Michelle

She is probably going to hang me by my toenails for posting this...but since I left my camera in her office and someone else clicked away..it was just DESTINED to be posted..don't you THINK?! :)

So...this is my bud Michelle.

Michelle is the closest thing to a saint I have EVER met.

She is the kindest, most loving person you could know. She oozes with creativity, empathy, creativity, givingness (is that a word???). How could she not be loved?

Michelle is our schools ROCK. She lends a kind ear and a sturdy shoulder to every man, child, or beast that walks through the door. Parents, employees, children, you name it, they come and she fixes. Either with a band-aid, some loving, or a dose of sympathy.

I'm so glad I know Michelle. I taught her youngest son Jacob a couple years back. Things just sort of blossomed from there. You know that feeling you get when you just 'click' with someone. That's how it is. I'm lucky to have found a few people like that at work, and Michelle is truly one of them..

She is the cool breeze in hell (err...I mean work) that is much needed on any given day!

~Chat soon!

thoughts by anne...

Dad, what is your favorite animal to eat?

Um, I guess cows.

COWS? WE DON'T EAT COWS!

Well, we had cows yesterday when we had hamburgers.

OH DADDY! YOU HAVE SUCH AN IMAGINATION!

A-Mommy, how do our legs work?

Uh...because our brain tells us to work them.

A-Isn't that nice of them?

A-Mommy, I am going to pray for your leg

Thanks Anne, I hope it feels better soon. **I hurt it carrying something very heavy up our stairs...don't ask.**

A-I hope He has time to fix it.

During 'reading time' the other day she says...

A-HEY GUYS!

We say- YES?

A-How do babies get in mommies tummies?

room gets fuzzy...adam looks away, no eyecontact is ALWAYS the best idea, don't you think?

I say-God puts them there!

Adam looks at me like I am just won WIFE OF THE YEAR! :)

wonder what today's thoughts by anne will bring! :)

~Chat soon!

in case you didn't know...

we are weird.
i am a proud member of a weird family.
if you don't know...we do not have cable. (a hush falls over the crowd....)
we are not big tv watchers and it just seems to be a waste. adam is very money conscious and since that seems to be something we would possibly not get our money out of, we don't have it.
it works for me.
a while back, however, it was said, nation wide, that our tv service would be null if we did not buy this fancy black box that gave us a couple extra channels and great reception.
we obliged and bought the box. the for said box recently died. dead as a door nail.
anne seems to think she knows the problem since her brother 'eric' told her. i'm not holding my breath.
i digress. since early last week, or maybe even the week before, we have not had tv on our first floor.
it is heaven sent.
i have really been struggling with how to cut tv time out of our diet. all of our diets.
i think i may have found the solution.
the girls watch a few minutes of a video/movie they have watched manya-times and they are done. we watch our netflix selection at the end of the evening and all are happy.
sounds weird, right???
i guess it is.
I just hate the fact that inadvertently, my children, have been sucked into tv. even if it is as innocent as elmo's world, or sid the science kid. i just don't like it. they need to be playing, outside, inside, i don't give a rip, honestly. I just don't want it to be in front of the boob tube (as mom says).
I think i was born in the wrong generation. i'm not a big fan of t.v., video games or tv's in cars...i don't let the kids chew gum, or drink soda for that matter, i prefer they drink milk before their lips taste anything else for the day, we pray before meals, bedtime, and really in any other situation where prayer is needed, we play games together, we tickle, we are all about the family. that's just us. if you don't agree. that's okay, but it works for our family.
i challenge you to turn your tube off for a day. you'd be surprised how much the dynamics in your household change.

**don't worry, we have to have ONE tv. otherwise i couldn't watch for bad weather!!!!*
~Chat soon!

Monday...

Hoping your Monday is as exciting as Kate's!!
~Chat soon!

f.e.a.r.

four little letters i HATE.
today i touched base with the word fear.
living in the Midwest, storms are not foreign to us.
i'm still a HUGE wuss when it comes to them.
a few near misses as a young child will do that to a gal.

the weather man said the weather for the weekend was going to be wet. big whoop. i can deal with wet.
it rained last night. big whoop.
this morning was overcast. big whoop.
i ventured out for some errand running after the girls went down for their nap. (adam was home) i heard the forecast predicting 'strong storms', but more often then not this means, thunder. ;)
first errand done.
went to the dry cleaners to pick up some clothes. that is when the whole thing went south...

here's how it went down.
the sky was black. you know that weird color that you know it shouldn't be at 3pm.
the wind is making things fly at your head.
i scampered into the dry cleaners to meet two teenage girls with eyes as big as saucers.
their boss just had stopped in and said if the sirens went off they were to lay under the counter.
um, yeah, i thought, you keep the cleaning.
i'm out of here.
as i got in the car, i called home to tell adam that i wasn't going to the grocery store, the sky looked spooky etc. and then...

the sirens started wailing and my britches filled up.
OH MY LORD.

that sound brings.me.to.my.knees.

it really does.
i had a quick conversation with myself that went something like this...

you are 33 for goodness sake. cowboy up and take it like a man...

