May God Be with All of Us Tonight

I just laid Cooper down for the night.  I said our prayer, like I do every night, but tonight I added something.  I prayed to our Dear Lord for the moms and dads who wouldn't be snuggling their little ones into bed tonight.  I then cried.  I cried a lot.

Why?  Many of us are asking, WHY?  This event hit home a little too much for me.  I have taught kindergarten for the past 4 years.  I have had over 100 5 and 6 year olds come through my room, who depended on me to keep them safe while they were away from their parents.  Me.  Me alone.  What if this would have happened to my class?  I can't even think about it.  It is just so sad.  So wrong.  So very, very wrong.

I will never forget the first lock-down drill I had to experience, as a teacher.  Growing up, we didn't have these types of drills.  Teachers didn't have to worry about a gunman coming into our schools and shooting people...well, at least not in my small little Iowa town.  But up here in the city, in 2004, we had to have a lock-down drill.  My student was in industrial tech at the time.  We were down in the basement, there were no windows.  The teacher and I had to direct the kids to go under their tables.  I remember doing the same and thinking, "What the heck are we doing??  What has the world come to that we have to practice what to do IF someone came into the school with a gun?"  It took everything for me not to cry during this drill, which leads me to believe I may have been a HUGE mess if this happened for real!  It is a moment I will never forget in my teaching career.

My prayers go out to the families who lost children, parents, friends, teachers, today.  My heart goes out to all the children who experienced this dreadful event, one that they never, in their short lives, should have encountered.  I want to do something more, but am unsure of what that is at the moment, so all I will do is pray to our GOOD, GOOD Lord and ask him to wrap his arms around those who lost a loved one today.  God Bless You!!!

BUT GOD

I have been away for awhile.  Life has changed.  Life has changed BIG time!  Some highlights:

1.  We moved

2.  I quit my job

3.  My Pampered Chef business has TAKEN OFF

4.  I am SO HAPPY

5.  I have ZERO stress in my life

Let me reflect a little.  At the beginning of October we found out we were going to have to move.  We had just moved into this home 1 year and 3 months prior.  We were shocked.  But GOD had a plan, and we soon understood that home was a stepping stone for us to get to where HE wanted us!  We moved into Prior Lake.  We are in a neighborhood surrounded by homes with CHILDREN, which means our boys have kids to play with all summer long! We also don't have to worry about mice, which makes me smile!

I have had a flashing, neon sign hanging if front of my face for years.  I could never quite read it, and finally on Tuesday, Oct. 16th, it simply said, "QUIT."  That was that.  God needed me to be done teaching at my school for myself, my husband, my children.  It was time to be at home and take control of the family we were raising.  I LOVED my job of teaching my little kindergartners, but my time at my school was done...as a teacher.  Joey is still there, and being very successful in 3rd grade.  BUT GOD (this was the message from Pastor Bill this weekend...BUT GOD!) has another journey for me right now.  So, I am a stay at home mom and LOVING every minute of it!

My wonderful friend, Sara, got me into Pampered Chef.  It was something to do over the summer and make a little extra money.  Well, when I quit my job, I still had to find X amount of money to bring home.  The LORD has blessed us!  With me already submitting $6600+ in sales for December, and 12 shows on the books for January, God is GOOD!

I can't tell you the last time I was this happy.  I get to spend everyday with Andy and Cooper.  I get Joey to school and pick him up everyday.  I am not getting up at 5:15 am and out the door by 6:45 am with 3 boys, I get to make supper (and not be stressed about what we are having!), I get to go to coffee with great friends, and I still get to see my former students!!  Life is good!  God is good!

My only stress is financial (but whose isn't??), BUT GOD is providing!!

Watch Pastor Bill's sermon on Joseph, and here him talk about BUT GOD!

And this is just a BONUS, but one of my most FAVORITE moments at Hosanna!!

Check out our family session with Tina Vega Photography!

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Beating the Heat

Today is my 2nd day of not leaving the house.  I am going a little crazy.  Luckily, I found the slip n' slide yesterday and Steve got it set up last night when he got home.  The boys are out having fun (in our HEAT WAVE) and trying to stay cool.

Usually when we are ALL at home, minus dad, the boys cannot get along for the life of them.  It seriously drives me CRAZY!  They either have to be right by me, or are at each others throats.  The rule is no TV except when they wake up in the morning and are waiting for me to wake up (they are on school time, I am NOT!).  The rule for the Wii, is no Wii unless it is raining...or YiaYia (grandma in Greek) is here, because she likes to play the Wii with the boys! :)

We try to keep busy by having 30 min of school in the morning.  I work with Joey in a curriculum book, trying to get him up to speed with his reading skills.  Andy does www.abcmouse.com.  This is AWESOME! Andy has a lot of fun learning on this website, I highly recommend it!

The boys love to be in their "art room", aka the screened in porch which has no furniture, but all their art supplies!  They both love to draw pictures and create.  I am constantly getting "works of art" from them!

They can also go downstairs, which is their domain.  We do not have any furniture down there either, but their room and the toy room is down there.  The family room is a finished, wide open space they can run around in.  Once I get them down there, they can play for hours, usually with each other.  It is so nice to see them actually enjoy each others company!

