Thursday, March 31, 2011

The Sweetest Pair

These two fifth grade girls happen to be the sweetest pair! Maddie's best friend came over yesterday after school....I love listening to the things they talk about and watching them find things to do. They are so kind to one another...

Maddie is working on writing a book right now...she is reading it to Robyn. Robyn told her she was sooo good! :)

We headed out to one of the girls favorite places to go for a snack..Menchies in Federal Way. They scoped out the frozen yogurt bar, and after several samples they decided on their favorite flavors.

Then they hit the toppings bar and got to add some of these yummy choices. I love this place!

The girls were inspired by Menchies frozen yogurt so they made Menchies earrings out of Maddie's jewelry clay. These turned out super cute!!!



They thought the first pair of earrings turned out so cute they headed back upstairs and made "piggy bank" earrings. They even had the little tiny slot in the top for the "money!" These girls are so creative!!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Bedtime Routine

I have to say, I LOVE routine! I always have and I always will. I am hoping my kids follow in my "routine loving" footsteps. So far, Bella loves her bedtime routine. So we are headed in the right direction.

First, we take a bath. You can see she is so excited she is trying to climb right in without any help from mama.

Next, we sing a few songs in the tub.....



After that, Bella makes sure to get in some quality washcloth sucking



Once we are out and dried off we read a few books



Currently this is her favorite....I think it is all the "scratching" "sneezing" and "chomping" sounds that she loves the most

Last, lots of cuddles with mama. I love our bedtime routine.....I think she does too

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Our Little Diva


The other night I went to get Bella ready to take a bath. After she was down to her diaper she was insisting on getting her black boots on. This isn't too unusual...but then she kept pointing to her orange tutu skirt and saying "pretty, pretty" and wanting me to put it on her. Then finally she went and got a her big pink flower to put in her hair. Once the dressing process was over, she was tickled pink! I think we have a Little Diva on our hands!

Here she is all dressed and pleased as punch! "Look at how pretty I am mama!"



"Mama, I am going to show daddy how cute I look!"


Then she wanted to turn on the music and "dance" around her room.


"Alright mom, I'm done with this now" (As she rips the flower out of her hair)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

A Grateful Heavy Heart


Bella loves Fife too

So blogging is a bit of a diary for me. I have always loved to journal and write, but with two kiddos it seems impossible to read books let alone write too. Soooo...blogging has also become my journal of memories.


Side note: The following post may in fact be really cheesy and drip with emotion...but it comes from my heart. I am feeling a bit hormonal...therefore BEWARE before reading.


The last few weeks I have had a heavy heart, but today I have both a heavy and extremely grateful heart. I have always known that working in the Fife School District has been a very special thing...I hear stories all the time from other educators about where they work and what is going on..how they are treated...what they are forced to do..etc.... I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed to God and thanked him for letting me end up here. A place where students are the center of what we do. A place where we get to create GREAT things for kids and get the time to collaborate and do it.

So it was on one of those collaboration days that something unusual happened. I was with my amazing teaching partner and friend Carly designing a rainforest unit for our third graders. We get two uninterrupted days to just work and create...this in itself is amazing. We were really excited and getting to some amazing rainforesty things done...when all of a sudden Dr. McCammon our school district superintendent put his hands on our shoulders. What followed not only made me cry but also feel proud and grateful.

A little background: A few weeks ago my principal informed us that the district would no longer be supporting job sharing. This rocked my world because that left me with two options ...work full time or have no job. Well...no job is not an option, so you get the picture. When Maddie was little I had to work full time, go to school full time, and work a second job bartending. I missed SO much of when she was little.

Anyway, Dr. McCammon sat down with us and expressed his regret about having to make such difficult decisions such as cutting job sharing during this tough economic time. He also expressed his understanding on how he knew it would change our lives so much. He was so respectful, kind, and understanding. I am pretty sure that there is not many school districts where a superintendent sits down and talks personally to 2 third grade teachers about their positions changing.


Being hormonal as I am...I cried when he left. I felt very selfish for crying...I started thinking about what difficult position he is in...


Don't get me wrong, it is still so hard to think about our family life changing so much next year and YES I am extremely disappointed that this is no longer an option in our district.

BUT, I am so grateful to have a job in this economy. Not just any job...but a job I LOVE so much to my core..working with amazing educators and working for spectacular leaders. I am reminded daily that I am so blessed and feel so proud to be working in Fife. Today was just another reminder.





