TTMT

Join in the Hicktionary fun of Talk To Me Tuesdays which we all have realized is now Thursday!  YIKES!  That's what happens when you're not working :)

Today's question: What are you hopeful for in 2011?


I am always hopeful for the health of my family and friends.  It's something I pray for every night. I think many times we take our health for granted.  Aaron and I are going to work hard to ensure we are setting healthy examples for our children in 2011.

I'm also hopeful for an even deeper relationship and stronger marriage with Aaron.  I bought The Love Dare Day by Day: A Year of Devotions for Couples to encourage us on this journey.  We are definitely happy, but we all know life is not easy.  You just never know when life is going to throw you a curveball! I know that it's important to make your marriage priority #1, and this daily time together will help us to keep our priorities straight!

I'm hopeful that budget cuts will not have quite the impact on my job again this year.  I love all aspects of what I'm doing and am thankful for a full time job...I just wish I didn't have to do them all at the same time!  It's definitely been a challenging year trying to balance both 7th and 8th grade Language Arts along with kindergarten talented and gifted.  I've learned SO MUCH throughout this year, but am not sure I can handle another year of juggling so many different responsibilities and stay sane. Unfortunately the budget talks have begun already :(  I'm hopeful I can keep a positive attitude through this entire process!

I'm also hoping to be able to carve out a more regular time to scrapbook this year.  It's something I love to do and is total stress relief for me but always gets put on the back burner.  For some reason grading papers, cleaning, writing lesson plans, running the boys here or there, and everything else seems to be a little higher priority.

Those are my hopes for 2011.

Merry Christmas

From our home to yours...

Merry Christmas!

May you be blessed to spend time with your loved ones today celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Betty Crocker

Hi! My name is Lisa and I'm addicted to baking...

peppermint meltaways (new recipe)

chocolate star cookies (Carter's favorite)

almond bark pretzels (Austin's favorite)

sugar cookies (my favorite)

chocolate dipped peanut butter balls (Aaron's favorite)

add in a seafood lasagna for Christmas Eve (Tim's favorite)

and seven layer jello (a holiday tradition)

and you know what I've been up to for the last day and a half.  I'm not sure I've left the kitchen!  Sheesh!  I've loaded up two huge trays full of goodies to take to the cabin and Ween's house for Christmas and I've still got more than I know what to do with!  If you need a sweet little nibble...stop on over :)  Just don't look at the state of the house...I've been creating sweet masterpieces instead of cleaning!  Oops..I guess you know what I'm headed to do now.

Snow much fun

Here's what the boys have been up to lately...

They have been wishing and waiting for the snow to come.  Their wish finally came true.  For three days straight after school, they spent hour after hour outside creating this snow fort with the help of a couple neighbor kids!  They are quite proud of their creation.

It is now tall enough that only their faces show when they stand up inside!

TTMT

This week's Talk to Me Tuesday:
Fill in the blank with a food item: "It wouldn't be Christmas without _______." (recipes welcome!)

It wouldn't be Christmas without fudgens!

What are fudgens you say?  Good question and one that I asked MANY times the first time I joined Aaron and his family for Christmas.  They are a tradition in his family and the way we end every Christmas gathering.  Basically they are like a mini donut that you roll in sugar.  I can remember Aaron's Grandma Sophie slaving over the stove making batch after batch after batch of fudgens as they would be gobbled up as soon as they hit the table.  It's hard to beat a piping hot fudgen rolled in sugar! It is now Ween who slaves over the stove making batch upon batch.  However, last year I got my first experience attempting to make them.  They insisted I did just fine, but I think they were all being nice to me.  I think it's Kelly's turn to try her hand at carrying on the family tradition this year!

Family Celebrations

We were able to spend Sunday afternoon celebrating Christmas with my Grandpa and Grandma Doering in Webster City.  We had a great lunch together, and they had so much fun hanging out with their great grandkids and watching them play the Wii!  Grandma Janet (or Grandma Poody as she calls herself) even got in on a little Wii action.  Don't let that cane fool you.  She was giving Braden a run for his money!

