills and his ability. I really love the gym, they teach classes from the 1 year old parent/child class, all the way up to 18 years old. It's amazing to see what some of the older, teen boys can do on the bars and the horse and some of the older girls tumbling is amazing. So far Andrew has learned his cartwheel,handstand, headstand, backbend, perfected the somersault, does some cute little jumps on the trampolines and loves to hang upside down on the bar. His favorite is the giant pit of foam though....I don't blame him, I want to jump in it! I like how this gym is really focused on the kids' form and really tries to perfect their movements. I'm hoping Andrew sticks with gymnastics for as long as daddy will allow him. He's really good at it and he loves having something of his "own".

Taylor is still not in any activities but she loves to come and watch the boys. Actually, she mostly watches the girls....the figure skaters at Connor's hockey practice and the girls gymnastics team at Drew's practice. I'm hoping to enroll her into the dance program at Drew's gym. They start a ballet, tap, jazz class at 2 years. I'm itching to buy her her first leotard!

Gymnastics pictures of Andrew coming soon....BAD MOMMY!

OMG! OMG! John Mayer!!

Squeeeeee!!!!

Okay, so I'm usually not the star struck type of person. I don't idolize anyone and I'm not a particularly huge fan of anyone in particular. I like good music and there are a few artists that I would consider my favorites but I'm not a crazy fan.....that being said, when Bryan surprised me with last minute John Mayer tickets I was excited! I thought we would have our little date night on the lawn of Cricket Pavillion and listen to some music together. I was SO wrong!

We arrived a little bit early to the concert so that we could claim our spot on the grass. As we were walking in, there was a radio contest going on. They were giving away front row tickets and backstage passes. I entered my name on the off-chance I'd win. I actually had a really good feeling about it...odd considering there were like a hundred teenage girls entering the same contest. I joked to Bryan, "wouldn't it be funny if we won?? " Hahaha!

The rules to the contest were that you had to be present to win so we waiting for like 20 minutes until they pulled the one and only name out of the box.....Sara Morrison!!!!!!!!! I actually screamed. I thought to myself, "you idiot, are you really screaming?" I seriously got the look of death from all of the teenage girls whose names were not called. Neener neener neener! LOL! So they gave me the tickets and off we went to MEET John Mayer!! We got autographs and a picture with him. I didn't know wheter or not to put my arm around him in the picture, I was so nervous and TOTALLY STAR STRUCK. What a great experience! Yeah, me and John...we go way back. LOL!

The best part was sitting front row, center. We were SO close to him, it felt like he was singing to us. Very fun and super romantic. By far, the best concert that I've ever been to.

After the concert, Bryan asked if I wanted to go to Jack Johnson next. I told him only if we get front row seats....cause that's how I roll. :) Kidding of course. We actually did get tickets to Jack Johnson though and I'm really looking forward to seeing the concert with my sister and her husband! SO fun!

Our Taylor

Since the boys started school, I feel so lucky to be able to spend some time alone with my daughter. She's really growing up too! She's almost 18 months old now and her personality has blossomed. She's talking a lot more these days and she's pretty bossy! LOL! The girl knows what she wants and she definitely doesn't let anyone push her around. That probably has something to do with have 2 older brothers. I took her to McDonalds and a little boy tried to push her off of one of the little toddler toys. She stood her ground, gave him her mad face and yelled at him. That's my girl.
She can be incredibly sweet though too. She blows kisses and says hello to everyone (and everything, especially animals). She is learning please and thank-you and the girl adores her daddy.
Taylor is all-things-girlie. She loves Dora, princesses, baby dolls, pretty clothes, jewelry, make up, hair brushes and sparkly shoes. She's a born dancer and whenever she hears music, she breaks out into one of her little dances. Last night, when we were at Drew's gymnastics class, we were watching the older girls on the balance beams. They were turning with their arms in the air. Guess what Taylor does now? Yep, spins with her arms in the air. She definitely watches the older girls. My niece was over a few weeks ago and she taught Taylor how to do a somersault. I couldn't believe it. She's only 1! I think she's my future gymnast...or dancer...or diva...or whatever the heck she wants to be!

First Day of School!

On July 26th both my boys started school! Andrew started a community preschool program at a Chandler elementary school and Connor started full-day Kindergarten! I can't believe how much they are growing up. They both had an awesome first day and both loved their teachers. It really surprised me how social they both are! Connor has so many new friends, it seems like he's talking about a different kid every day and when I drop him off at school, its cute how he runs out of the car and onto the playground where his little group is waiting for him! Andrew has lots of new friends too! He doesn't tell me as much about his day at school as Connor does, so on meet the teacher night, it really surprised me when 3 different moms came up to me and asked if I was Andrew's mom. If you know Andrew, the fact that people were asking me if I was his mom kind of freaked me out....he can be a little mischievous! They just wanted to introduce themselves because their little boys talk about Andrew all the time. That was so flattering and made me feel so good about my choice to send Drew to preschool 5 days a week. I was so happy to find out that he was enjoying himself so much and socially, he's really taking off.
As far as academics go, Kindergarten is much more difficult than I remember it being! Connor has a homework packet that needs to be completed every week. He's just beginning to read and his writing has already improved so much. His new hobby is drawing and writing stories (with mom's help to spell the words!) Andrew has also learned a lot from preschool. When he started out in July, he couldn't write a single letter. He's writing his name and recognizing letters and numbers. He points to signs on the road and tells me the letters that he sees. This is HUGE for him. He's always been a really smart kid, but he's super stubborn. He had no interest in learning letters or how to write. Somehow, his teacher made him interested because there's no stopping him now!
I am a mother to two school children. A new chapter in our lives and it's already been so exciting. I'm so proud of the people that they are becoming.