Project 365 Week 13

Just a quick recap of our week...

Spring Break is over for me, but the boys have another week off. Lucky! I hope to make separate posts about our trip to Winter Park and Easter.

Sunday: This is how we found Emmalyn Sunday morning. She was basically trapped because she couldn't get turned back over. See Monday for our solution.

Since we didn't have school on Monday, I took the boys bowling Sunday night. They only let me play the first game, and then said I wasn't allowed to play the second and third game. I guess they didn't liked getting whooped by their mom. 

I love these pictures because they really capture their love/hate relationship.

Monday: The solution to the legs in the slats problem. She has on a onesie and pants under it. Works great!

Tuesday: Okay...so it's an odd picture, but it's the only one I took on Tuesday. I use this in my classroom for my listening center. I can plug in my recorder or my iPod for the kids to use. I haven't seen them anywhere since I bought mine 2 Christmases ago. So, I took this picture so I could tell my teacher friends.

Wednesday: We headed up to Winter Park to take the boys snow tubing. We stopped in Denver to eat at the Cheesecake Factory.

Can you tell we were going up the mountain side?

We got to the hotel earlier enough for the boys to get some swimming in. I actually forbid them from doing this...after I got a picture. Tyler's already had one skull fracture. He doesn't need another one.

Thursday: We geared up and headed out to go snow tubing. It was so much fun. The scariest part was if you turned around backwards and couldn't see where you were going.

After we dropped E off at the resort childcare, which Tyler was none too happy about, we grabbed some great pizza. Tyler took this picture of me and Ed.

Just some quick shots of us on our tubes...

I was so ready to pick up this sweet girl!

This was E's first try at a swimming pool. She did not enjoy it. It was really loud and there was a lot of splashing going on. She was much happier when she was wrapped up in a towel and sitting with Mommy.

Friday: On our way home, we stopped at the mall to get E's picture made with the Easter Bunny. The boys weren't feeling it, so I didn't force them. She kept eyeing the bunny's bow...I think if she could've grabbed it, it would've been in her mouth. 

Saturday: I did have to go into work for a few hours on Saturday. They replaced my bulletin board with a whiteboard on Monday, so I was so happy when I saw it! Can't wait to use it tomorrow.

It was very dark on my drive home Saturday. The clouds were rather scary looking. I wasn't really concerned until I noticed this fella in front of me. See the wind vane and other contraptions on the roof? Well...look at the sticker on his window. Yup...United States Storm Chaser...Sky Warn Spotter...yikes! I was behind him for a while, and then he actually turned off the highway on the same road I turn on to. He whipped over and flipped on his lights and started messing with his stuff. I couldn't stop thinking about the movie Twister.

Cow.

'Nother cow.

Hope you all had a blessed week and a happy Easter.

Project 365 Week 12

As I write this, the wind is howling, the snow is falling (horizontally), and with the wind chill it currently feels like -4 degrees outside. Oh-and it's Spring Break. As you can imagine, we did not venture out today. Instead, we stayed inside and watched a couple of movies. Now...I typically can't even convince myself to watch ONE movie all the way through because I find myself thinking that I'm somehow wasting time just sitting there. Not today though. We watched The Hobbit and Bully. Both were really good, although Bully really tugged at my heartstrings. Logan has struggled with bullying all year, and it was just heartbreaking to actually see what these kids go through. We know what he tells us, but you never can really envision it. This documentary really showed the truth behind it and what a hard battle parents have to fight when they're trying to advocate for their child. If you haven't seen it, you should definitely rent it.

But on to happier things! I found out I will be teaching second grade for another year, which is a huge relief. Having to figure out how and what to teach in another grade is not something I'm really all that interested in tackling right now. I have devoted HOURS AND HOURS (and not to mention HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of dollars) to teaching second grade and becoming the best I can be at it. However, having a preemie has forced me to reevaluate priorities. I can't help but think that my overcommitment to work had a small part to play in E's dramatic arrival. So-I'm really working to spend more time with my family. I'm very work-oriented and success driven, so this is a hard transition for me, but my kids and Ed are more important.

And-that little preemie turned 6 months old today!!! Where does the time go???

Sunday: Logan's Trek group at Awanas was having a spaghetti dinner to raise money for their adopted club in Africa. We volunteered to make a nut free dessert. This was the first recipe that came up in our Google search-Red Velvet Cupcakes. They were really good. And red. I think I've figured out that they get it sooooo red by using vinegar with the coloring.