I am so thankful that my kids have three great grandparents that are still living.  What a blessing they are to have in our lives!  

Choo! Choo!

Grandma Ween and the boys spent a good chunk of time creating this gingerbread masterpiece on Saturday.  This is one of several traditions that the boys look forward to each year during December.  They had decided this year they wanted to make a train rather than a house.  So, Grandma Ween hunted up a train for the boys to make.

Unfortunately, they had a minor setback in the middle of creating.  Grandma Ween was mixing up some more frosting and her mixer burned up!  YIKES!  Off to the store I went to buy a new one so the creating could continue.  This nice batch of frosting was a long time coming!

I am so thankful to my mother-in-law for doing this with the boys.  They truly love doing it and will have fond memories of their time together with her down the road.  Of course, they each have to add their own personal touches to the final product. Austin's addition was quite interesting this year. You'll have to look closely at the first picture.  He added a few yellow blobs of frosting to the snow with a sign that says, "Do not eat yellow snow!"  Yes, that's Aaron's son!  

Thanks so much Grandma Ween for a fun time!  They're already talking about the barn they want to make next year :)

Craftastic

Heidi's TTMT for this week is What's your favorite crafting project?


My favorite crafting project, if you can call it crafting, is scrapbooking.  I can dink preserve memories with a paper cutter, double sided tape, colorful paper, and pictures for hours (sometimes weekends at a time!).  Of course your can't forget the colorful pens for journaling!

The most recent "paper crafting" I did was create 12 days of Christmas wishes for my two college roommates.  They each get one in the mail for twelve days in a row.  I could have stayed snuggled on the couch downstairs for days creating them.  Dawn and Dianna can use them as ornaments for their tree, string them with pretty ribbon to make a holiday garland or just hang them on their fridge to bring a smile to their face!  I sure wish I had been brilliant enough to take pictures of them.

I really could craft all day long if someone would just give me the ideas!  However... I proved at Heidi's that I can't be trusted with super glue :)

Through the eyes of a child

Oh what I wouldn't give to have bottled about 15 minutes of childlike wonder tonight.  We drove Austin, Carter, Drake, and Braden down to see the Jolly Holiday Lights in Des Moines.  We turned on the Christmas music as we drove through the twinkling, festive display of lights. Within minutes of starting our journey, Austin ended up on my lap, Braden was perched in the middle of Aaron and I on the console, and Carter and Drake had their noses up to the side windows.  Little voices were signing Christmas songs, oohing and aahing and soaking it all in.  I could have sat their enjoying their amazement for hours!

Happy 94th Birthday!

Happy 94th Birthday to my sweet Grandpa Herbie!

I feel so blessed to still have three living grandparents.  My boys are so fortunate to have great grandparents in their lives that love and adore them.  We will be celebrating Grandpa's birthday at the care center this Sunday afternoon.  He loves to be the center of attention!  Cake and punch will be served to all of the residents, and we will put up a Christmas tree in his room to make it festive for the Christmas season.  Austin, Carter, Drake and Braden were busy on Thanksgiving Day making ornaments to adorn the tree.  

I'm sure Grandpa will love looking at his tree with homemade ornaments from his great grandchildren!

TTMT

Today's "Talk to me Tuesday" courtesy of Heidi...  


What are you looking forward to this Christmas season?


Christmas is my favorite holiday of all time so I look forward to a great many things!  I love spending time with family, seeing the wonder and excitement on Austin and Carter's faces,  and the traditions that we have on each side of the family.  It's so fun listening to my kids talking about traditions and the things they look forward to.

