Plans and Busy Times

I haven't posted alot due to Egypt Day yesterday. My classroom was transformed into an ancient tomb. This year, I created a 25 page slideshow for our Egypt presentation. Each student had a page with pics, sounds or graphics to go along with their speech. The classroom was decorated inside and out in the hallways. I got alot of compliments on it and am so glad it is over for another year.

We are busy planning a week-long trip to Michigan. This will be the first time I have been away for 6 nights, 7 days and we are renting a cabin near Lake Michigan and going on vacation with my sister and her family in late June. June will be a whirlwind with a weekend wedding in June and two weeks later, we will be heading to Michigan.

Cody and Carleigh have a field trip to Niedermann Farm on June 3 so I am trying to figure out which one of us will attend. For me, it is Field Day, which would be easy for a sub to handle and I would not have to worry so much about lesson plans. It depends on how many personal days I have left.

We have a big meeting for Cody and his Kindergarten plans on Good Friday so I am anxious and eager to hear what the plans are for my little guy.

Alot to think about!

Priceless

5 years of infertility, heartache, adoption losses, and grief and seeing this makes it all go away!

Playing at the dinner table

After dinner, they decided to hold hands and play "pattycake." Then they started to tug like a tug of war match. I am so glad that they have each other to entertain themselves!

Getting ready for church!

These were taken right before we left for church yesterday morning. Cody is such a ham and now makes the most cheesy smiles when I tell him to "smile!" Oh how I love these two!

Sleeping AGAIN!

I think I have caught her sleeping here before, but this was taken last week. I thought I would share!

Very Scary Moment at School

And no, I do not mean Tradetown or a parent conference! (*LOL*) My class was taking a math test and I was at my desk checking someone's test paper when a student came up and said that a little girl was on the floor. I walk over and there she was seizing on the floor. I am watching her and when she doesn't respond, I go over the phone and call down our secretary as our nurse was out sick (go figure!). She comes down and cannot get her to respond either so 9-1-1 was called.

My principal comes down and suggests I take the kids out of the classroom. So, I quickly decided to take them to the library and pop in a video on Egypt. The paramedics come and take her but wanted to talk to me about what happened. My class was VERY traumatized and thought they could catch it. Luckily, my room mom is an RN and talked to them about it at the end of the day. I still haven't received an update on her but her vitals were good when they were loading into the ambulance.

I have NEVER ever in my life ever have anything like this happen in my classroom as well as having 18 other students see this happen! I also have not ever seen a grand mal seizure and boy was that an experience. We prayed for her and they all were very concerned. They are such a sweet, caring class. It took awhile for us to regroup our thoughts and finish that math test.

What an afternoon!

Potty Training 2

We have been potty training Carleigh for some time now. She has good days and then others are not so good. She has been doing much better with telling us when she needs to go. Well, Cody's teacher emailed me yesterday saying that Cody gestured that he needy to go potty and he said "pee pee" went over to his backpack to get out a diaper and took her to the bathroom. Wooohoo! This means that we will start introducing the potty with him too. No one knows the depth of my joy if BOTH get potty trained. I have been changing diapers for over 5 years STRAIGHT and it will make everyone happy when this stage is over!

His teacher also told me that she has finally noticed a hand domination. Cody is a....... lefty! Just like his sister, dad, and Mamaw! I am now the only right handed person in the family.

I am doing a little better but will feel better when I get this day over as we have some exhausting things to do at the end of the school day today. *sigh*

Timing

I have a sinus infection or something viral. I came down with it mildly on Monday. Then in the evening and Tuesday, everything went downhill. Last night I was chilly, achey, and just plain awful feeling! I forced myself to cook dinner, grade papers, give baths and then Matt took care of the kids while I kept myself in bed.

Today I am a little bit better but then it is hitting me again. I have more Smartboard training until after 5pm and I am just praying my class will cooperate with me today.

**PLEASE READ THIS AUNT M WHOSE EMAIL BOX IS ALWAYS FULL**

Carleigh's party is Saturday, March 14th at 6pm. We are serving baked spaghetti, salad, birthday cake and ice cream. Miss Carleigh decided to go with a princess theme.

Planning Princess Carleigh's Party!

Carleigh has a sudden interest in princesses so I decided to have a princess party for little miss C! It was funny but she was calling me a Princess Mommy and then started to call Cody a princess but I told her that he was a "Prince." I think it stemmed from getting Princess valentines from her friends at preschool. I am thinking of baking her cake as one big CROWN because I have a cake mold that would work really easily for it. I was really NOT wanting to make a train cake for the tomboy in her!!

