designer

For Christmas the girls got fashion books where they can create outfits, hair, make-up, and shoes.  The books have stencils that they can use for the different kinds of dresses, etc.  Then, the girls color the page how they imagine it in their head. I thought these were really creative!
Makes me wonder what my girls will be when they grow up.  Will they go into fashion together?  Will we be wearing their clothing line someday?  
Most likely Gracie will become a paleontologist, a scientist, a writer, or an art teacher.  Her biggest dream right now, though, is to become a babysitter someday.  
Most likely Jada will become a rock star,  a doctor, a dancer (the daytime kind), or a vet.  Her biggest dream right now is to be able to play with her Polly's all day long.  
At school, we wrote about what we wanted to be in the future.  I had everything from a dog sitter, to an angel princess, to a pig.
Seriously, this kid wants to be a pig someday.
So he can be dirty all the time.
Does he not realize that humans can't actually turn into animals like pigs?  He came up with a good reason though, don't you think?  Sounds like something a boy would say.

my ring... for now...

My wedding ring.
I've had this ring for 9 years.
But, Jody, you say, you've been married for 11!
How can that be? 

I lost my first set.
On accident.


Chad decided I had been through enough that summer (miscarriage, lost my ring, wisdom teeth removed, and moved to teaching 5th grade 6 days before school started), he'd buy me a new one.  
He's the best.


So that was 9 years ago.


A week and half ago I was putting my big whiteboard in my classroom off to the side, and bumped my ring up against a tall cabinet.  I guess it was hard enough that the next thing I knew my diamond was flying through the air and bounced off a shelf in front of me.  It landed on the tray of the whiteboard and sat there.  It took me a minute to believe that:

a).  my solitaire had busted out of my ring

b). it landed right in front of me!

Can you imagine how awful I would have felt if I'd have had to tell Chad I needed a NEW diamond?!?!  whew!

I was so shocked that I turned around with the diamond and the rest of the ring in my hand, and told my class about what had just happened.  A parent told me the next day about how her son told her he thought I was really upset, and that I must have been holding back from crying!  cute.  

I would have been if I lost my diamond!

pizza

Our family has a problem.
Please don't tell anyone.
It's kind of our secret.
And if it got out, you might think bad of us.
Or, you might just think bad thoughts about me.
In particular.

Our




family


eats




pizza




at




least




once twice




a 






week!

This was the one I made for the kids.
This is why I feed them pizza.
They. eat. it.
They truly love it.
With Ranch.
and smelly Parmesan cheese.


And... it makes them happy.

Ok, ok... AND they think I'm a great "cook" when it's placed in front of them.  Don't be hatin'.  You know you pull that pizza out every once in a while.  Just not as often as me.  :)


But, never fear- I'm buying a Taste of Home: Favorite Recipes recipe book on Friday.  I'll try to be healthier... after Friday.  Right now, we're enjoying pizza night.  Again.
 

60

My mom turned 60 today!

However, this weekend,

she was surprised over and over

again with birthday surprises.

First, Troy came down from 
Minnesota and we surprised her
at the Breadbasket for lunch.

 And our other surprise was on Sunday.
We invited over 30 people out
to her house to help us 
celebrate!
We had cake
(Thank you cake lady, Brenda!)

 And a spread of food...

 

And of course plenty of friends and family!

And just because these two are so cute,

and would pose for their mama...

 hAppY BirThdaY, mOm!

A Scary Moment

Another paragraph my second graders write is about a scary moment.  

Again, I have many. 
I'm kind of a wuss.
I have lots of terrifying dreams.
Chad doesn't especially like how I wake him up screaming in the middle of the night.
It's not his favorite.


But, thinking back to my childhood, one scary moment (that isn't a dream) sticks out the most. 

My friend, LeAyre, and I were in my basement playing with dolls when we were maybe 8 years old.  We were alone (not neglected as your face may be expressing right now.... it  was the 80's...).  Seems like I thought my mom would be the first one home. 

We liked to pretend to take the "babies" to the park ("Wanna go to the park?  Huh?  You wanna go to the park?"), and so we had our babies all ready to go... when we heard the door open and close upstairs. No one called downstairs to us, and so when I yelled, "Who's up there?" with no answer, we started getting scared.  Le and I had a blanket that we hid under- making sure our babies were under there, too!  I called again.  No answer.  I started to cry, so LeAyre started to cry.  I heard someone banging around in the kitchen, and so I got real brave and yelled again, "Who's up there?"  A voice called, "It's me!"- but it wasn't a voice I recognized.  A man masking his voice as a woman's voice.  

Stranger danger!