Traditions with Grandma Ween: the boys get to make a gingerbread house with her (this year they are opting to make a train), finding a pickle ornament on her tree, and Grandma reading aloud "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and passing a gift every time she reads the word "the" in the story (the last person with the gift in hand gets it), and making fudgens at the end of our day together

Traditions with Papa and Grandma Di: celebrating on Christmas Eve and attending candlelight service (the boys love lighting the candles and singing Silent Night), getting to open gifts BEFORE church (I NEVER got to do this growing up - Santa always came while we were at church!), only one person opens a gift at a time so that everyone gets to see what everyone else gets (thankfully the kids are fairly patient!)

Traditions at home: Carter LOVES helping put up the Christmas tree and winter decorations while listening to Christmas music, baking, baking and more baking (the boys love having their hands in this - especially Carter), participating in the church Christmas program, leaving cookies out for Santa BEFORE we leave for the cabin on Christmas Eve, waking up in their own home Christmas morning to their Santa gifts and stockings along with everything else under the tree, the neighbors showing up mid-morning on Christmas Day to check out what the kids got and bring them a gift (they spoil my kids rotten!), hanging in jammies all day on Christmas listening to Christmas music and just spending time as a family

Of course I'd be crazy not to mention looking forward to the time off from work to enjoy time with my kids and sleeping in~even though I just got a jury duty notice for December 21 :(  Aaron seems to think this is quite hilarious!  Me, not so much.

I'd love to know what the rest of you are looking forward to this Christmas season!

Abundant Blessings

Today was a joyous day spent with a variety of family members.  We were so blessed to be able to spend the day with my grandparents, my parents, Aaron's mom and husband, my brother and his family, and my sister-in-law's brother and family.  What a great day to have everyone under the same roof spending some quality time together!

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving...besides the food of course...is the tablecloth tradition that I started back in 2004. I didn't realize that it had been that many years ago.  Everyone who is with us on Thanksgiving writes on the tablecloth with a fabric marker what they are thankful for that year.  It's so much fun to look back at each person's memories from years past.  All of the kids like getting in on the action too!  Drake's taking his turn here and telling how he is thankful for his new house.  I just love looking at what they kids put down each year without any prompting from the parents.  

Sometimes my hubby is a little too honest in what he's thankful for...

It really is a story for another time!

There are simply so many things I am thankful for...

a loving God, an amazing family - (parents, grandparents and in-laws), great friends, a terrific support system at home and school, two sweet and loving boys, a patient husband, a full-time job, a niece and three nephews that I adore, two sisters-in-law that I love, a brother and brother-in-law that are pretty darn amazing, a comfortable home, two funny kitties, and my new digital slr camera :) - yeah, that's part of the above story that we're saving for another time!

Here's a few more pictures from today taken with my new toy!

Ween and Doug looking good as always.

Carter and great-grandma Janet sporting some grins.  Yes, Carter's wearing a bow-tie.  It's another story in and of itself.  Just be thankful that for once he wasn't wearing slicks and a t-shirt!

Kasie and Braden hanging out by the fireplace.

Hey~Tim's half smiling at me!

I hope all your Thanksgiving memories are good ones! 

Winner! Winner!

As my boys like to say, "Winner!  Winner!  Chicken dinner!"  Well...when I walked in the door from school today, I was greeted by yips and shouts of excitement followed by this grin...

Mr. Carter was over-the-top excited as he was elected as a student council rep for his class :)  It will definitely be a celebratory night at the Clayberg household!  I'm guessing ice cream (his absolute favorite) will be in order!

Way to go Cart!

Did you notice?

What did you spy with your little eye that was out of place?  Was it the fuzzy caterpillar crawling across my husband's lip?  I can't wait until December 1 when that caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly that flys away...far, far away!

However, the caterpillar across my hubby's lip is for a good cause, so I'll deal with it for a month.  How many of you know it's actually Movember?  Movember is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year to raise funds and awareness for men's health.  Since I'm living in a household of males, I can see the value in this.  An entire little posse of men at Aaron's work are participating in this charity event.  The had to start cleanly shaven on November 1st and let the "stache" sprout from there!

Feel free to check out Aaron's weekly progress here.  If you so desire, you can make a donation in support of men's health in Aaron's name.