Carleigh also has been talking NON-STOP! She can say full sentences now and is soaring! Also, Cody is talking so much and we have seen SO MUCH progress. Just the other day he saw a book and said "Read book. Find the animals." He can repeat any word that we say and I am just so proud of my guy. His teachers at school have also noticed a new level of maturity on his part. We will be taking him to the doctor in March for his second half of Kindergarten shots and talking to the dr about a possible ADHD diagnosis. We are seeing so much hyperactivity (as well as his teachers/therapists at school) and are wondering if his academic growth is being held back due to a lack of focusing. Hopefully the pediatrician will help us on this.

Opps...I kind of got off topic! That happens alot! I also wanted to add that Carleigh likes being a Mommy to all her babies. It is so cute to see her rocking her babies and feeding/carrying them around. They are both at the fun imaginative age and I love so much to play with them.

No Holiday For Us!

This would have been a day off for Cody, Carleigh, and mommy but due to 2 snowstorms, this is one of the 3 makeup days that I have to take. Cody and Carleigh has one more day to make up (Memorial Day) but I am not sending them. I know...I am a rebel!! Ha Ha Ha (It's CRAZY to send preschoolers on Memorial Day and I refuse to send them....they are not going to miss anything anyway!)

This week, the emphasis in my classroom is ancient and modern Egypt. Each class picks a country and learns all about it. Then next week during International Week, we have each class come and listen to what we have learned. I am including the Smartboard in the presentation and hopefully the students will WOW all the other classes with their tech savyness! All this is wonderful and great but it absolutely makes this teacher exhausted with all the prep work that I HAVE to do plus organize costumes, food, show times....*sigh*! To give you an idea on what we do this is what we are doing this week along the lines of Egypt: making the Egyptian flag, make collars, bracelets, make an Egyptian hanging mobile, make life-size sarcophagus for reach student (Egyptian coffin that you put a dead Pharaoh in for mummification), studying the muffication process, write a research paper on Egypt, make 3-D pyramids, and learn Arabic/Muslim culture. And that is not including all the other subjects like Bible, Reading, Spelling, Math and Science! We do go an extra hour than public school so we do get a little extra time to cover all that we need which includes Bible time.

If you do not hear from me this week....this is why!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We ordered heart shaped pizzas for dinner tonight which was a first for us! And I baked heart shape cookies for the occasion. Everything was yummy and we had a great Valentine's Day together.

Carleigh's Sleep Habitats Revisited!

Tonight, Carleigh fell asleep while Matt and his dad went to get our heart shaped pizzas (which were delicious I might add). This time, she fell asleep leaning on Mammaw! I guess she was a nice pillow for her! I always joke with Mary that she is the "baby whisperer" because she can get ANY baby asleep in a matter of minutes. Yep, she still has the touch!

Wild Winds Again!

We had very strong winds of in the vicinty of 60 - 70 mph last night. I was getting the kids ready for church and I heard a noise. Looking out the window, I saw the kids' playhouse (that is quite heavy) picked up by the wind and was rolling in the backyard!!

I put Carleigh into her car seat and she was crying because she saw her playhouse on its side and she said "My house FALL DOWN!" At first I thought SHE was afraid of falling down becase the winds were soooo strong! Anything in the yard flew everywhere. Thankfully we did not lose power but up at the top of our street and across the T intersection, power was out there. The school lost power temporarily as well. I am sooooo glad we didn't lose power!! Thank you Lord!!

We have had the wildest weather I can ever remember here!

60 Degrees in February

When we get 60 degrees in February, I just HAD to let the kids play outside for a few minutes. Actually Matt chased them around while I fixed dinner. I came out to take some shots and they were THRILLED to be able to play outside for a few minutes. It's crazy thinking that last Wednesday, it was 2 below zero!! And today it reached 60 degrees! Carleigh enjoyed riding on the tricycle. I just KNOW she will love her birthday present from Matt and I....we are getting her a two wheeler with training wheels, plus a helmet and knee/elbow pads. Bring on SPRING!

Cody was all smiles that he could go outside before dinner to play for a few minutes. He just had to show me an acorn he found from last October when Carleigh stole a bunch out of my sister's front yard.

