We're Back!

From Christmas at Joe and Michele's.

Sorry we have not posted in so long!  Here's an update...

Nick has survived another peak at FedEx. We are so thankful when Christmas season is over. We are always pooped afterward, and this year was no exception. I miss my husband the most at Christmas when he is out delivering everyone's crap.

Nick's birthday is this Thursday (Valentine's Day) and he is sooooo looking forward to it because he gets to deliver everyone's Valentine stuff. :)

I am back at school with all of my lovely schoolkids. Today I kicked 6 kids out of my class.... I'll save that for another post. School has been going just fine however. I really do have some pretty good kids, and I'm enjoying teaching world history. We just finished a unit over the European Middle Ages, and now we are starting a new unit over early MesoAmerican cultures. I'm looking forward to it.

Vivian and Henry are having fun at their daycare. Henry has flourished with all the other little kids around. It is fun to pick them up each afternoon and they are having so much fun they don't want to leave. Henry loves to watch all the kids running around and playing.

Speaking of Hank, he is 5 months old tomorrow! Wowie! He has been eating baby food for the last 3 weeks, and rice cereal for the last month. Tonight he had a bowl of rice cereal, a whole container of squash and a half of peas. He is quite the little piggy. He weighed in at 17.8 at his last check up when he got his 4 month shots. My little butterball. :)

Vivian is growing as always and is beautiful as ever. She has been wanting to have 'princess braids,' so I've been braiding her hair in two braids on each side of her head. She likes to wear her Cinderella dress-up gown and parade around in that and her purple boots. Yesterday she had on that outfit, plus her bath towel with the hood on it. (She said she needed a cape.) HA! I enjoy her outfits.

I will try to keep pictures up here, even if I can't write a post. Hope everyone is doing well.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Viv and Henry playing after dinner. Vivian had to take her shirt off since she had so much spaghetti sauce on it.

My adorable little man.

Back to School

January 2nd marked my first day back to school. I just have to tell everyone about it!

In their infinite wisdom, our administrators decided that on the first day of a new semester, instead of starting with new classes, we would revert to the schedule of first semester. According to them, some students were unable to turn in their textbooks on the last day of school prior to Christmas Break, and so we needed to have a day of the old schedule so they could do this.

Somehow, all of my students were able to turn in their books the last day. My excellent maternity leave sub was able to do this.

Also, how much time does it take for someone to turn in a book? I'd say about 5 minutes, tops, for the entire class.

But we ran a full day on last semester's schedule on the first day of the new semester... so yeah. It was a waste of a day. I had several kids call their parents to come get them, or to get permission to go home, since we did absolutely nothing. ARGH. 


January 3 we actually had new classes and were able to begin our fresh semester. I have some great kids and it feels like we are going to have a great semester. I'm excited to do some fun activities with them.

But really, all we do in this school system is waste time. On our first day back, we had a "Collaborative Time Meeting" for an hour before school began (Collaborative time is a major buzzword in education this year) where we did absolutely nothing. Wait, I take that back. We sat in a room and were told to look through our schoolwide Improvement Plan (already submitted to the state) for errors or items that needed to be changed. My table was assigned the segment titled "Parent Involvement and Communication." This chunk of the plan included communication avenues the school uses to let parents and community know what's going on.

It was great because there was a paragraph about how the students produce a monthly newspaper and yearbook for communication purposes. I brought that up in front of the whole group and asked how that was going. My principal's face turned red and she changed the subject. From what I understand, the pub class has put out 1 paper all year. Sad.  But I digress.

But enough about me... Vivian and Henry have had a great transition back to Shelly's house. Vivian was so happy to see her best friends Gracie and Raegan, and Henry has been fitting in just fine. He loves to watch the other kids, and they all love to 'check' on him and make sure he's ok.

Vivian and the other 'big' kids get started back with preschool activities on Monday. She is looking forward to that, because they will do circle time (stories) and crafts. She loves to do that stuff.

Henry slept through the night two nights this week. SO AWESOME!  :)  Keep on praying that he does well and keeps it up!

Nick is about to jump out of his skin because of the upcoming BCS championship game. All the sportscasters and forecasters are predicting a major loss for Notre Dame. We are so excited to watch them prove everyone wrong. (Please pray this happens, because otherwise, I will have a depressed and dejected husband for a good 6 months.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the first week of January!!!  :)

Christmas Eve Will Find Me...

(Post copied from http://www.livingonadime.com )
You know the old song “Christmas Eve will find me… where the love light gleams- I’ll be home for Christmas…”? Well, Christmas Eve will find me lounging on the couch by the fire, watching snow flakes falling gently outside my window while sipping my old fashioned cocoa (made with real milk heated on the stove) and munching gingerbread men I baked myself.

As I sit here, my glance turns to the lovely tree piled high with gifts and my joyful heart swells at how blessed I am. What a perfect Christmas setting surrounds me.

Now before you get the idea I’m some sort of paragon of a woman enjoying the perfect Christmas Eve, note that all is not as it seems on the surface. Let me explain. I’m on the couch only because that is where I collapsed in exhaustion. There isn’t a bone in my body that isn’t aching. When I close my eyes, instead of visions of sugar plums dancing in my head, I am having nightmare flash backs of the past couple of weeks.

Taking a sip of my cocoa, I cringe trying not to notice the burnt taste it acquired when it boiled over, making a sticky, gooey mess on the stove. Alas, it is only one in a long line of the usual Christmas events that I unsuccessfully try to pretend didn’t happen.

Then there’s the newly fallen snow — it always looks so pretty on those snow scene Christmas cards, but after spending 30 minutes digging the car out so I could hurry into town to buy gifts and arrive back home to a freezing house, I feel like using all my snow scene Christmas cards to light the fireplace.