Cooper having fun with the water table

I just LOVE Cooper's BLUE eyes in this photo

Seriously, he needs to learn to walk.  It would make being outside so much more fun!

Andy's worm he found.  He named it....Cooper!

Fun with the slip and slide

Joey and Andy, actually loving each other!

Joey is "strutting" as he put it!

I just LOVE this photo!

Back to today, I was able to get some fun pictures of them outside playing in the water and HEAT!  I just read a friend's blog about capturing the moments we don't think about in our child's lives...the moments we will surely miss someday!  I went right outside to try and capture some memories of the boys.  I thought some of them turned out pretty cute!

I Want to Be Big!

I had a very interesting conversation with Andy this morning.  I was in the bathroom getting ready for church (which was FABULOUS!) and he was sitting on the toilet doing his deed.

Andy:  I can't wait to get big.
Me:  Why?
Andy:  I want to be married.
Me:  Really?
Andy:  My Honey (what he calls is future wife, isn't that so cute??), her name will be....Abby or Grace.  (FYI:  the 2 girls at daycare)  My kids will be, uh....Joey and Andy!
I just keep listening, as he truly has a the whole thing planned out.  The next comment was the best, as it was a great idea that had just occurred to him!

Andy:  Mom, I can marry you!  Then daddy can marry lots of girls!
He thought this was brilliant!

Mommy, will you marry me?

I then explained to him that that is not how things work.  He can't marry me, because I am married to his dad.  We made a vow in front of God that we would love each other forever, and be married forever.  We can't marry anyone else.  I highly doubt he understands this, but I thought the proposal was cute!!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Megan!

This past weekend, the boys and I headed down to Iowa to celebrate my sister, Megan's, birthday!  Megan lives in Houston and drove up for her birthday.  We had a great celebration with ham balls (super yummy!) and cheesy potatoes!  Seriously, the best meal ever!

Of course, there was cake!  Andy was so excited for the cake and couldn't wait to eat it!  Before we cut into the cake, we got this great picture with Aunt Megan.  Joey cracks me up!  The faces we have captured on camera, are just crazy.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Megan!

Joey had the privilege to stay at grandma's this week.  He is attending the golf camp that I went to as a kid.  So far, it sounds like he is having a great time!  My mom sent me a Joeyism that I need to share:

"Pops, I didn't even notice you wear glasses."
"Yep, I do."
"I think it's because they blend in with your face."
"Hmmm, that's probably because they are black."
"And your face isn't even black!"
Pops chuckles.

Then she sent another:

"We (Joey and grandma) just finished reading and I asked him if he could remember page 78 for tomorrow.  He said he could remember a tornado warning from when he was three.  So I guess that since he can remember that, he will be able to remember page 78 for tomorrow.  lol" 

I miss you, Jojo!!!

Bitter Sweet Day

Field Day.  This is a day that all Aspen students look forward to all year.  Our students work so extremely hard all year, and today is the day they get to be kids...all day!  All 350 students gathered at a park today, were split into 10 teams (wearing super cool shirts designed by my good friend!!), and went through 8 different stations.  It was a blast!  And, on top of it, the weather was AWESOME!!!  We could not have asked for a better day...blue skies, 80's, slight breeze...beautiful!

Field Day is great, because it also reminds us that it is the end of the school year!  I am so excited to be home for the summer with my kids (even though I am sure I will go nutty some days!), and just relax.  But will I really relax?  Probably not!  There is always too much to do...housework, PC, scrapping, planning for next year, more housework.  BUT Field Day also reminds me that I only have one day left with my kinders.  I get so attached to my students, and their ways, that I miss them.  I know there is a whole new class coming in next year, but I still miss my kids.  I have to share one story:

My kids scrapbook every year.  I give them about 15 photos from throughout the year, lay a ton of paper and stickers out, and they go to town!  While one little boy was working, I overheard him say to a little girl, "This one must have been from back in the day.  I think I was five."  It took everything for me not to laugh out loud.  Keep in mind, he is six!  That is what I will miss....

....but, I have Joey and Andy to keep me going throughout the summer! :)

The favorite station of the day...Crazy Hair and Face Painting!

Joey and I on Field Day!

Guess what Joey is doing tonight???  Having a sleepover with our friends who have triplet girls!!  I know, call me crazy, but he wanted to go water skiing with them tonight after supper, and they offered.  He is one lucky boy getting to have a sleepover on a school night! :)  Happy end of 2nd grade!!  I am proud of you, JoJo!

Give Cooper a Hand!

Over the weekend, Cooper learned to do "So Big" by himself!  It is so cute, as his little arms are so short, he barely can get them above his head.  And he is very interested in his cute little hands, as when they are up in the air, he truly examines it.  Too cute!

Last night while waiting for Joey to get done with lacrosse, Andy and I were trying to get Cooper to play So Big.  Every time I would say, So Big, he would start clapping and just laughing!  I had never seen him clap before.  I was so glad I had my camera, as I got some photos of him going crazy!

Clapping!

Super excited!

Look at me!

Andy wanted a picture of him clapping too!

Cooper and Andy