Note to Self:

IF you take your children into your classroom on a Saturday….you will spend 30 minutes actually working and an hour playing & cleaning up the mess. I will say - a trip to "Mommy's School" really wears my kids out! All three of us took naps when we got home!

 New toys to play with!

 Jack decided to make me some dinner. He set the table and everything!What did I eat?

Pizza and Peas, of course.

Bathtub Convos with Jack

A few conversations with Jack:

(FYI - Leticia is not a made up person, she cleans our house every other week. Josie loves her because she speaks Spanish to her, Jack loves her because she finds his "missing" toys, I love her for obvious reasons.)

And we can't be sure if he is talking about his Uncle Jonny or his friend Johnny…either way Jonny/Johnny has some explainin' to do….

Uncle Jonny

Last week Uncle Jonny came over to pick up my mom & dad. He got in a quick game of baseball with Jack - which made Jack's night! He was hitting some serious "home runs" - right in the living room!

 So focused when he plays baseball...

Uncle Jonny was a good sport and even morphed into a PowerRanger/Hulk combo. Jack thought it was hilarious.

Photo Booth Favs

My school laptop is big. I sorta need a suitcase to haul her around. Once I was taking her on an airplane and Tyson told me the TSA probably wouldn't let me have her in my carry-on because it could be considered a battery-ram/weapon. Not funny.

Fast-forward to my birthday weekend and Tyson came home from Best Buy with a new 11" MacBook Air...pretty much the opposite of my school laptop. It's tiny and awesome and (once I have all my software on it) I *will* use it a lot!

Here are some of my favorites so far in my Photo Booth...Jack LOVES taking his picture, if you can't tell.

Playdough

 Jack got new play dough for his birthday - a perfect gift for the FREEZING cold temps we've had lately!

 Jack made a snowman and Josie kept busy putting all the play dough away.

Sometimes it's more fun to sit ON the table. (Under adult supervision, of course)

Josie's Favorite Room

You probably won't be too surprised to learn that Josie's favorite "room" in the house is the pantry. Here are a sequence of pictures to prove it:

Josie goes to her favorite room and tries to open the door...

 It's shut and she can't reach the handle. "Hello? Can someone help me, please?"

No one is helping. So she cries - big crocodile tears.

Eventually, I feel bad and open the door. She goes in and looks for her favorite snack.

She comes out HAPPY. And that's proof - Josie loves the pantry more than any other room in the house.

4 Adults, 4 kids, 3 dogs - One night at the Lake

We spent 22 hours at the Lake with the Jakobsens this weekend! It was SO awesome to see them, meet Baby Louise, and catch up! Jack and Molly picked up right where they left off and got along great…just the normal 3 year old stuff.

 It was relaxing…well, as relaxing as it could be with 4 children under 4…and three large dogs.

The lake was completely frozen. Jack and Molly had a blast running on it, crawling on it, and making snow angels! I think Molly even snuck a few bites of snow...

By 9pm all of the children were asleep - and the adults had a chance to have some fun! Adult beverages and a card game kept us up WAY past our normal bedtime. (the porch was freezing…if you can't tell by our blankets) It was NOT, however, sunny - but Tyson was celebrating the fact that Brooke found his long-lost sunglasses.

We learned (again) that we shouldn't have stayed up so late. The kids didn't have "SLEEP IN" on their agenda for today. Rough.

Lots of rides in the tractor!

And finally, an updated group picture! Last time we took this - Louise was in Brooke's belly. I'm pretty sure she thinks we're all too loud…and a tad crazy. She's right.

Always SO great to see our MI buddies! Jack is already asking, "When can I see Molly, Mom?"

Man of the Year

Right after my parents went back to Florida (after Christmas) we received an email letting us know that my Dad had been named "Man of the Year" for Kosciusko County. It's a great recognition for all of the time he has dedicated back to the community! Luckily, Dad was already coming back to Warsaw for work - so mom and I concocted a "white lie" to tell him so Mom could come home, too. We told him she was coming to a program for Jack & Josie at their school. Kind of a stretch, but it worked.

Last night we drove to Warsaw to see Dad win the award. He was pretty surprised and it was fun to be there with him!

A fellow Hanover College Alum was in attendance…you may have heard of him - Governor Mike Pence. I really wanted to pull him aside and say, "Hey, Mike - let's talk education…got a minute??" But I'm pretty sure he didn't… He was in and out pretty quickly.

And because I know the real reason you're here - a picture of Jack & Josie. Jack needs a haircut. Never good when you can rock a (TALL) mohawk in the bathtub.

Congrats, again, to my Dad! We are all so proud of you and - although you may not believe it - we know it is VERY much deserved!

Driver's ED

Temperatures on Saturday were in the 40's - and with FREEZING temps looming, we decided to let Jack take his new truck for a spin. It's nice to be on a quiet cul-de-sac for times like this...

Now I know how my parents felt when I was learning to drive. 

I was yelling things like:

• LOOK where you're going!!!
• BOTH hands on the wheel!!!
• You almost hit that (fill in the blank: tree, rock, mailbox, car)
• DO NOT run over your sister. Go THAT way (pointing in opposite direction).
• Reverse. REVERSE! REVERSE!!

Thank God we have 13 years before we have to deal with him behind the wheel of a real Ford F-150. Although, judging by the way he drives - we may need to buy him a tank.

My Secret: TpT

So I have had a Teachers Pay Teachers store since this summer. I figured if I was making things for my own classroom - I'd add it to the site and see what happens.

I sell things here and there…and it's fun. But I was pretty excited this morning when I woke up and saw that one of my products is featured as a FREE DOWNLOAD this week! Made my day. If you are a teacher - check it out! It's a fun "side job" - that I can do easily, since it goes along with what I do everyday - TEACH!