I Spy...

I spy with my little eye something "off" in this family picture.  Can you locate it?

Talk To Me Tuesday

After being tagged by Heidi a week or so ago, she decided to start up Talk To Me Tuesday.   Her question for this Tuesday is,  If you could relive one day of your life, what would it be and why?  

(Of course she added- it can't be your wedding day or any other obvious major milestone.)

Right now I would have to say I would LOVE to relive a vacation day from a couple years ago while Aaron and I were in Cancun with some friends.  (I could use a vacation right about now - too much going on at work and feeling a bit under the weather today!) We headed to Isla Mujeres for a day as we were told it was a fun little excursion day and you could rent golf carts to tour the island and have loads of fun.

Do this look like a golf cart?

Apparently when no one in your group remembers to bring an ID with them, they won't rent you golf carts.  However, Joaquin will take you to the back alley to rent some scooters :)  Oh my!  This was definitely a day to remember!  Great friends, lots of laughs, authentic Mexican food, not a care in the world, Stu trying on a silly mask that made us nearly wet our pants, the men feeling like they were something pretty special on their own personal "hogs", the wind blowing through whatever hair dangled down from the rockin' helmets, a massage under the palm trees on the beach...it just doesn't get much better than that!  

Go State!

What a beautiful day to hang out with this little Hollywood yesterday!  He is one stylin' little dude full of spunk.  I'm sure his cheering for "the red guys" helped the Cyclones get their 5th win.

We missed seeing his sister and mama though.  According to him Rachel was at a wedding with a friend and mom was doing laundry.  Poor mom.  Always stuck with the dirty work.  Hopefully she got to enjoy more than just laundry in a quiet house :)

Happy Haunting

Mario, Luigi, Mr. Samuri, and the Rat...what a group of trick-or-treaters!  Drake and Braden came down to join the boys for some friendly haunting of the neighborhood and gathering of candy.  It was a beautiful night, and the boys had so much fun together.  Austin ditched us at the last minute to scare up some fun at a friend's house, but one of Carter's friends joined the party!  Even Grandma Di tagged along for some trick-or-treating!  I think we gave her a good workout.

I had forgotten what it was like to trick-or-treat with a four-year-old :)  Oh those little legs sure go fast running from house to house, and the sheer excitement of different types of candy at each and every house is pure delight!  Sometimes little Luigi legs needed a rest!  Other times he just wanted to pull on the the Rat's tail!

I'm so glad the boys will have these memories of fun times spent together!

Tag...You're It!

I was tagged by Heidi H. to answer the seven questions she gave me. Then I am to come up with seven questions and tag someone else to answer those questions.

Here are the seven questions Heidi H. asked me.

1. Do you prefer email, texting, phone calls, or face-to-face interaction? Why?

I prefer face-to-face interaction.  I love seeing people’s facial expressions.  People’s body language says so much about their true thoughts and feelings, especially their eyes.  If you aren’t face to face, you can’t see or hear the slight pauses, the catch in someone’s voice, or the excitement in their eyes. 

2. What are your favorite blogs?

I love Captured by Heidi J It’s the first blog I check everyday.  Heidi has such an amazing eye for capturing people’s personalities in a natural setting through photography!

I also am a huge fan of the Secret Agent L blog.  Secret Agent L has a mission of performing anonymous random acts of kindness to brighten other people’s day.  I believe in focusing on the positive and am always looking for ways other than a smile to brighten someone else’s day!

Of course, I love keeping up with my friends through their blogs too!  Hickstionary, Boys will be boys, and the Smith family

3. If you could go anywhere, where would you go and who would you take with you?

Right now I would love a tropical location with my family!  Who knows, maybe that will happen one of these days. J

On a smaller scale, I’d just love to come home to a completely clean house with no school work to do and hang out with Ace and the boys!