Saturday, March 19, 2011

Just For a Laugh...well for us anyway

There are a few strange habits we have noticed Bella picking up on....

Well, really these are just a few snapshots of some of the things she does on a daily basis that makes us laugh! This little girl seems to always be putting a smile on every one's face and cracking up her mama, daddy, and sissy....

We love this silly girl!

Feeding the sheep cheerios.....then a laughing while taking it away from the sheep and gobbling it up for herself!

Wearing shoes at all times...even during clothes/diaper changes! She is still into the hat phase...but not quite as obsessed as she once was.

Chewing on the doggie bone! Giving daddy a "ba ba" while he is resting.... Climbing into the doggie bed..laying down and saying "Nigh Nigh!"
Sucking her own snot....
Then getting her sheep's snot
Sucking on her binkie...although she never really took a binkie :0



Monday, March 14, 2011

Random post about juice and curls

Bella noticed Maddie drinking out of a juice box the other day and wanted a taste....well it was a match made in heaven! She is loving the juice box!

"Mama, it's not coming out anymore...help me!!"

"Aahh...there we go...juice!!!"

Ok this picture is totally random...but I snapped it with my new camera ...Bella was digging in the toy box and we are starting to notice she is developing some curls....cute!!

Wheee...Wheee...

One of Bella's new favorite things to do is put her baby in the baby stroller and push it around the house saying.."Wheee...Whee...!!!" The other night Maddie gave her something new to push around in the stoller and she LOVED it!







Maya...all dressed up as a baby and ready to go for a ride. Good thing she is a good sport!






"Doggie...Doggie...Wheee...Wheee??"



"Wheee...Wheee!" So much more fun to push the doggie



"Is that really a doggie under that baby hat?"




I better push my Humpty Dumpty instead....





Family Love

Papa and Grammie are here vusiting from San Diego and we are having lots of fun! A few snapshots of our first few days....

Bella learned to say "Papa" before he even came by looking at his picture. Here she is teaching papa how to give eskimo kisses before bedtime.


Since Bella taught Papa how to give eskimo kisses ....he thought he would teach her a little bit about beer....


Snapshot of some of the ladies in the family


Papa and the girls



Grammie...otherwise known as "Me Me"...that's much easier to say than Grammie




Sunday, March 6, 2011

Maddie's Belated Birthday Bash

What an amazing party we had..everyone had a great time and laughed a lot! We started off with a shopping mall scavenger hunt. The teams were Older vs. Younger. I headed up the older team and my sister Elisabeth took the younger team. Bella and Grandma hung out in the play area and walked the mall.
Each team had $50 and a list of 15 tasks. The tasks ranged from buying things, finding the cheapest pair of women's red shoes at Nordstrom Rack, to jumping on the trampoline jump.... Each task was worth points depending on it's difficulty...the first team back that completed all the tasks got 10 bonus points, but the team that returned with the most money got 11 points! Shopping frugally is a great skill to learn! Here are a TON of pictures of our party!

This was my team...Robyn and Alyssa...the older girls! One of the tasks was to take a picture wearing funny hats.


Buying some earrings..as cute and cheap as they could find!

One of the final tasks was to pay 6.00 for a 3 minute jump..however you got 10 bonus points if you could convince the guy to let you both jump for 1 1/2 minutes...our team did it!
Bella hanging out at the mall too
Drinking their pop with licorice straws!
Well...Auntie wanted to fit in so she started drinking her wine with a licorice straw too!
A few games of Twister...thanks for loaning it to us Ladd!
Chocolate cupcake fondue station
Vanilla and citrus cupcake fondue station
Creating some beautiful and delicious cupcakes
Some of the final products before they were eaten
Sisters and two of the chaperones...I think Grandmas was still running around with Miss Bella
The girls designed tank tops and mom ironed on their creations
Of course we had to Mod Podge...I love that stuff
Cute tanks with their rhinestone initials and "Born to Shop"
Other cute final products!!
These Mod Podge clipboards turned out ADORABLE! I am going to make some for my classroom today or tomorrow!
All done with our projects!!!


What a fun party and such a lovely group of girls!
We were all tuckered out after the festivities...Thanks so much to my mom and sister for helping so much! IT was a great PARTY!