It's getting festive around here!

We were able to put up our tree and all of the decor (minus the outdoor lights...coming soon) on Friday afternoon. The kids loved helping put up the tree and opening all of the ornaments. Every year, I keep saying I am going to buy ornaments that have some sort of color scheme, but then I cave and we put up all of our ornaments we love that range in age from 1979 to 2011.

We purchased some new crystal-lit garland to place above our fireplace as well as some new JOY letters, which I picked up at a craft show a while back, although, I think they also have a shop on Etsy.

They are so big

A mom at our daycare is trying to open her own photography business and spent some time taking a bunch of pictures to jumpstart her business. She did such a great job. Anyway, the parents loved all of the pics and she was able to capture each of the kids and their personalities. Love these two she took of the kids.

Pretty soon, they will be home w/ me for the summer. Lately, B2 has been spending a lot of time just messing around w/ each other: wrestling, jumping off of things, jumping on beds, hiding under blankets, throwing stuff, and just messing around. It's funny to watch it happen but also grinds on my nerves when I stop them from doing something and then five minutes later, they have moved on to mess around w/ something else.

They are pretty funny and have so much to say about everything and anything. It's so fun to listen to their conversations and intuitions about the world and how they think it works.

Prom

Prom was at the EMP this year and it was a lot of fun. Next year, Dj is coming with me. He stayed home to watch the kids so we wouldn't have to pay a babysitter two weeks in a row. The weather held out until about midnight and then I ran through pouring rain to my car. it was a beautiful event complete with cookies on a stick, caramel dipping that included cookies, fruit, graham crackers, etc. and nuts, butterfinger mix, marshmallows and more to sprinkle on top. It was a pretty nice spread.

Prior to the event, the staff who agreed to chaperone met up at Old Spaghetti Factory downtown. It has been years since I've been to this specific location...the last time was pre-children. HINT HINT. The great thing about OSF is that it's decent food and cheap. Like really cheap. LIke you can get bread, salad, your entree and ice cream for $12. Seriously. It's almost like Fazolli's cheap but the food is not quite as good in my humble opinion.

The kids were pretty good at the dance (we had to break up a few "sex scenes" on the dance floor) and they loved the venue.

I only remembered to snap a couple of pictures. Here are two of nearly the same pic. with my friend, Bonnie from school. She is our bookkeeper and has been so wonderful to me this year and helped me out as I stepped into the new role as ASB Advisor. She just accepted a job with TFA in Las Vegas, so she'll be leaving us at the end of the year. She is so knowledgeable and has been in our district for a long time, so I am not sure who will be able to fill her shoes...

These two pics were taken towards the end of the night.

Grrrr Baby

Okay, so either we have additional animals in the house or two babies who are pretending they are dogs, bears, lions, or any other furry friend who enjoys growlingl. Lately, Baylen is all about the dramatic play and making the funniest, yet realistic faces. Brynn will follow suit w/ the faces now and again and finally, I was able to snap a couple of them on camera last week. They will crawl on their hands and knees and chase each other, pretend to eat each other, and growl for what appears to be minutes on end. Whenever Baylen morphs into whatever beast he's claiming to be at that moment, all I can do is giggle. He tries so hard to be as realistic as he can. Kudos to this kid.

I turned 32

Last weekend, I celebrated my 32nd birthday. It was a pretty good weekend. This year, I will finish my Master's program and complete all of my graduate credits. I will enroll and take a history class on WWII. Both of my children will be in pre-school; Baylen will start his first year and Brynn will be in Pre-K. I will be teaching high school students in my second year at AHS and begin my 11th year in education. This summer, Dj and I will celebrate our 8th Wedding Anniversary. My entire family is coming out for a vacay in July and we're going to the beach. So many things to be thankful for.

I remembered

Driving home today, I flipped on the radio and it triggered my memory. I remembered what the kids were talking about yesterday that made me laugh.

The song lyrics came across the radio yesterday, "Today I don't feel like doing anything. I just wanna lay in my bed..." blah blah

Anyway, the part of the song where he sings, "...put my hand in my pants..."

