What we're doing...

This is what is going on right now in our house...

 oh yea.. that is my awesome new video monitor. see

my sweet baby H?!

 K is now in bed.. but this was his bedtime snack. you know...

 and mr. D... putting together the new carseat for H.

now we don't have to switch them out anymore!!

And what did we have for dinner?! THIS:

HOMEMADE chicken club pizza. and there is

only 1 piece left. :) oh yea.. it was GOOD.  if I 

must say so myself.. and I usually don't brag about

my cooking... but this was so good. gah. I am sad

there isn't any left but that one piece.... The recipe is

from Kraft Foods.. I get those Food and Family

books in the mail. And I cook out of them ALL the time.

Really. At least 3 of my 5 meals a week is from those books.

Yes, I cook every night of the week unless we have something

to do on a weeknight.. which is usually never. I skip it on

the weekends unless we grill or something... We are so busy

on Saturdays and Sundays that cooking is pointless really.

In other news, I started my first day at CES today. YAY!

It was so good. They are chill there. I love it. Very laid back.

I am excited about spending the next 6 weeks with them!

But even MORE excited about graduation. Yea. You'll hear

me talk about that a lot.  

Now, it is past my bedtime. Way past. NIGHT!!! :)

Night 1

First night with Harper in her bed, alone...

went GREAT! :)

She slept so good! She always gets at

least twice... and I got up and just

layed her back down and she went right to sleep!

I could see her all night when I rolled over to

see on the monitor. LOVE IT!

I was prepared to be up all night with her..

She usually cries when she wakes up in her

crib. But not last night! I am so thankful she

slept so well.  Now I just have to get her

off the bottle and on her sippy cup more!

She doesn't really like her sippy cup... at all.

She will drink out of it, but only after she cries

and throws it down a few times.  I refuse to give

her the bottle unless she drinks out of her cup

for a while.  She has caught on. She will finally

drink a small amount and then look at me

like, "OK, I did it. Now give me my bottle."

Then she'll throw her cup on the floor and scream

at me. Yea. DRAMA QUEEN. :)

She is all girl. 

HAPPY WEEKEND!!

 yea, yea.. the pictures are crooked. I forgot to rotate

them before I uploaded them. You get the picture.

Little Miss has been making a MESS lately. A lot.

but she loves to help Kyler brush his teeth every night!

Spring Breakin' It

Hard to believe... Spring Break is almost over! :(

I have had a busy week off! I started painting

my kitchen on Saturday and finished it on Monday.

We still had a little bit of touch ups to do... we did

that today.  It looks SO SO SO much better.

Before.. this was how it looked when we bought it.

 ugh. those curtains. that light! (the light is still there..

but it is soon coming down and another will replace it.)

 AFTER THE PAINT! the cabinets are still horrible..

and the cabinet pulls are awful... but one thing at a time, people!

 handmade curtains by BJ and me. Thanks, BJ!

And see that cute sign next to the window? My

MT (mentor teacher) gave it to me as a gift! :)

 The door was still wet in this picture... This is a

very light gray with white trim!

I am so glad that project is over. Now on the next.

I am working on one of our own name signs... you know,

like the ones that are nature looking like letters.. I

decided to do our own instead of pay lots of money for one.

It is coming along just fine. I have some left over fabric from

my curtains and will mat the pictures on it and frame it to hang

in the kitchen. I am also working on a LARGE collage print

to hand in the kitchen/hall as well. It will make everything

come together.  I also am looking for a red/black or something

like that runner to put down my hall on the floor.  

Sigh. My spring break is almost over. Back to school next week.

On the positive side... only 7 more weeks until graduation!

YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!

I am planning a graduation dinner. and Harper's birthday party.

and MY birthday party. I LOVE planning parties.

It's my other half of my life. :)

Did I mention how many showers I have been to lately?!

I have lots of people in my life that are getting married

and/or having babies. It's so fun!!! I love showers and

getting gifts for other people.

I have Harper's old clothes strung out all over the place. I am

going to consign them at Cooper's Closet this year! I have

never done it... so I hope it all goes well.  I need to make

some extra money!! We'll see what all I can sell. To find out

more on how to consign with them, click here.

Harper Layne. has never slept in her own bed. Until tonight

We just bought this baby:

 and plan on using it ASAP.  She has to

sleep in her own bed.  MUST. no option.

Again, we'll see how this goes...

She hasn't slept in our bed.. she has either

slept in her carseat (when she was smaller

because of her ears) or on a pallet with

a bijillion covers and pillows. That is how

she slept SO good. So I was not about to move her.

 But now... she has to sleep in her crib. :/

Pray we sleep tonight.

I just did my favorite school thing every month.

Ordered books from scholastic.  I LOVE books

and LOVE the prices on here!!! I always order

a good many books. We read every night before bed

and now I get to start a girl collection!! :) :)

 And last, but not least... this place. is heaven.

Really. Frozen yogurt. Correction.

Frozen WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE yogurt.

