PEEEEEEEE

Baylen went pee in the potty chair today at school THREEEEEE times! I can't believe it!!! He hardly ever goes at home. Hardly ever. Today? THREE times! Is it a fluke? Coincidence?! I guess we'll find out!!!

I'll take it! He earned otter pops for his class today b/c of his great pottying! :) whoohooo!

More coming soon

I am totally stoked about my Journalism kids and their last project of the year. Each of them are creating a blog of their choice and blogging away for the rest of the year. I am excited to see what kinds of things they write about and how they comment. I'll share some of their sites w/ you so you can peek if you're interested in reading about middle schoolers and what's going on in their minds!!!

CBA night is tomorrow night. This is a big production and a public showcase of the students' work focused on a constitutional issue. They give their practice speeches tomorrow in class and I'll provide feedback. Then, tomorrow night's the big event! The kids are working hard and are really nervous. They'll do well!

The yearbooks are in! The kids are excited and we previewed them today. They don't get to have them officially until June 21. They are dying to have them in their hands NOW. :)

Grad school was supposed to pick back up this week, but has been postponed until the 14th. I am not sad about that. It was nice to have a couple of weeks off from the busy-ness that is grad school. The first class is done and I did very well. I have a 4.0! I do not necessarily intend to keep up that perfect GPA forever, but the first class I had to. The next class seems short and sweet, with short readings, so that is nice.

Life is busy and there have been some pleasant, unexpected turns, and some others that were not as pleasant. Tonight I found out one of my old high school friends was severely wounded in Afghanistan. Really sad. They seem to think he is going to be alright but it's really a waiting game right now. Professionally, I have decided to take some risks lately and we'll see what happens. There are lots of interesting opportunities coming up at work and lots of trainings this summer...many of which I am interested in but can't do everything. We'll see...

The kids are fighting bedtime like crazy, particularly Brynn. It has been a STRUGGLE for weeks now. Ugh. Ever since it has been "light" out at night, she just can't get to sleep . Then she wakes up early, tired, and grumpy. It's a vicious cycle. I am sure we just need to tell the daycare to shorten her naps at school but she is a crazy grumpy person when she is forced to wake up vs. waking up on her own. Will I ever win this battle? I blame her father for this issue and her ability to lose sleep often and not totally crash and burn. Why couldn't she be a sleep lover like her momma?

M's

We're going to our first M's game of the season today. Should be fun. I hope it doesn't rain today b/c it's been raining since I returned from Iowa. No fun b/c I also picked up a small cold due to being in 90 degree weather and then now being in 50 degree weather. Where is my JUNE WEATHER PEOPLE???? At least the kids at school are calm and not freaking b/c we have had so much rain this week. That definitely helps.

Pics to come soon!

ETA: Here are a couple of pics from the baseball game. The kids had a good time. Baylen sat and watched the game for maybe 10 minutes tops and then he was up, down, up, down, up, down x1000. By about time 500, it was driving me nuts. Finally, he fell asleep on his dad for about the last half of the game. We rode the light rail down and back, so that was fun. The kids loved the "train" ride. Luckily, it was a nice day for a game. Brynn did really well and enjoyed eating, cheering, dancing, watching, and coloring a Mariner's moose pennant during the game. Also, it was free hat day (throwback) so we all received free hats. We should have given all but 1 of them back for other people to have b/c we don't need 4. OH well. Anyone want a 90's version M's hat? Let me know.

The Countdown Begins...

The countdown to the end of school begins. We only have about 3 weeks of school left, if that. It's hard to believe how fast the year has gone. It seems like we just finished spring break and now, here we are nearing the end of the school year. I will sure miss these kids and teaching my beloved honors sections. I have been blessed to have some outstanding groups of kids this year.

Brynnisms #14

Let me preface this by saying that this was the 4th time I had asked her to put on her pajamas...


Me: Brynn, if you don't get your pj's on, I am going to put your Princess storybook up high and it will stay there for 2 weeks.

Brynn: Mom, will you hang it up on the wall really high and use tape to stick it up there?

(This is a really heavy/thick storybook, mind you...)

Me: :) Yes...

Brynn: (all chipper and seemed satisfied...) Oh. Okay! :)


I think I need to think of some more creative ways to motivate my children to listen...or maybe harsher consequences?? We are getting to that stage w/ both of the kids that no consequence seems to bother them when they are misbehaving or making a bad choice. I'm kind of at a loss. While they are not misbhaving all that much, they have both learned that not listening 90% of the time is now the "cool" thing to do. Argh.

The paint

Here's the new paint job and other projects Dj worked on this weekend. I really like it.



Dj installed some cool lights behind the TV

The lights on the TV again




The new blinds

Brynnisms #11, #12, #13

Proof that our children listen to everything we say even if we question their listening skills (or lack thereof) a majority of the time.


Brynn was trying to carry a bunch of her TAG books upstairs but the container was too heavy.

Brynn: "Ugh, mom, can you help me? These are too heavy!"

Me: "Sure, no problem."

we get to the top of the stairs.

Me: "There ya go, hon."

Brynn: "Thanks, Momma, I appreciate it."


*I tend to say to her "Thanks, I appreciate that or it" whenever she does something for me...too cute.



Over the weekend when I was gone to Iowa, Bee was chatting with her dad.

Dad: "What's wrong? You look tired."

Brynn: "Yeah, I didn't sleep very well last night."


Grocery Shopping yesterday...

Brynn: "Mom, are we going to be here for awhile?"

Me: "Yes, honey we still need to get a few things."

Brynn: "Oh, like do we need to buy all of the ingredients for our food and snacks?"


**I was impressed she used the word "ingredients" I've got a smart cookie on my hands