We immediately headed under the blanket- as if it could protect us from who was upstairs.  

More crying.
I peeked out from under the blanket and saw my Dad peeking down the stairs.
My Dad answered in the woman's voice.
We told him how scared we were.
You think he was real compassionate about our fear?
Did we get hugs and were told it was ok?


Umm... I think it pretty much went like this.
(Pat, pat, pat on the back) "It was just me," as he turned around and went back to what he was doing in the kitchen.

My dad was just trying to be funny, but unknowing to him, he was involved in one of my most scary childhood moments.  Don't worry Dad, turns out I'm ok. :)

embarassing moment

I'm teaching my 2nd graders about paragraph writing.  We're writing a Days in My Life book that involves writing 4 paragraphs about something specific from your life. 

One paragraph is your most Embarassing Moment.

I had to think hard about which embarassing moment to choose.  
I have a lot to choose from.

Should I have chosen the time I was being silly 14 and was walking so fast in Target that when I rounded the corner in the shoe department I tripped and completely fell over the stool/chair thingy you sit down on to try on shoes, and fell into the next shoe aisle.  Imagine a teenager flying at you from the next aisle as your innocently trying on shoes.


Should I have chosen the time my zipper was down and my 2nd graders, at the time, kept laughing and pointing at my fly?


Should I have chosen the time in college that I thought I would try out the dance line.  HA!  Wish I had video of that!  


Nope, I ended up choosing the time Jessica and I were at the park waiting for our skater friends.  We were swinging on the swings as usual, hanging out.  I was telling her about the time when I was younger I would swing upside down on the swings, and would she like to see me do it?  Now, what you need to know about Jess is that she loves a good laugh- at my expense.  So, she acted interested.  I fell the for the bait.  While showing her my amazing skills at wrapping my legs around the chain part of the swing and swinging upside down while my hair swept the rocks (mental picture yet?), SHE got up and started pushing me higher and higher!  Knowing that my crush was just about to come skateboarding down the street, I tried to get her stop pushing me.  Imagine how hard she was laughing at this point!  I didn't know how to stop, so I just unhooked my legs, and plopped to the ground. 


Lesson learned?  
Don't try to impress your best friend with your amazing acrobatic skills- she might just turn on you, and make you look like a real nerd!

 This is the only junior high picture 

I have on my computer right now. 

Jessica is right beside me.

The second prettiest girl in the picture.

kidding...

Aren't we cool?

Be Nice

So, in high school I hated school.
Didn't like the drama.
The preferences teachers gave.
The fights in the halls.
The drama.

And then, I went to college.
Wasn't there drama?
Sure.  But, it was different.
I learned to love school.
It's probably that love of learning that keeps my attention on Sunday mornings.  I want to learn something.  I want to hear something that I can apply to my life. 


This last Sunday was no different.
Here are some notes I wrote down from Pastor Jon's sermon.  
They're good words for a day like today- 
VALENTINE'S DAY.
A day to care for people and show love.

*Don't tell me what you believe- 

show me what you practice.

*Jesus would go out of his way to  

reach people- 

it was his "main thing."

*We must take initiative and go to people- 

not make them come to us.

*Jesus was willing to look passed people's 

faults and see their needs-

acceptance

love

comfort

forgiveness

This Valentine's Day I'm thinking about seeing people's needs and not writing them off for their faults.  I have faults.  I fail daily.  But, I wouldn't want someone to do that to me.  

happy valentine's day

everybody!

Robots

We made these robots for Valentine's Day.

sticker boxes

starbursts

Reeces peanut butter cups

Rolos

double stick tape

permanent marker

SUPER CUTE!

(Got this idea from a website.

Sorry, can't remember which one.)

Interesting week

1.  In his sweet, sweet concerned voice, Trey said, "Where Dacie go?"  (Gracie) Almost right after she called him, "Doo dah."  It's our preferred term of endearment lately around here.

2.  I accidentally hit my ring against my cabinet at school and it completely broke the top part of my wedding ring.  The diamond came out and everything!  What is it with me and wedding rings?!?!

3.  I dreamed about having a baby that I only fed twice.  She didn't seem to mind.  Didn't cry much.  And I didn't really feel that weird about it.  Then, I dreamed that someone left the water running in the bathtub all night.  In my dream, I looked behind the shower curtain because I heard the water running and the tub was half full.  I actually had to stop for a second at school this morning and wonder if that really happened.

4.  I took the kids to Braums for dessert tonight.  All three of them bit the bottom of the cone off.  Makes for an interesting way to "eat" them.  