(that is the "g" rated version of the conversation.)

the pep talk didn't work. the tears started, and i just wanted my momma!
of course, in a situation like that, you hit every possible red light on the planet.
and i did.
the second one that turned red is long on a good day. i had the feeling of being sucked into quick sand. the sky was getting darker and greener by the second, and i swear if i would have reached up, i could have touched it...i prayed out loud, almost yelling, TURN THE LIGHT GREEN. nothing. red as an apple. i looked in all directions, prayed again, nailed the gas and turned the corner. nice that there was a police officer who came up right behind me, he was polite enough to keep driving, i DID smile and nod politely when he passed me up. (maybe he was scared too...)

the rain started, the hail came, the prayers were louder, and the tears were fiercer. i swear the clouds were spinning funnels right before my eyes, although none were reported (can't believe it. ;) )
luckily, the cars must have sensed my panic and moved over when they saw me coming.
(that was nice, don't you think??)
i flew into the driveway, jumped out and ran in the house.
adam had taken the girls to the basement already and had come up to check the sky.
he looked at me like i had just come back from a trip to the beach. as if i should just have smiled and kissed him lightly...
i was breathing heavy, teary eyed, and sweating...oh and don't forget the shaking...
'what is wrong?' he says.
i ignored him and made my route to the basement.
did i mention i hate storms?
(the calm after the storm...)

~Chat soon!

Hanging on by a thread...

Isn't that the best saying? A friend of Adam's once said that to me shortly after I had Kate.
I will never forget it. It has been a perfect phrase in many a situation...

This week has been b.u.s.y. Weird for me. I am always busy at work, and busy in my head with thoughts...but we are lucky that we aren't busy calendar wise, very often.
Not true this week.
I hope I babystep into this phase of my life.
If not.
I'm going to be a mess.

Yesterday, I got to work, couldn't' find my keys. I knew I had them. I drove there.
Sent a coworker to look in my car. She says oh so politely, 'nice. you left them in your ignition'.

About the same time. I lost some money. Money to get my hair cut and money for our babysitter for this weeks. It was a hefty chunk. I looked high and low, near and far, called the husband, looked in the car, under seats, dumped the purse. While muttering a few words I shoved my hands in my back pockets (trademark stance when Sara is ticked...) VIOLA! Jackpot. Found my wad of cash, neatly folded in my back pocket. nice.

After walking in the door last night, Adam said, we need to talk. He led me upstairs and I was hit in the nose with the.most.vial.smell I have smelled in a very long time. It was gross. It smelled like rotten milk with a twist. Adam lovingly told me he thought it was coming from my favorite pair of shoes. gross. so i kind of bought it and we moved the shoes outside. Anne couldn't find a c.d. she wanted to listen to so I ran upstairs and poked around in her room. The smell was totally coming from there. I lifted the dust ruffle on her bed and stuck my nose there. WOWSERS! I almost barfed right then and there. Somehow a milk cup must have dripped and it landed on some extra bedding, producing a very rank smell. Fast forward to today-it was still there, even though the bedding wasn't. Come to find out after mad searching...A MILK CUP EXPLODED BETWEEN HER MATTRESS AND HER BED BOARDS, producing a combination of buttermilk, cottage cheese and SPAG. (aka-nastiness) I was quite relived to have determined the smell but non to impressed that it was indeed the do-ing of a mother who could not find a way-ward cup. NEW RULE-no cups in bed with anything but water. (we've tried before, we'll try again)

Took Anne to the Magic House this morning with her class. It was fun. We changed rooms several times. In the education room I sat down to observe and take pictures- I laid my camera down to the left and the bag to the right. I got up and helped the kids with something...came back for my camera, flipped the lid open. no camera. Instant panic. Like losing your kid panic. The room went fuzzy, I got sweaty, a milli second later, I realized the camera was sitting in the other chair. NICE.

