Brown is the new red...

Pics to come soon: Dj spent many hours this weekend (mostly at night staying up WAY late) re-painting our living room. No more white walls and no more red fireplace. He also re-painted the ceiling (white), put our ceiling fan back up. and replaced 2 of the 3 blinds with new faux wood ones. It looks great. :)

Mister Mister-ism #1

This kid is going to be in the principal's office often, I have a feeling. He is just super goofy and funny and says so many hysterical things. Today in the grocery store, I took two small children with me grocery shopping by myself. That was mistake #1. I will NEVER do that again if I can help it. Yikes. It was terrible.

Anyway, there were some funny moments regardless of the fact that by the end of the HOUR shopping trip inside the grocery store, I was about to tear my hair out.

Convo #1:

After losing his shoe for what seemed like the 10th time...

Me: Baylen, sit down and let me put on your shoe and tie it.
Baylen: No Mommy, I do it!
Me: You can't do it and we need to keep shopping.
Baylen: No I do it!
Me: You're driving me NUTS, kid!
Baylen: No, you're driving ME nuts!


Convo #2
Let me preface this by saying B & B were arguing...

Baylen: Look, Binnah, a car!

Brynna: That's not a car. Baylen you don't know anything.

Baylen: Yes, look...car!

Brynn: NO BAYLEN THAT'S NOT A CAR!

Baylen: Mommy, is that car?

Me: Yes, honey, that's a car.

Baylen: See? I told yoooh, Binnah!

:)

Drinking from a cup

Mister Mister loves drinking out of a cup without a lid. While I don't trust him 90% of the time doing this, he thinks he's ready and most of the time, he does a good job. HE was so proud of himself today. After each drink, he'd smile this big cheeser and just giggle.

A Talking Machine

It's weird because it seems like overnight, Baylen went from speaking 2-3 word phrases and single words to speaking full-on sentences. He wants to talk all of the time. You can see what's forming in his head and he gets it out of his mouth really well. I'm impressed because he and his sister can actually hold conversations with one another for quite awhile. It's pretty cute. Baylen loves hearing himself talk and is pretty impressed with what he is saying and thinking. Between Brynn and Baylen, we can't get a word in edge-wise.

He sings!

Baylen loves the following songs:

1. The Chicken Dance
2. Poker Face by Lady Gaga
3. Happy by Sister Hazel
4. Love, Love, Kiss, Kiss by Akaline Trio


And he sings them all...

Brynnisms Part XI

Daddy: "Brynn and Baylen, you guys need to calm down!"

Brynn: "Daddy, you need to stop because sometimes little girls and little boys have a lot of energy."

A couple family pics from the graduation

Professional Pics outside

One of my friends is starting her own photography business (she's also a teacher at school). She took ours to build up her portfolio and is just starting to charge. She did a great job! :) I am not going to post all 116 (and there's even more yet) but I will post a few here.

Dan's Graduation

Here are a few pics from Dan's graduation. We had a great time celebrating despite the crazy winds!

Venn Diagram takes on a whole new meaning

My kids are reading Edgar Allen Poe short stories and interpreting poems. (in my beloved Honors class) This is my last year teaching the honors kids and I am sad about that. More than sad. However, I thought I'd share a cool activity I did w/ them a couple of weeks ago when we were comparing two short stories of Poe's. I decided to make a huge Venn Diagram on the floor and then have the kids work in groups to discuss the similarities and differences b/t the two stories, then write them on sentence strips and share out to the group. It worked out well despite the fact that my diagram is not exactly round. The kids focused on writing techniques, literary devices, and elements of fiction.

In lieu of all of the jaded thoughts I've been feeling regarding the proposed transformation of our school, our principal who is leaving told me he wished he could take me with him to his new elementary school. :) Quite a compliment, I'd say.

Brynnisms Part IX

Brynn is laying in bed talking to her dad, holding her stuffed meerkat in her hands. All of a sudden, she takes the meerkat's tail and sticks it through the front "crotch" part of the animal.

Brynn: "Look Dad, it has privates!"

Daddy: (trying not to laugh): "We don't talk about that stuff, Brynn."

Brynn: "It's okay Daddy, it's just my meerkat."

Blue Hair!

Tonight the kids and I had our hair cut and our lovely hairdresser, Ali found some fun blue gel to put in Bay's mohawk. He loved it.

Update

I know I haven't been posting pictures of the kids lately. Work has been consuming my life basically b/c I have let it. In an effort to forget about things that are upsetting me, I'm trying to focus on what is really good right now: my kids. :) Last weekend, a good friend of mine took photos in the Japanese Gardens. She is starting her own photography business and needed to build up her portfolio. I took my little camera along and snuck in a few shots of my own. I am looking forward to seeing the outdoor shots she took. Hopefully there are some good ones. :)

I'm just sad...

you know when something you've worked so hard at (mostly by yourself) and so long is taken away without having the chance to give much input towards it feels very defeating. :(

and then told i'll be the expert on how to serve them best within the new plan doesn't make it any better. I just want to flip my middle finger and not say a word. it hurts. a lot.

Things that are pissing me off...

Ugh I am in one of those moods today...staff meeting got me all rantin' and ravin' about a variety of things...namely this:

1. Inclusion. That's right, folks. An idea that I don't agree with. Period.

2. Change. I am a hard person to deal with change. I just am. I don't like it. It takes me a long time to come around and like change when I am not on board. Obviously #1 item of the week that's pissed me off is not a big deal to most people but to me it is. And if they do choose to get rid of those programs, then what will I do? I freak out. I become really upset. I eat a lot of peanut butter M & M's. :( *sigh*

3. Work frustrations in general (not my students--they are AWESOME beyond belief this year).

4. Brynn's dance recital tix for spring recital are $24 a piece!!! Ridiculous if you ask me...

5. Plane tix are so expensive. I have to go back to IA by myself for Daniel's graduation. I'm excited to go but I am sad my kids and hubby can't come w/ me. That sucks.

6. Baylen has no interest in potty training and my motivation is low. It's a lose-lose situation right now in the potty dept.

This is a Debbie Downer week for me....I'm in a funk.

First week of school...

as a grad student was a lot more work than I envisioned. My problem is I'm a perfectionist. I want to learn and read everything. The only issue with that problem is I have to figure out how to balance my time. I may not be able to read every single reading or every single piece of text ALL of the time. I guess I need to get used to it for a few weeks and find my groove. On a positive note, I have earned 100% in the class so far on all assignments and quizzes. :)