5.  Before they got their cones, I ordered, "Two cookie dough kids cones, and two peanut butter cup kids cones."  The girl behind the counter honestly asked, "In cones, or cups?"  Uh... cones.

6.  This morning one of my favorite parents came in and said that her daughter, this morning, told her she wished that just for ONE day it could be just her and me (Mrs. Childs).  So stinkin' sweet.

7. The girls and I were dancing and singing to a Justin Bieber song on a Wii dance game.  After I sang, "You're my one love,"  Trey sang, "My boo."  Yeah, he rocks.  

17 inches!

We got 17 inches of snow yesterday!

Two inches an hour.

And it's too cold to play out in it today.

So, the kids have decided to hide.

This was last night.

Trey was wanting to go to the

hiding place like the girls 

(over the couch), 

so we pulled the couch away from

the wall and he put his trucks back there.

Today, the girls put blankets in

there, and "packed" up some stuff.

It's provided entertainment.

We've also been dancing.

Happy Snow Day to you!

Of course, you know it's going

to be 40 degrees in two days and 

all this beautiful snow will be melted.

Only in Kansas...

Is this some kind of bribe?

"On Satur-

day night 

we will

go to the

movie theater."

This is Jada's first sentence she wrote ALL BY HERSELF!  She didn't ask Chad for any help with the words.  So proud of her!

Could she know, at such a young age, that the words she chose for her first sentence would bring such pride that we'd HAVE to do what it says?  

Anyone know of a good movie in theaters right now, that Jada might like?

CCIRA

I was in Colorado last week.
Four days, three nights.
Four days, three nights with no other responsibilities- other than myself.  It was awesome!

There were 13 of us on the way to CO, and 14 of us on the way home.  Two 15 passenger vans. Dave, Amy, and I took residence in the backseat on the way there and the way back to KS.  I think we talked the entire way there- except for the movie we all watched.  It was good to talk with close friends.  And to make some new ones- teachers I hadn't met yet, but who also teach in our district at other elementary schools. 

Once we were in the hotel, Amy and I realized we were also given the opportunity at CCIRA to become snuggle buddies... check out the room.  One bed.  We didn't mind.  But, it gave her all the better chance to hear my teacher voice in the middle of the night.  Good thing I warned her right before falling asleep that I talk in my sleep!
"It is 10 after 10!"
"Emma, I need you to stop doing that."  
HA HA HA!

We had LOTS of laughs.   
Especially the time Amy accidentally grabbed the wrong the bag from the van.  I thought they were jumper cables when I peeked in the bag.  We had a good laugh in the elevator.

 

Only it turned out to be someone's sleep machine.  oops!

I learned loads of ideas, information, and topics to try in my classroom.  I can not wait to get started!  But, where do I start?  Consider this my S.O.S.  

Here are a few pictures of banners that were hanging in the lobby.  They were huge!  The ones I took pictures of were books that I recognized.  

 My two favorite moments from this weekend were:

1.  Thursday night.  In the hotel bed, in our pj's, thumbing through magazines, watching Grey's Anatomy, painting fingernails, and loving the freedom to do that!

2.  Friday lunch.  Blake, Carlin, and Reece (sad that I didn't get a picture of them in Jimmy John's!).  Hearing Reece point and count butterflies in a board book.  Listening to Blake talk about how they aren't overly anxious parents, but that they do read to Reece all the time.  I literally went on to my next session and heard the speaker say this, "It doesn't matter how much you do it (read to/with each child), it just matters that you do it."  I immediately sent a text to Blake telling him this.  The stat that was rattled off in this session said that increasing reading to/with a child by 5 minutes a day will increase reading success in that child's life.  That's awesome. Laptime counts.

I have a new love for Colorado.  

Fun memories.

Can't wait to go back and see this view!

By the way...

I came back to:

a clean house

a newly organized closet (the girls')

a happy husband

sleeping children

 

Thank you Chad for being the best husband ever!  

The many faces of Trey

The "Cheese" face.

 The Pause...

Before another "CHEESE!"

Aww... Our Monster...

*seriously have a hard time 

saying no to this precious face.

 

snow day craft

So, I was trying to not be a procrastinator about Valentine's Day.  Every year I say I'm going to have my kids do something cute for decorations, but then V-Day creeps up on me and decides to come faster than I expected.  

But, not this year.
I had a few crafty things.
Glue sticks, canvas, felt, stickers, tissue paper.
So, I told them they should make something cute for Valentine's Day.  We didn't really have anything in mind.  I just wanted them to create.  And create they did.

One with lots of paint.
One with of stickers.
One with lots of tears.

Oh well.  I tried.
And now I have a creation from each of them to put up in Feb.