I think I need a vacation, or stop thinking about the upcoming one.
Either way...
I'm hanging by a thread...
This too shall pass.
~Chat soon!

How could I forget...

I am lucky. I think, I have a good memory. It may sound bold to say it, but a GREAT memory. My friend Julie tells me my memory is like a year book. Just page after page of memories....it's true. My memory also remembers things it shouldn't-things they *say* you will forget, the pain of childbirth, breastfeeding for the first time, going to the bathroom post childbirth, (enough to make you want to pass out isn't it???) the sleepless nights... good things too, weddings, birthdays, parties when I was little, days at the pool, kindergarten graduation, the little brown pinafore that I wore then barfed in later that day, vacations with the family, driving to Arizona in the tan ...the list goes on for days... I REMEMBER IT ALL.
It seems my memory has let me down...You see, I have forgotten about...

THE WRATH OF A TWO YEAR OLD!

She is asking me to look for boogers...

The next second...being as precious and angelic as possible...

Katherine IS the cutest thing going, BUT her passion about EVERYTHING is beginning to suck.the.life.out.of.me...
As my mother says-"it's only a phase...'
Lord have Mercy...
~Chat soon
P.S. Mom also reminded me that I had the same feeling at exactly the same time when Anne was two. I was near tears, pregnant with Kate-(which was a HIGH MAINTENCE NERVE WRACKING pregnancy, enough to cause anyone to go NUTS!)saying "YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO RENT ANOTHER before you get pregnant when you have a two year old" (mind you, I was very nuts...at the time!)

Dancing Debut...

Anne's first dance recital was Saturday.

It was darling.

She was beautiful-I am partial, and from where I was positioned (as recital mom, in charge of the 6 or so girls, 12 pairs of dance shoes, and keeping little tu-tu's from running away at any given time...)they did a good job for the first time.

Here are the pictures-a combo of snapshots from the rehearsal and the recital.

Who doesn't love a manicure...

So, last night, Anne whispered to me that she wanted her nails painted. I told her as soon as Kate was in bed it was a go! She proudly walked upstairs and waited. While she was getting her nails painted, Adam walked in. He inquired what we were doing, to which Anne replied, "Painting my nails, you are next!"
He didn't think I would let her do it....he was wrong. ;)
Anne very diligently painted his nails. Pink with glitter no less.
He walked away, we went to bed, we woke up this morning, kind of laughed about his beautiful nails, and went on with our Saturday.
Adam announced he was going to get donuts at the bakery.
Shortly after he left, I cracked up about his nails, they were still painted.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
We (I) laughed very hard about the fact that everyone at the store is probably STILL talking about the nice man with the cute girls who often comes in to buy donuts, is NOW A CROSS DRESSER! hahahahahahhahaha.still laughing.
~chat soon!

p.s. it took a VERY long time to get the polish off-i think he may still have remnants of glitter. hahahahahahahahaha...

p.s.s. Adam is such a TROOPER. never said a cross word~just said he could PROMISE he was never getting his nails painted AGAIN! hahahahahahahahaha...STILL laughing!

LOVE THIS!

 

One of my favorite colors is the color GREEN after a wonderful spring rain...
Isn't it the best??

dress rehearsal

just a sneak peek of what it is to come.
not the best quality of a picture but LOVE the expression!

~chat soon!

flattered...

I got this letter in my mailbox at work.

It tells me I was nominated for an Apple Award.

Apple Awards are a way to express gratitude to staff in our school district.

I have been nominated several times, but never by a parent of a student. I have never received the actual award. That is OK I believe that just getting nominated is an amazing feeling.

This year the letter came from a parent. I was flattered to think that people actually *like* me and appreciate the job that is being done.

That sounds weird doesn't it? Let me explain.

My job, as a teacher, comes pretty natural to me. Most of the time I am completely in my comfort zone and having fun while doing it all. Its just my job. I love it. I don't expect red carpet ceremonies or trumpets to sound as I walk in the door. I just do what I'm supposed to do. Connect with the kids. Come up with good things to learn and have fun. I don't make a lot of money doing it, but the smiles from my students, crayon scratched pictures saying cute little sentences about being #1 Teacher, make it worth while. Even better, when someone outside of Room 20 thinks things are good. AND I hear about it.

This was a lot about ME. Sorry. Just wanted to share my excitement. It feels good to be loved, doesn't it?

Katherine

Couldn't you just eat her up?

