Hooray

I feel confident saying it, that we now only have one kid in diapers!
Felix is potty reliable now!

Finally warm enough to play outside.

Temps nearing 30 today so we got the kids dressed and shooed them outside.

Forget the Goldieblox

Uncle Ryan & Aunt Carrie hooked us up with Rokenbok and we are totally rockin' the bok.
This radio controlled system has us moving little blue and red balls (the Roks) into differnt machines that we built that sort and move the roks. It is super cool and working great for my kids.
They are LOVEing it. Problem solving all over the place.




Relia has been getting into a little trouble chasing Leo around with a truck and switching Felix's controllers so it all of a sudden won't work.

Merry Christmas

Wow. How blessed we are.
I think getting ready for Christmas morning is one of my top ten favorite things about being a parent.



Leo telling FP that all that stuff needs to go back in the stocking.



Relia and Christie got matching jammies on Christmas Eve


While not technically a gift, Felix is in love with this coat.


Leo using my old rocking horse.


Santa brought Relia a "Goldie Blox" set.


It is pretty cool, but she blew through all of the projects in about an hour.
That's okay because Leo is ready to take over.

I didn't take any pictures while opening gifts at my parents. Maybe Carrie did. Anyway, there was so much it was amazing. It is cool to see what they really get into and what lasts as a favorite. We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you did too.

Merry Christmas!

Tree

Today Aurelia taught us how to make a tree out of a paper bag. So cool.

Noses & pears

Tonight we got flashing Rudolph noses! And momma brought home a big bag of pears.


Now where to get a partridge?

Shhh

After some prodding from Aurelia, I set up my old classroom aquarium over MEA weekend. A week later, we got a few zebra dannios to get the tank conditioned. Now two months later, I finally got around to letting the kids pick out "real" fish. They chose goldfish.  I had to break it to them that goldfish and other kids of fish usually don't get a long so well, and that the smaller fish will probably get eaten. The response: "Okay. I hope we get to see them eat." Yeah, my kids don't seem to struggle with the circle of life.

So, allow me to introduce Crystal and Blackname fish (Relia had to convince Felix that we already had a fish named Mr Slipperpecker)



And Leo has added fish to his vocabulary -though it sounds more like shhh.

Another Advent Observation

I didn't put up a string of bags for Leo this year because I wasn't sure if he'd be into them. He is. Whenever the kids get a bag down, he has to have one too. He doesn't need to have anything in it, he just needs to have one. So sweet.

Tonight's present was a foam craft snow globe thing. I got it on clearance after christmas last year, and didn't think it would be very interesting, but they LOVED it. They had  a great time. They shared and cooperated. Great.

The thing that surprised me was how much of it Leo was able to do. He stuck stickers on and colored with them the whole time. When he was done, he handed me his to put up on the wall with everyone else. I still think of him as a little baby with no fine motor skills, but that just ain't so.

Another Sickko

I am getting a little tired of cleaning up puke. Aurelia looked at me immediately after her bout last night and said earnestly, "You're next. There's no way around it. You're going to be next" -a little creepy, but she's probably right.

Visiting Santa

We arrived too late to get a seat for the show, but it was fine. Leo had an untimely diaper issue, so he didn't make it in the photo. Felix realized, too late, that he forgot to tell Santa what he wanted. He seemed okay with the idea of sending a letter later.

Just because this is what I do

2010-2013

Gingerbread-ish houses!

Today's advent calendar thing was making gingerbread houses.
We took Graham crackers and I made my own royal icing (much easier than I expected)





Relia's collapsed no less than 4 times. But did Relia cry? goodness no! We just built it back up.and kept on eating candy.



The finished products:

Last Holidazzle

They say this is the last year. That is too bad. I never appreciated it until I took my kids to it.
Waiting for the parade

Receiving mass quantities of beef jerky. About 20 people were handing it out, and every time one passed they handed us some.



Relia seeing "her" Pinocchio float from last year

Christmas train

Last night I brought out the Lego train and set it up around the tree. All the kids are enthralled. Felix and Relia can run it well. He calls it the Polar Express. Leo sits and watches and says "toot toot"

Another one two bites the dust

FP got the yuckies last night and apparently Leo did too. I heard him fuss a little around midnight, but it didn't last. When he woke up we discovered he'd been sick. Poor guy. I'm the only one left.