And seriously...how cute is this kid?

I was trying to entertain her while I was working. I guess she got bored with me and found something to entertain herself with.

Monday: This girl is growing up way too fast. She had rolled over a couple of times, but she kept doing it while we were out of the room. I got home late on Monday, but she happened to still be awake. So, we put her on the floor and had the camera rolling. Let's see if it plays...

Tuesday: Tyler's favorite person in the world as of late has been Ed. He conveniently loves him a lot at bedtime and somehow manages to finagle his way into my bed for an extra half hour every night! Ed is such a sucker.

Wednesday: Ed and I have been married 2 years today! He sent me these sweet flowers to work and gave me this beautiful necklace. He's a keeper.

Thursday: This is my friend and fellow second grade teacher, Shari. She was having some quality time with her FAVORITE baby.

Friday: If you remember from an earlier post, I typically use my camera on my iPhone to take pictures of things I write on the board in my classroom. Well, I also use it to take pictures of my students with books they borrow from me. It's much more efficient than writing it all down. Plus-let's be real-I don't have the time to write them all down, nor do I have the patience to wait for them to write it down. And-I think a picture of their child actually holding the books might stand up better in a court of law, or...ummmmm...in the court of Mrs. McCoy when they inevitable argue that they "NEVER EVEN HAD THAT BOOK" and I'm forced to present the evidence to parents. This is a picture of Antonio holding his books (worry not, his mom is my friend). He is currently in first place in the Accelerated Reader contest in our room. He had a bit of a panic attack when he thought his lead was threatened, so I'd be willing to bet he will be reading a lot over Spring Break so he can pad his lead.

Saturday: This kid falls asleep in his glasses every night. It looks so uncomfortable. We were watching The Hobbit, and within the first hour, he was out.

And-of course-this little sweetie turned 6 months old today! I can hardly believe she is half a year old! (Just for the record, Tyler informed me that he is also 6 months older today.)

Have a blessed (and warm) week!

Project 365 Week 11

What a week. All I can say is that I am so ready for Spring Break...emphasis on the break part. With everyone being sick, the past 2 weeks have been torturous! Then, this past Wednesday, I was hit with the bug. I am still under the weather, but I am pushing through. That's what moms do, right?

Anyhow...here was our week!

Sunday: The boys and I were driving home and what did we see?!?!?! A new Dollar Tree going up in our little suburb! I get so much stuff there for my classroom. I can't wait for it to open!

Okay, so I know I often post more than one picture a day. But seriously, look at these two cuties. The boys know how to make her laugh!

Monday: Since Ed was still sick, I brought Emmalyn into the kitchen while I was cooking dinner. She discovered one of the toys on her jumperoo. She kept spinning it. Over and over. And it was LOUD. Thank goodness her attention span is short. It only lasted a couple of minutes.

Tuesday: Even though she's almost 6 months old, E just had her 4 month checkup. They base her visits and shots on when she should've been born. As you probably know, early visits = shots. This was her extremely unhappy-with-daddy-for-letting-those-nurses-shoot-me-in-the-legs look. Glad I missed the tears!

Wednesday: This is how I make lists in my class. I typically write them on the board. Then I inevitably need to use the board again and don't have time to write the list down. So-picture on the phone it is. And-lucky for me-it was the only picture I took that day. I went home after school that day and went straight to bed. I was definitely getting sick! Oh...and this was a buddy list for research. PB was for polar bears and Pen was for penguins.

Thursday: Remember that math you learned in school that you swore you would never use or need later in life? Well, wait until your kid is in Algebra and asks for help with homework. Comes in pretty handy! Logan and I bonded while factoring quadratic expressions. Fun times!

Friday: I ordered E an Easter basket from Pottery Barn. I wanted something cute for her that we could use every year. I offered to buy one for the boys too, but they opted for Angry Birds (Tyler) and Yoda (Logan).

Saturday: We took Tyler and his best buddy to see Oz. It was our first try at a movie with E since the great Lincoln debacle. For those of you that don't remember, about 20 minutes in to Lincoln, Emmalyn began hysterically crying. Nothing would work...except for the lights outside the theatre. She was fascinated by them. Anytime we would go back in the dark, she would start to cry. So, she and I hung out in the JC Penney for the next 2 hours. But...she did great! She watched the screen for about the first hour before she started to squirm in her seat. I held her until I could tell she was about to go to sleep, and then she went back in her seat. With about 30 minutes left, she woke up and happily drank her bottle. Phew!