All of a sudden, Brynn shouts from the back seat..."Put my hand in my pants?!" and giggles, then said, "That's disgusting!"

Baylen is dying laughing. Just hysterically giggling.

I'm smiling and laughing in the front acknowledging those were indeed the lyrics.

Brynn then added, "Baylen does that!"

Baylen responded..."Yeah I do!"

OMG

Brynnisms #26 and Baylenisms #15

This was a funny conversation we were having on the way home today.

Do you ever have funny convos with your kids and think that something they said was super funny and then when you try to remember it later, your mind goes blank? Well, that's what happened to me today. CUE VIOLIN MUSIC.

Here's what I do remember about today's convo:


Me: Hey, guys, look at all this poop all over my car. I parked by a tree and the birds pooped all over my car today.

Brynn: What kind of birds? Was it a crow?

Me: IDK for sure.

Brynn: Maybe it was a robin.

Baylen: Crows have big poop. haha

Brynn: Eww! That's disgusting.


Bay: What do dinosaurs eat? Do they eat fish?

Me: Yes. And they eat other dinosaurs or plants.

Bay: Ew. That's disgusting. I don't like plants.

Brynn (matter-of-factly): Well, Eagles eat little bunnies. That's why we don't see any around. Because the eagles are eating them all.

Hmmm no wonder we haven't seen any bunnies around lately.

Spirit Days

Doesn't Mister AKA SuperMan crack you up? He is such drama and has the funniest faces. Don't let his pouty face fool you; this is his regular morning routine...something makes him angry and then he turns against the world. I tried my best to get him to crack a smile, but to no avail.

We had a Spirit Week (my idea that I presented to the daycare director) and the kids enjoyed dressing up each day. We had pajama day, princess and hero day, sports day, college team day, and red, white & blue day.

Here are a couple of pics from Spirit Week. I didn't snap one of PJ day...unless it's on my phone. I'll have to check. Princess Day was the hardest day for Brynn because she didn't know which princess she wanted to be. First, she chose Snow White, then switched to Tiana, and finally settled on Ariel. She was serenading her teachers with, "Part of Your World" all day long, apparently. I'm sure it was music to their ears. ;)

Phyllis Tashlik's famous words

Phyllis Tashlik is probably not well known in anyone's world except if you are reading her educational articles for a specific Master's class like I am. Anyway, she writes about alternative assessments and the importance of looking beyond the state/standardized tests as the only means to measure a student's progress. This is my passion. This is my forte. I am in the zone when I read her articles and find myself nodding, yelling out..."Right on, sista!" or simply smiling. She is so right. My favorite quote from this week's article..."We run the risk of valuing what we measure [rather than] measuring what we value" (p. 3). We as teachers know what our kids can do and where they struggle.

A standardized test does not measure the whole child. It does not measure where a child begins and where they end. It does not measure that a divorce might have taken place or the death of a parent occurred a month before the test. Those tests do not measure maturity levels, their ethical decision making (or unethical) or the ways in which they engage in class discussions. They do not gauge a child's innovative abilities or ideas, or creativity. And they do not measure a child's will and motivation level to get out of bed every morning despite the fact they may not have anything in the house to eat for breakfast or for dinner that night when they get home. So where are our state and national leaders when it comes to our real priorities? Are all of these tests in the best interest of what our kids need the most?

Okay, I'm stepping off of my soapbox now.

You Are My Heart

(A student of mine painted this for me recently so I could hang it in the kids' room.)

Look at these two...sweet babies that they are. I know B & B aren't babies anymore, but I call them that often because they are growing up on me way too fast. B2 are just as excited about Mother's Day as I am. :) Their personalities shine through and no captions are needed for these two photos. Little pieces of sunshine and energy and brilliance. Bright, loving, sweet as honey with a hint of spice now and again. With shining eyes, giggles galore, and sparkling smiles...so full of life. So full of love.



Indeed they are. My Heart.

Happy Mother's Day

to my mom. I love you so much, mom and I am so fortunate to have you in my life. You have always been there for me and supported every decision I've made, goal I've set, and dream I've aspired to reach. I know that when we were growing up, you often put us before yourself. Thank you for giving us everything you could and so much more.