Super immune system or ticking time bomb? Only time will tell.

Chocolate

This afternoon we gathered in our kitchen with my parents, brother and SIL to dip everything in chocolate. It was wonderful. Gathering and making. Even Felix and Relia helped with marshmallows and cherries. We discussed using dad's induction cooker to heat up the chocolate next year. We'll see if I remember such things.

More sick kid

Last night Felix had a bad case of the pukes. Over and over. I think 4 times he threw up. Every time in his bed when we thought it might possibly be over. Blech.

But he was so sweet through it all. At least twice he said "Thank you for cleaning it up" to me and FP. Each time, once we'd changed the bedding and got him settled back into bed, he just relaxed and lay quietly. My sweet sweet boy.

He seemed right as rain today. A little tired, but otherwise quite himself, thank goodness.

Sick kid

When Relia spends the day on the couch, isn't interested in eating, and even offers to spend the whole day in her room if she can stay home, then you know she's really sick. Poor kid. She didn't even get to go out an play with the perfect for snowman making snow.

Hoping she's better tomorrow.

Okay + shame

Today was a little better. But not much. Wanna know why?

My students know.

I gave them a survey which is required by my district and by golly they nailed it. They know what I am doing well on and what I am not. I agree with their ratings. I might have even rated myself a little lower in some areas. But there was one particular area that I bombed.

I'm being too hard on myself.  I didn't bomb. I just didn't shine. And that is correct. I know I'm not doing well at it. Part of the reason is that I don't feel ownership of any of my classes which makes it harder to do the relationship/discipline thing. But that is really just an excuse. I can do better. I will do better. I'm glad my kids pointed it out.

But I keep going to a yucky place. A shameful place that makes me want to hide and cry.

Why?

I rocked 4 other areas. Why do I feel like a rotten teacher because I didn't do everything fantastically?
I'm trying to keep perspective. I really am. I wish it came more naturally.

Strong Feelings

Sigh. Do I always feel this way coming back from Thanksgiving break? I'm tired, and annoyed and acutely aware of the impossible expectations placed on teachers. I think there must be something else I would like. Something that didn't expect a daily individualized performances in multiple subjects (grade levels in my case).  I know the kids can do it with the right guide. I'm just not feeling like the best guide today.

Felix and Advent

Felix is at that wonderful age where everything is wonderful and fascinating. So when we opened our first two advent bags, He was thrilled to receive a piece of paper. "it's my paper for my book!" (bookmark). Really it was a message about going to get a tree, but that was not what he was excited about.

Tonight they got gel clings to put on the window. They were both excited to put them up, but Felix won't leave them. He just wants to be near them and look at them.


Three drives me nutso, but it is also one of the best ages.

Leo's words

He is adding them like crazy
As of a week and a half ago he had:
Momma
hi
no
on
up
cheese
uh-oh
Nana
attempts at Night night and all gone
and a slew of onomatopoeiae -the toilet, beeping of the microwave, cars, singing on the tv

Now he has:
hat
Relia
door
moon
moo (for a cow)
down
juice
jah (yes)

Christmas tree hunting!

We went Christmas tree hunting today. Everyone showed up at our house, and our convoy got a little lost on the way to our breakfast destination. But when we got there the kids discovered that they had a train running around the dining room, so all was forgiven.

It has been a few years since we did the cut your own thing. They had a great selection of trees and FP and I agree we found the perfect one.
Long car ride to the tree farm

Got the perfect trees





Felix's souvenir


The results!

Thanksgiving #2

I don't get excited about the whole black Friday thing. Crowds bug me. I love a good deal, but I am not willing to wake up insanely early/stay up late for one. But after we returned home on Friday I decided to take the big kids for haircuts (I'm still scared to attempt cutting their hair myself). Afterward, we found ourselves at Target, near cheap movies. So I got a few.

Best deal ever. Wreck-it Ralph has kept them settled on the couch through at least 2 runs while I worked on stuff for our Moffett-DeFor Thanksgiving.
I seem to have skipped taking any pictures of the whole table, or the guests, but I can assure you both were lovely.

Relia making place cards



The boys decorating the "tablecloth"



My stuffed turkey



Lots and lots of hand turkeys:






Now we have lots of yummy yummy leftovers.