Ya. That's right. with Heath Bar pieces and caramel.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.........

Their slogan... "GET YOUR SMACK ON."

Oh I do. A lot. Enough that I have already racked up

enough "member points" to get a free frozen yogurt cup.

twice. :)

Guess you know where I'll be tomorrow!!!

FRIDAY! I think the kids will leave school early

and we'll eat lunch with D and then who knows

what we'll get into! :)

Well, today was my last day at Joe Cook Elementary! Let me just say I fought back tears ALL DAY LONG! I have gotten so close to these kids and I love each one of them so much. I have grown to learn their ways and admire their characteristics. And my MT (mentor teacher, for those who don't know teacher terms) is so awesome.  She has taught me so much and I really am sad to be leaving.  I have gotten "settled" and used to my teacher, the students, and the school... but now it is time to move on. :( I will have a week off (not that's I'll be 'off') and then it's Caledonia time! :) I went and met my new MT this afternoon. Look like I am in for a totally new experience, even though I have the same grade! 

I am looking forward to being only 4 miles down the road from school.

Goodbye waking up at 4:30 every morning! :) That's something to be excited about.  I made my teacher a canvas for her door as a happy and made my students little goodie bags with candy and school things...

and I FINALLY got to order some cookies from the small town famous "Cookie Mama"... which is the sweetest person ever! I ended up at her house for over an hour last night just talking and realizing we know more people and have more in common than we both thought! I hope, Cookie Mama, that was the beginning of an awesome friendship! :) :) :)

I haven't taken any pictures this week. I know, bad momma.... I've been doing stuff for school and not getting home until late every night. So sue me. BUT...with the coming week off, I plan on taking LOTS of them.. especially if the weather is pretty. And I will have pictures of the

before and after of the kitchen! I have everything ready to do.

Just have to pick up the paint and start! I can't wait to see it all finished.

It will be so refreshing to see a new color every day!

Have a Happy Weekend! :) And Spring Break for those who have it!!!!

ONLY ONE MORE WEEK

OF MY FIRST PHASE!

that excites me SO much!

that means I am 7 weeks 

away from GRADUATION!

YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!

ok. i'm over it. for now. whoo!

this week has been crazy busy.

lots of things going on, but 

home life is oh so wonderful!

kiddos are great and healthy,

hubby is still oh so fine and so good

to me, and my brain is still sane!

Harper is ALL OVER THE PlACE.

as in, crawling everywhere and pulling

up on everything! She can get going

and walk on furniture like it's nobody's

business! It is too funny!

And Kyler just adores her. He will sit in

her room and play with her all the time!

Such blessings they are to me and D!

Now, for my favorite part of the blog...

PICTURES!

Happy Weekend!!

Playing Catch Up

It has been such a busy two weeks!

I started teaching full time at school,

which leaves me NO time at home

to do anything but cook, bathe kids,

and sleep. Literally.  But... I have good news....

Lesson planning is OVER for my first phase.

WHOO! I wrote a total of  70 lesson plans

for this phase. That is a lot in intern world.

I have two more weeks until spring break

and I am counting down! Don't get me wrong,

I love my students and my teacher, but they

wear me out! And I am ready to paint

my kitchen and get my hair done. I'm going

back blond, finally! Seriously I am counting

down for that one. I can't wait to see my hair

back the color it longs to be. It has slowly

turned light blond since I first dyed it brown

anyways. I don't think it likes it.

In other news... Kyler will be signed up for

t-ball by the end of the day! He is going

to play in Caledonia this year since we live

here now. Only makes sense.  I am kinda

sad because he can't play with Jayce or

Rylee this year, but he needs to make new

friends and we need to make new parent friends

if we are going to be here for a while. And since

Kyler will start school next year, he needs

to be around some kids that he will know!

I am excited about t-ball season this year. Last

year I was pregnant and was miserable towards

the end of it when all the games were in June.

This year it should be much more comfortable.

And we only have to go about 4 miles to get

to the field. YAY!

Harper got her tubes in Wednesday. And she is

wonderful! Prayers were surely answered that day

and afterward.  She did so good going to sleep

with the gas and then waking up.  She was a little

disoriented (who wouldn't be when you had just been

put to sleep with a balloon flying over your face and

a gas mask) when she first woke up, but she was

totally fine about 15 minutes later.  By the time we left

the hospital around 9 a.m., you couldn't even tell

she had anything done! She was fine the rest of the day

at home, as well.  Just the happiest little thing. Well,

she's not that little, either.  She weighs 21 pounds. ya.

And Kyler? He weighs 38 pounds. Big kids, I tell ya.

But they are healthy.

Speaking of Kyler... I picked him up from school the other

day and our conversation went something like this:

K "Momma, you know what?"

me- "what?"

K "You know who I want to be when I grow up?"

me- "who?"

K "Eric."

me- "who is Eric?"

K "you know, Eric... the prince!"

me- "prince of who?!"