4. Have you and your husband created any traditions for your family? If so, what are they?

A few years back I created a tablecloth to take with us wherever we go for Thanksgiving.  The middle says “Give Thanks”, and the people that we are spending the holiday with all use a fabric marker to write what they are thankful for that year.  I love getting it out and looking at everyone’s blessings every year.  It’s pretty special to see my 93 year old grandfather’s signature on it for the years he’s been able to join us.  It’s something I know I’ll treasure for many years to come.  It's also something my children will be able to look back on someday to see what they were thankful for throughout the years.

5. What's on the menu for your favorite meal? (Recipes optional....) :)

Seafood Lasagna – yummy (of course my hubby won’t eat it so it only gets made occasionally - usually when I know my brother will be gracing me with his presence!)

Ingredients

            1 green onion, finely chopped

            2 tablespoons canola oil

            2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup butter, divided

            1/2 cup chicken broth

            1 bottle (8 ounces) clam juice

            1 pound bay scallops

            1 pound uncooked small shrimp, peeled and de-veined

            1 package (8 ounces) imitation crabmeat, chopped

            1/4 teaspoon white pepper, divided

            1/2 cup all-purpose flour

            1-1/2 cups milk

            1/2 teaspoon salt

            1 cup heavy whipping cream

            1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided

            9 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

Directions

            In a large skillet, saute onion in oil and 2 tablespoons butter until tender. Stir in broth and clam juice; bring to a boil. Add the scallops, shrimp, crab and 1/8 teaspoon pepper; return to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 4-5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink and scallops are firm and opaque, stirring gently. Drain, reserving cooking liquid; set seafood mixture aside.

            In a large saucepan, melt the remaining butter; stir in flour until smooth. Combine milk and reserved cooking liquid; gradually add to the saucepan. Add salt and remaining pepper. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

            Remove from the heat; stir in cream and 1/4 cup cheese. Stir 3/4 cup white sauce into the seafood mixture.

            Spread 1/2 cup white sauce in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Top with three noodles; spread with half of the seafood mixture and 1-1/4 cups sauce. Repeat layers. Top with remaining noodles, sauce and cheese.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

6. What is your favorite date night?

Honestly, anything with my hubby. It's just nice to have time to ourselves.  I'm not particular about what we do.  Date nights are few and far between.  Babysitters out there?  We’ll take you – anytime!

7. What's your goal right now?

I would love to be able to gracefully make it through the last three quarters of the school year with a smile on my face.  It’s a challenging year in which I am wearing an unbelievable amount of different hats.  I can do it!  Yes, I can…I think...I hope! J

I now tag Heidi J. to answer the following seven questions!

1. What does a perfect day look like for you?

2. What is your favorite season?  Why?

3. If you had unlimited funds and could purchase or do something just for you, what would it be?

4. If I challenged you to perform a random act of kindness, what would you do? (Of course, you can always go out and do it!)

5. What were you like as a student in school?

6. What qualities do you appreciate in a friend?

7. What's your spouse's best quality?

Wild Hog

I leave the house to run a quick errand and come home to my hubby ready to do this...

UGH!  I sure hope he's kept up with the life insurance payments!

Neighbor Q...you are a BAD influence!

Woo Hoo!

This football stud recovered a fumble in the game yesterday!

Please take note of the grass stain on the shoulder.  (He told me serious bleach would be needed for this!)  He LOVED hearing his name announced on the loud speaker for the great play!  His team came away with an 8 to 0 win, so it was pretty exciting, if not a bit difficult, to fit his head in the van for the ride home!

Smiling

I must say thank you to an amazing lady who has put a smile on my face and a song in my heart as I walked out of work this week.  Little does she know how much I needed her shiny berry lip gloss message on my van window that said...

Hi pretty lady! Love CTE

Just know I'm not washing it off anytime soon - the smile or the message :)

UNI v ISU

We are a house divided.  Three of us sported our Panther gear yesterday and one is a diehard Cyclone. So, that means the outcome of the football game made one member of the household happy!