Happy Mother's Day! I'm sorry we are not closer to celebrate together.

The demise of B.L.

I honestly don't know how I feel about this. Part of me feels glad that they found him and they have put this to rest. Another part of me feels like we should continue to be afraid...maybe even more afraid than we were prior to his demise. Mixed emotions also range around the fact that he was shot, dead and he did not have a weapon in his hands (according to new reports I read online today). While I have limited knowledge on what happened and the methods in which he was even found and things that transpired afterward, I am wondering why they didn't try to get him alive. Maybe that would have been worse. Perhaps his capture would have caused uproar and groups of people attacking our country just to get him out of jail. I don't know. Maybe it's supposed to be this way. I know he did horrible things. I obviously don't like or support him, nor his past actions, and I am certainly not sticking up for him. But I still have mixed emotions about this whole thing. Additionally, I worry about the picture of Americans rallying and cheering after news of his death...I wonder how Muslims in the Middle East viewed the jubilation...do they think we're evil? Do they think we are ignorant or heartless? Do they want revenge? Are our children any safer? Hmmm...I just do not know what to think at this point.

Easter Pose

I try and get a cute Easter pose each year and these two were full of crazy smiles.

Brynnisms #25

All week, our daycare is having spirit week. Tomorrow is Princess/Hero Day. Brynn and I were discussing what she should dress up as and I was trying to convince her to wear a princess dress like her Tiana one or Rapunzel.

Brynn: Mom, I want to dress up as Wonder Woman instead.

Me: I thought you said you wanted to dress up as Tiana. Did you change your mind? Why? You could wear a crown w/ your dress if you were a princess.

Brynn: I want to be a hero instead.

Me: Are you sure? It might be kind of cold to wear that costume.

Brynn: Well, fine! I'm going to dress in an old BOOT then!

Me: Did you just say an old boot?!

Brynn: Yeah. An Old Boot. I'm wearing an Old Boot. So there!

She is so Miss-Know-It-All these days, I tell ya! :0

Happy Easter 2011!

Dying Eggs

We spent Thursday night making bunny-shaped rice krispie treats w/ chocolate ears for B2's teachers and a few of my friends at work. We also spent time dying eggs. The kids enjoyed dipping and picking their colors.

Bay's favorite part of soccer

Can you guess what it is?

B's first sleepover

Brynn wanted to invite her friend, E. over for a sleepover at our house. Brynn has stayed at her house once already and had a great time, so we wanted to invite her back. E. was thrilled to ride home w/ me when I picked the girls up from daycare a couple of Fridays ago. She was very polite and both girls, along w/ Baylen, had a great time. Bay had sort of a hard time being the odd boy out for awhile, but he adjusted and we tried to make him feel included and keep him busy. We made bracelets, ate cupcakes, made our own pizzas, and watched Tangled. The girls went to bed around 9:30 and didn't stir once. They were beat. :) All in all, it was a fun sleepover. :)

Happy Egg Hunt!

The kids were super excited to go to daycare today b/c it was their annual Easter Egg Hunt and Easter party at school. They take pictures, have an egg hunt, and make Easter baskets (prior to finding the eggs). They came home with lots of goodies and fun stories. Here they are b/f daycare this a.m.

These Two...

are crazy lately. They are all about:

-wrestling with one another
-hiding from each other
-fooling around
-talking all night at bedtime instead of going to bed
-hitting each other and fighting
-playing My Little Ponies and Cars Cars together
-fighting over stuffed animals to sleep with
-singing together
-finding ways to annoy each other
-calling each other their best friend
-eating us out of house and home
-jumping on the bed
-dancing together
-playing games
-putting together puzzles
-having their own conversations
-always wanting to have the last word

The other day, Dj walked into Brynn saying, "Baylen, give me a butt drop." LOL Yeah...always up to something. haha

It's fun to watch them interact and listen to what they are scheming or how they irritate each other at times. They really care about each other. We'll see how that plays out over the next few years. :)