K "the prince on Mermaid, and Lana is

going to be Ariel and we are gonna get married!"

me- "married?"

K "ya, me and Lana, gonna get married. Just 

like Eric and Ariel."

yea...  married. as a four year old. All that whole 

movie and the boys fight over who is going to

marry Lana. At least he's a ladies man! Lana

is a pretty girl! :)

Graduation is soon approaching..as is

my job applications.  I have them finished,

just putting some last minute touches on them

to get them right before I send them off.  Want

them to be perfect! Pray something comes up

and there is a good position open for me for

the fall! I have heard some places that have openings,

but i don't want to bank on anything just yet.  

I plan on doing some school work today

and grade some papers from yesterday.

Life of a teacher! :)

Here are some pictures from the last few days,

and Kyler and Harper's school pictures for the

Spring! They turned out SO good I thought!

 look what i can do now!

 step 1... getting there...

 step 2, watch me now!

 step 3... steppin' up.

 step 4! look at me!

Hump Week and VDay

Today was my first day of my fourth week of

my seven weeks of my first phase. ha.

Meaning I am over half way there for phase I!!!

WHOO!!!!!!!!!!

And it was Valentine's Day. We ordered

pizza and drinks for my class today at

school for a surprise. They were so good

today, and that just made it even better!  We

enjoyed pizza and drinks and cookies for our

afternoon snack today. Yummy.

I feel like I have so much to say and talk about,

but don't know where to begin!

Harper is getting tubes in her ears on

the 23rd. :/ I am nervous, but glad

that something is finally being done about

her ear infections.  She will be so much

happier at night and maybe will start

sleeping in her own bed. Fingers crossed.

Harper Layne.. she is so funny these days.

Being almost 8 months old (where has that

time gone?!) she is getting more and more

active! She almost has crawling down pat.

She can roll herself over onto her tummy

and sit herself up. Then she will roll back

over and start to rock back and forth on her knees.

She hasn't figured out how to move her hands

forward yet, but it is so close! She just

jibber jabbers all day long. "Da da da da da"

mostly. Of course D thinks she is really saying

da da, but she isn't. Ha. I guess I can humor him.

Still no teeth for little miss, but she will not 

eat baby food. period. will not. refuses.

spits at me. shakes her head no. oh yes, she knows

how to say "no" with her head. and she does it.

a lot. she will eat, however, any kind of table food

you give her. i'm talking biscuits, pancakes, cookies,

nutri- grain bars, mashed potatoes, dressing, sweet potatoes,

spaghetti noodles, bread.... anything that isn't baby food

this child will eat. :) makes dinner a lot easier around here.

Kyler Channing is such a big man these days. He is

getting so smart and so intelligent! I don't even want

to think about him turn 5 years old this year. 5 years old.

I mean, he was just a baby like 3 months ago.  Anyways..

he is so grown up.  Talks about Jesus and heaven

and making friends and what he is going to do

over the weekends and is always playing on the computer.

Always.  He says some things and it just blows my 

mind that he thinks the way he does. :) :)

In home news, I have new curtains and BJ and I made

for my kitchen. Can I just say, I LOVE THEM.

Pictures will come after I have my kitchen painted.

Which will be around Spring Break. I plan on painting

the kitchen and getting my curtains up and my pictures

to match everything. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOO!

I love my fabric and how they turned out.  Love.

The next few weeks are going to be pretty crazy.  

I have tons due for school and lesson plans

like crazy to make....Among other things going on.
Did I mention we have been to a birthday party every

weekend since Christmas? And last weekend we did

two parties! I am birthdayed out, to say the least.  I 

don't have any on my list for the next few weekends,

so maybe I can actually clean my house and go

through some things. Whew!

I'll leave you now with some recent pictures!

The Perfect Day

So we had 70 degree weather yesterday.

Go figure.  2 days before that it was

30 degrees and we had snow flurries. But

yesterday, it was BEAUTIFUL. Too beautiful

to stay indoors for sure.  We got all ready and

went down to the park for a bit and then to the

river walk in Columbus.  Everyone was out 

and about, riding their bikes, playing with their

dogs, and just enjoying the day.  We had the best time!

Harper loved the fresh air and Kyler loved climbing

and exploring everything.  It was such a good day

to just be together!  After such a hectic week, just

to be with the family was exactly what I needed.  

Speaking of school, one week down; six more to go

before spring break! WHOO!

I took so many pictures throughout the day,

but of course after editing and deleting, I was left with

a little over 100 from the day .  I love each

and every one of them!  

I should be working on my list of things to do for

school, but I got sidetracked doing housework

and blogging.  I got in a cleaning mood earlier

and started re-arranging and putting away.  I can't

wait for summertime so I can paint the walls

of my house! D says we have to wait until the summer

so we have the time and moolah... and I am

already planning and picking out colors.  These

colors we have now are just plain and ordinary.

Blah.  I need color and sophistication.  

Sigh.  Time for baths and bedtime. :)

Have a happy week!