Thankfully the rain ended so we could tailgate for a bit, ride the fire truck to greet the team and watch the game without melting.  (Yes...I am made of sugar!)  Nate, Rachel and Dan came over to cheer on "the red guys"!  Gotta love what a four year old says :)

Carter decked himself out to cheer on the Panthers.  

Maybe a few more tattoos would have helped them win :)  There is one on the other cheek you just can't see!  

Rachel had fun trying to put her barretts on Carter's ears for earrings! She thought he needed a little red to wear.

Dan got to sport the dreadlock hat from the little boy behind us for a bit.

When the Cyclones and Panthers play, we're never going to come home completely happy being a house divided.  Since the purple fans came home happy two years ago, I guess it only fair the one red fan went home happy this year!

Hoggat School

Carter's class took a field trip to Hoggat School, a one room school house, this week.  They were encouraged to dress up as though they were students attending a one room school in the mid 1800's.  Thank goodness for Grandma Ween and her access to theater costumes!  She came through for Carter with some boots, bib overalls, a lovely plaid shirt,  a hanky, and a straw hat.  I thought he looked like a darn cute country bumpkin :)

My favorite part of the experience was Aaron having to try and figure out how to get his "authentic" lunch packed.  The kids were encouraged to only bring things that they had back then.  Lard sandwiches were popular at that time, but we improvised on that one! Of course, Aaron wanted to put his sandwich in a baggie, but Carter told him absolutely NOT!  So, Aaron dug around for some wax paper and then couldn't make tape stick to it so he had to tie a string around it.  I'm so glad I leave for work early in the morning :)  Then he was hunting around for more to add to his lunch and found a banana.  Carter told him there weren't tropical fruits at that time.  I'm sure by this time Aaron's patience was wearing quite thin! You cannot hear me giggling right now!  He asked if an apple was acceptable.  Carter said yes, but wanted Aaron to peel the skin off it.  Yes, he thought a "naked" apple would last until lunch time and not get brown!  Eventually the two of them got something figured out and wrapped it all in a red hanky to transport his lunch.

While they were at the one room school, they got to write on slate boards and experience desks with ink wells for dipping their quills to write with.  It's too bad there was no well to send them to get water from! Carter had a great time, and hopefully came away with some appreciation for everything he has access to in school today!  I know as a teacher, I thank my lucky stars for the technological advances (even though they fluster me) and supplies we have access to in order to vary and enhance our teaching for our students.

If you ever need an authentic 1800's school lunch, just holler at Aaron...he's getting good at tying string around wax paper wrapped sandwiches :)

Simple Pleasures

Oh how I love to come home on a rainy day to an email and text message about football practice being canceled and this...

Supper is done!  And, it's not from a drive-through :)  Miracles really do happen in the first month of school with football practice almost every night!

Aaaaahhhhh...the house smells SO good!  

Now...if the school work could just disappear for one night...

You win some, You lose some

Today was the first official game of the tackle football season for the boys!  Of course, it came complete with football weather - chilly and rainy :(

Since this was Carter's first ever tackle football game, it was extra sweet to come away with a 12-6 win!

My "little" boy plays on the offensive line!  YIKES!  It's extra hard for a mom to locate and watch her baby amongst all those other kids with helmets on, but when you put him smack dab in the middle of the line, it's almost impossible. I couldn't tell you much of what was happening in terms of plays as I was constantly looking to see Carter putting the blocks on the defensive boys!  However, it was a sweet ending to come away with a win.  

Austin was excited for his first game of the season.  After coming off a successful season last year, his team has high hopes for this fall.  

His team started off a bit slow on offense.  They were down 6-0 for the first three quarters.  Nearing the end of the fourth quarter, they pulled out their "secret" play with a pitch to the half-back who then throws to the wide receiver.  Well...IT WORKED...TWICE IN A ROW to score a touchdown to tie up the game :)  What fun it was to watch in the stands!  With only a couple minutes left on the clock, we were able to hold them, forcing overtime. 