2 years ago today....

my little boy because a part of our forever family! I cannot BELIEVE we are celebrating his 2 year anniversary of being adopted! Time certainly does fly!

Happy Adoption Day sweet boy!

We love you so much!!!

Is it Spring YET?

Oh, seeing the Easter candy and baskets in the stores are making me want April to get here quickly! I cannot wait until the ground thaws because we are getting fencing this Spring! Woooohoooo! No one can understand the depth of my joy on that one because that means this summer, this momma is going to be sporting a tan because I will be outside with the kids ALL DAY (as long as it is not too humid mind you!).

It also felt good to go without a jacket today as I was out and about doing some shopping. May, please get here NOW!

We also are planning two trips: weekend to Gatlinburg for a wedding in June and possibly a trip to Michigan with my sister to the sand dunes and Lake Michigan. I have never been to Michigan and have always wanted to go. There are sand dunes to go dune bugging, river rafting with the kids (life jackets on of course!), camping, grilling out, shopping in little towns, visiting lighthouses, playing at the beach, and a TON of things to do up there. There is alot to do that doesn't cost a ton of money and so we are getting excited! We haven't decided whether to stay in a cabin or stay at a hotel. We will probably do all of this as long as we don't go to St. Louis in August. Things are still up in the air but we would go to Michigan in July probably, all depends on a few work schedules.

Our three makeup days at my school have been voted and agreed upon: Presidents' Day will be a regular school day (don't bother me AT ALL!), We lose the extra Monday off of Spring Break and we add one more day to the school year. So the students will get out June 4 and I will be out June 5th (one day before Matt and my 11th anniversary). I was pleased with the way they handled the make-up days. I still get a Spring Break and only have to go one more day at the end of the year. It will be interesting to see how Cody and Carleigh's school will decide their 4 makeup days.

Cody's New Glasses

Cody broke his glasses back in November. We had to wait to get a new prescription and his eye appointment was late December. We ordered them on New Year's Eve. They FINALLY came in this morning! He didn't like them at first but he is wearing them now. Yay! Hopefully he doesn't break this pair so easily! He is so handsome!

Another snowstorm

means more makeup days for this teacher! ARgh! The weather people just cannot forecast here! We were SUPPOSED to get an inch or less and more in Northern Kentucky but no, we got NAILED with 5-6 more inches of snow! Luckily, I decided to leave work right at 3:45pm. The major roads were fine then but when I got near the airport, yikes! It was awful!! It took me 20 minutes which normally takes me about 10 minutes with good traffic and no trains. My co-worker left 30 minutes later and then it took her 2.5 hours to get home. I cannot imagine how long it took some teachers who stay until 5pm normally! Crazy!

We have had 5 snow days plus 3 days off in September due to the windstorm that knocked out electricity from Sunday - Wednesday. That means we have 3 makeup days. The local public school day has one more than us because they took off for a cold day. Well, our superintendant has decided to take President's Day and then who knows where the other two will be taken. I would prefer them to take them on Spring Break, but we will see. The kids's last day is June 3rd and 4th for teachers. I really want that to stay but we will see. I get out a week before Cody and Carleigh and would love to have that time to organize and clean and also to see their Preschool Awards and Cody's Preschool Graduation.

So today, it will be laundry, cleaning, and grading portfolios. Ahhh...the life but I do not want to see snow fall again until next winter!!!

Carleigh the Fashionista

Tonight, I was bored so I french braided my hair. This really intrigued Carleigh. I asked her would she like me to braid her hair and she said yes. She nor I had the patience tonight for a full french braid so I gave her two braids swooping them together like a chignon. And guess what? She kept it in ALL evening, in fact, she fell asleep with them in so she will be having wavy hair in the morning. *LOL* We are making progress because she does not want me to fix her hair. Hopefully she is maturing and will let me style her hair. Her hair is absolutely gorgeous and she has the most beautiful tint of blonde. It would look just stunning in french braids and heart braids.

We were playing with hair bows and pony tails and Cody came over and said "My turn!" He did not understand why we didn't put his hair in braids or pony tails. Of course his hair is so short that it is virtually impossible to get a pony tail going but I did put a tiny, baby pony tail in the front part. (Didn't get a pic because it didn't last long!) He got so mad that we didn't fix his hair. Oh my!

Notice Carleigh's fashion....she is sporting one flip flop and one black dress shoe. She does NOT get her style from her mother!