Last, but especially not least there’s the tree! Whoever started the wives tale that decorating a tree is a heart warming and joyous occasion could not possibly have ever decorated one. The madness begins when you decide to cut down your own tree.

After hiking a mile through knee deep snow you find the perfect tree only to realize that you left the axe in the car. By the time you hike back to the car and then to the tree again the kids are tired and begging to go home. You have now sung every Christmas carol ever written and you are all eating snowballs trying to quench your thirst because your thermos of cocoa got dumped on the back seat of the car when the kids were fighting over it.

Freezing and frustrated, you hike back only to discover that your 4 wheel drive is snowed under and the tow truck bill alone could have bought a tree for every room of your home!

Once home, you find that the beautiful majestic piece of greenery which looked so perfect standing in the meadow of snow doesn’t look quite the same after you have had to chop it 4 times in order to get it to fit into your house. You wedge it into the tree stand- forget trying to make it straight! You’re just excited that it stays in the stand without falling over. It’s amazing what you can do with baling wire and duct tape.

You string your own popcorn (another story in itself), singing more carols and hang gingerbread men only to find later that the tree is laying prostrate on the floor, stripped naked, having fallen to the mercy of the dog who grins at you, revealing his mouth full of severed gingerbread men limbs and a string from the popcorn garland.

Now you know why my heart swells with pride looking at my tree– because in our home it takes more work to put up a Christmas tree than it did to build the Empire State Building!

To say that I can relate to National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is an understatement and in some way or another, I think most of us can. In spite of that, each and every year, we once again try to find the perfect gift, the perfect tree and make the perfect dinner thinking this year we just might get it perfect.

It’s called hope – hoping that this year we will succeed, faith – faith that we will obtain it if we just keep trying and love – loving every minute of doing it. Like little children who forge on working hard in the bitter cold building a snowman, not noticing or caring that their toes and fingers are growing numb, we too love creating the perfect Christmas (or snowman) for our family to admire.

In the same way that we see only our child’s hard work and effort in his imperfect snowman, so our families will see and remember only mom’s hard work and sacrifice.

Just relax. So what if the cocoa tastes a little burnt and the tree is a little crooked. This too shall pass — and then you get to look forward to doing it all over again next year!!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas at God's House

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38

when 20 beautiful children stormed through Heaven's Gate.

Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.

They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.

They were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.

They remembered nothing that happened earlier that day.

"Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.

"This is Heaven" declared a small boy.

"We're spending Christmas at God's house."

When what to there wondering eyes did appear,

but Jesus, their Savior, the children gathered near.

He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.

Then He opened His arms and called them by name.

And in that moment was joy, that only Heaven can bring,

those children all flew into the arms of their King,

and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace

one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face,

and as if He could read all the questions she had

He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of your mom and dad."

Then He looked down on earth, the world was far below

He saw all the hurt, the sorrow, and woe.

Then He closed His eyes and He outstretched his hands,

"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!!"

"May this Country be delivered from the hands of fools."

"I'm taking back my Nation! I'm taking back my schools!!"

Then He and the children stood up without a sound.

"Come now my children, let me show you around."

Excitement filled the space, some skipped, some ran,

all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.

And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,

"In the mist of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT!!!"

*Nick found this posted on facebook tonight. How beautiful!

Reason for the Season

The sleigh was all packed, the reindeer were fed,

But Santa still knelt by the side of the bed.

"Dear Father," he prayed "Be with me tonight,

There's much work to do and my schedule is tight.

I must jump in my sleigh and streak through the sky,

Knowing full well that a reindeer can't fly.

I will visit each household before the first light,

I'll cover the world and all in one night.

With sleighbells a-ringing, I'll land on each roof,

Amid the soft clatter of each little hoof.

To get in the house is the difficult part,

So I'll slide down the chimney of each child's heart.

My sack will hold toys to grant all their wishes.

The supply will be endless like the loaves and the fishes.

I will fill all the stockings and not leave a track.

I'll eat every cookie that is left for my snack.

I can do all these things Lord, only through You.

I just need your blessing, then it's easy to do.

All this is to honor the birth of the One,

That was sent to redeem us, Your most Holy Son.

So to all of my friends, least Your glory I rob,

Please, Lord, remind them who gave me this job."

~Warren D. Jennings

Peace that Passes Understanding

"He says: the heart is desperately wicked, who can understand it?"  Jeremiah 17: 9. 

God can be the only one to make sense of the recent tragedy in Connecticut. Only He can understand the hearts of men and our choices.

Our hearts go out to those precious children and inncocent teachers and staff who were murdered.

We must allow Christ back into our hearts and our soul as a nation. Schools cannot protect us, police cannot protect us. But He can save us if only we open our hearts.

Christmas Excitement!

First of all we are praying for those beautiful children and teachers in Connecticut... what a horrible tragedy. I held my babies close today and just prayed for comfort for those families.

Today we made a lot of fun Christmas crafts. Vivian and I worked on painting some pretty pictures of a Christmas wreath, we made jingle bell jewelry, and most importantly, we made homemade playdough ornaments.

Our ornaments came out really great. We did 4 colors, pink, blue, green, and yellow. Our shapes were a candy cane, a Christmas tree, a star, and a gingerbread man.

The ornaments were super easy to make. I found the recipe online. Basically it's homemade playdough that you roll out in to shapes and bake. I baked them at 250 for about 2 hours.



Vivian likes to roll out the dough. Yellow was for gingerbread men.



These are the trees. They look good enough to eat, but are mostly salt, flour, and cream of tartar. So... probably wouldn't taste too good. :)



I used a straw to cut out the holes for the string so we can decorate the tree with them.

Here, Vivian is stringing some jingle bells on some silver cord. She is already wearing her beautiful jingle bell bracelet and ring.

Henry supervised all of the projects. :-)