This is Tyler and his Buddy. They also played at Glow Golf and did Laser Tag.

Oh-and E evidently rolled over tonight. I was downstairs in the laundry room and thought she was crying because she was hungry. Ed came out and asked if I had put her on her stomach (which she hates). So, we deduced that she rolled over and then was mad because she was stuck on her belly. Of course, she never did it again. Figures.

I am counting down the days until school is out on Friday! I cannot wait for a week to focus on my family and me!

Have a blessed week!

Project 365 Week 10

What a week! I left work a little early on Monday to head to an appointment and by the time I came out, it was snowing so hard I could barely make it home! The next thing you know it's 60 degrees again. Then...what do we get on Friday?

Of course-a blizzard warning!!! As I write this, the wind is howling and is blowing snow around like crazy. Just another typical week in Colorado. But...on to our week!

Sunday: Emmalyn finally has a bed to sleep in! I will take better pictures when it's completely done. She sleeps really well in it.

Monday: I've been in my Invisaline braces for almost 2 and a half years. It was only supposed to be 15 months, but I have this one tooth that is causing trouble. So now I get the old school retainer! It makes me gag and every morning when I wake up, it's lying on the nightstand. I don't even remember taking it out!

Tuesday: The boys started state testing this week, so they asked me for a special breakfast. The original request was chocolate chip pancakes, but since the request was made at 9pm, the result was chocolate chip waffles since that was all I had. Logan seemed pretty satisfied. Tyler missed out since he was sick.

Wednesday: This little girl is growing way to fast! Here is her first try at some real food...squash! She didn't eat too much this first time, but the next night she chowed down!

Thursday: It's easier for me to leave the boys every morning because I know they're going to school, so I wouldn't get to spend the day with them anyways. But it is so hard to leave this sweet girl. Especially when she's being so darn cute!

Friday: Okay, okay...it's another picture of Emmalyn. I hope the boys don't hold this against me later in life. I seriously think Tyler has more pictures of her on his iPod than I do! This is how I found her Friday morning. She had turned herself sideways in her bed.

Saturday: Tyler was sick last Saturday and Sunday. Logan got sick Wednesday night, and Ed was struck down yesterday while I was at work. While I hope I don't get the bug they're passing around, I couldn't help but prepare. I did all the laundry and my work today...just in case! My reward...Breaking Dawn Part 2, popcorn, and a Dr. Pepper!

I plan on snuggling up in a blanket (far away from Ed and the germs) and staying warm in the blizzard.

Have a blessed week!

Project 365 Week 9

Another exciting week for us! The boys had yet another snow day, while I got to trudge my way to work through the snow. Kids gotta be educated, right? At least in my district.

Sunday: We were under a blizzard warning on Sunday, so we definitely stayed home. We watched the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I got to share my seat with these 2 cuties.

Monday: As a teacher, nothing is more exciting that when a box of books gets delivered! All of these were $1 each!

Tuesday: Ed's truck definitely wasn't going to be going anywhere after the snow we got on Sunday into Monday.

This is the side of the house. It always gets a nice snowdrift.

Wednesday: As if we're not busy enough, we had to make a trip to Kohl's Wednesday night to get Logan clothes for his choir concert the next day. Even though it was after 9pm, the boys wanted Red Robin for dinner. We had a blast. Ed was going to meet us after his gaming, but ended up going to a completely different Red Robin!

Seeing who can get yelled at, I mean, get into Kohl's first.

She was fascinated by her hand.

Yummy cheese sticks!

Thursday: After our long night, I totally forgot about our staff pot luck Thursday morning. So, instead of breakfast casserole, this is what my contribution was. Sausage biscuits!

I know it's a blurry picture, but if you look to the left of the choir teacher's head, you will see Logan. He's in blue.

What a goof ball!

Friday: We celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday at school. This was the craft we made. It was also our last day with Flat Stanley.

Saturday: After a nightmarish ordeal with Emmalyn's furniture and Babies R Us, we finally gave up and went to another store. It took going to 2 different stores, but we finally got a complete set from Burlington-Baby Depot. It is so pretty! I will post pictures later.

As I type this, I am waiting for my comforter and sheets to dry. Tyler was sick all day Saturday, but seemed better today. Well, after insisting he wanted to eat his spaghetti "Lady and the Tramp" style and playing all day, that spaghetti paid us another visit. Yuck.

Have a blessed week!