Too cute for words, but what mother doesn't say that...

Each day for her is filled with exploration and inquiring.

Saturday was her first encounter with a 'wishin flower'. She couldn't get enough.

Kate asks a lot of questions. She tells us a lot too.

Anne often acts as her translator, amazingly enough she understands her. How cool is the lingo that kids speak?

I love that girl.

~Chat soon!

Eric

*disclaimer-Anne proudly drew this picture of Eric because I can't see him 'right' she tells me. She assured me he and Dad have SHORTS on....* ;)

So...today in the car on the way home, Anne is making a ruckus in the back seat. She tells me I'm going to be really, really mad when I find out what Eric has done. I look back and she is 'holding' something in her hand and making quite a face. She explains to me that Eric just gave her his gum that he didn't want anymore. Adding that he also got gum 'all over the back of the car'.

Eric is Anne's little imaginary friend. We have been through Tyrone, Jacob, and Eric. They sometimes go on vacation and the other one comes out. Rarely, are they all with us at the same time. She has gone so far as to 'buckle them in', set dinner places for them, and put a pillow out. Anne laughs OUTLOUD at them when they tell her 'jokes'. (Jacob is the humorous one) She even holds their HANDS!
I find it kind of creepy. People assure me that it is a wonderful thing and I should just go with it. Leave a few minutes early and allow her to buckle them in.

OOOOOOOOOOOKAY! So please, don't laugh at me, next time you see me at Target when I'm carrying Kate, holding Anne's hand and 'holding' Eric's hand. You see safety is of the utmost importance to Anne Clara. After all, he is her 'brudder'. ;)

Weird.
~chat soon!

Wishin' Flowers...

...Anne's name for dandelions...wishin' flowers.

Her next question of the day ...Why does God make wishin' flowers? As she blows the fuzz in my face.

Me-sneeze! I think to make momma sneeze! ;0)

Chat soon!

shine on

Hoping for the sun to s.t.ay. out!
Beautiful weather is here in St. Louis and I pray that is sticks around.
Been a heavy week.
1 former student diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (grrr). Visited him in the hospital. He is doing fabulous as well as his family.
2 former students mother took her own life on Easter Sunday. Lots of questions and wondering for all affected.
Hoping God has lots of happiness to spread around my sweet little former students for a very long time!

~Chat soon!

Deck Days

when we moved to our house it had a deck. it was a very nice, old, over used, under treated deck. one of our first improvment was to build a new deck. we added a gate on the stair case so that the girls could play freely and safely and we knew that they were okay.
the girls are in love with the deck. most days they can be found out there, while we are cooking dinner, playing their tail feathers off.
last week, i realized it isn't a good day in our house, if a) the chicks don't play on the deck and b) there isn't a nasty dirt ring in the tub after they take their baths.

here's to summer time and decks!
~chat soon!

Spring Has Sprung

Over the weekend, Anne and I planted some flowers. She had the best time. Anne is evolving into such a little grown up. We are in a good rhythm right now and really enjoying one another. I know these moments can be fleeting moments in motherhood so I'm just sucking each and every second up! :)

Hunting...

For eggs that is!
What is Easter Sunday without baskets of eggs.
Hunter was sick so he had to stay home.
The girls missed him, but managed the hunt without him. ;)

Easter-a two part post

Part 1-

Easter was good.
We missed my parents being here, to be honest, more then we expected. (But, we knew that they were having a great time in AZ with my sister and family...)
The day was good. Weather was better then anyone could have requested.

The girls had a blast. It was one of those 'how did we get this lucky' kind of feelings.

The girls doing the happy dance that the Easter Bunny came

Part 2-

Our sink started to leak a little yesterday. So Adam suggested we run all dishes through the dishwasher instead of washing them after dinner. Don't have to say that again! Our Easter dinner plates were plastic along with silverware, so not that much should go through the dishwasher. Cool. Loaded it up and 'ran it'. (key words there) During the night I woke up wondering if I had put the unsliced portion of the ham away. Went as far as put one foot on the floor to go in the kitchen and look. I feel asleep again. Woke up this morning, crossed my fingers, squeezed my eyes shut and said pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease tell me I put the ham away...I walked into the kitchen....THERE IS THE HAM STILL IN THE ROASTER. *&^%! It was such a good ham this time too! Double &^%$. Okay, so I am starting out cranky. Open the dishwasher. I forgot to push start. NICE!

So now the kitchen looks like this.

And my breakfast looks like this.

Chat soon!