Overtime for these games consists of each team having 4 downs to either score or gain the most yardage.  The team who either scores or gains the most yardage wins.  Well...it was negative 4 yards for us and negative 1 yard for them :(  We'll get 'em next time!

One game week down, 5 more to go!

Prairie Field Trip

A mother never knows what might happen when she sends her children off to school in the morning.

Apparently Carter was "attacked" by a coyote on his Doolittle Prairie field trip :)  Grandma Ween went along as a chaperone and captured the "attack" on camera!  What an afternoon the two of them had together.  Not only did coyotes get Carter, so did the ants!  Apparently Carter stepped on an ant hill.  Grandma Ween said the ants started climbing all over his sweatshirt and were so bad he had to take it off!

Here's the badger he "wrangled"!

I'm feeling lucky he came back home to me in one piece :)

Please Pray

Please send up some prayers for a former student of mine whose mother passed away this afternoon.  My heart is just broken into a million pieces for him.  I know his mother is at peace and healed with God now after a terribly hard fought battle with cancer.  However, for her two boys that are left behind, please pray for strength, comfort, and courage to face the upcoming days, weeks, months and years ahead.

Back to school night

The boys were both disappointed that they had football practice tonight and would have to miss back-to-school night.  Mom, the teacher, would NEVER miss back-to-school night.  That goes against everything she believes about parents being actively involved at school!

However, she might not be invited back because she might have stood in the hallway looking like a fool with tears streaming down her face.  All of this was for a very good reason though!  Carter had a write-up on his locker about the person he admires.  Guess who?   YES!  ME!  His mom!  Oh, my heart swelled and my eyes leaked! I'm sure the boys would have run and hid from embarrassment if they had been there with me :)  I know Aaron was glad he had the task of picking the boys up from football and wasn't there with me!

Happy 40th Anniversary!

Today is a pretty special day.  My parents are celebrating 40 years of marriage!  I must applaud my parents for making it look easy.  Congratulations!

Some things I've learned from their marriage:

• center your marriage in Christ
• support each other through thick and thin
• allow each other to pursue their own interests
• enjoy activities together
• even when the wife might not be totally right, the husband tells her she is :)
• love each other fully so that your children might witness the importance of this
• talk openly and honestly with each other
• raise your children as Christians
• model your faith for your children and grandchildren
• accept each other for who they are

We all love you both very much and are proud of your accomplishment!  Happy 40th Anniversary!

The great hunter

Look at what Oreo brought us tonight :)

Anyone need to borrow him to help control the rabbit population?  He seems to be quite good at this and proud of his accomplishments!

First day of school

Today was our first day of the 2010-2011 school year.  It's hard for me to believe I'm starting my 16th year of teaching.  None of it seems possible.  I swear I was just in college a couple of years ago, or maybe just married without kids, or just had a tiny baby, or at least just had two kids in daycare!  No way can I possibly have two kids in elementary school and have taught for that long.  Time is passing by way too fast!

Carter is in 3rd grade, and Austin is in 5th grade this year. I am in kindergarten, 7th grade and 8th grade.  Yes, you read that right.  Sounds funny in many ways, but especially kindergarten (talented and gifted) and ME in the afternoons!  I am piloting a program for identifying characteristics of gifted learners at the primary level. Long story that we'll shorten by saying...budget cuts.

However, I am a believer that a person needs to move beyond their comfort zone a little bit in order to learn and grow.  It's what I make the students in my classroom do.  I was pretty darn sure I had had enough of being outside my comfort zone the last couple of years. I guess God thought it was a good opportunity for me to practice what I preach :)  

I do have to clarify that I'm actually looking forward to putting that elementary degree to use for the first time.  I have spent my entire career with middle school students, which I truly love.  However, every now and then I briefly ponder switching to an elementary classroom.  Several years ago I even scheduled an interview for an elementary position and then came to my senses canceled the next day!  This will give me the opportunity to try something new and dabble in the elementary world for a couple hours a day.

Here's to a terrific school year!  The first day was great for all three of us...the rest of them might as well be too!