My new friend

Yesterday- my new friend made it to the house. It was late in the afternoon, but we got some quality time in. I was sad to see my old friend go, but after 7 years-she was worn out. I mean-there are 5 of us and she got a work out daily. I had some fond memories- doing cloth diapers together, loosing socks, dancing to the spin cycle. But I must admit that my new friend does the work much better- She has cut my time in half. Welcome to the family GE!

Adventures in Indiana/Kentucky

As you can tell from the title, we spent the last weekend in Indiana with family. We were able to see our nephew (ADORABLE!) and just spend time with all the family. The kids loved seeing (and holding) Jake. Kait thought Uncle Matt was the neatest thing. While we were there we hit the Louisville Zoo. They have a new area that is a water park for the kids. Once they looked around the boys were off on the ship. Riley on the other hand, was not really all that thrilled. :) She would stand where the water splashed up out of the ground, but that was it. I tried to get her to go down the slide. She eventually went- but it was not willingly! :) We had a great time and here are a few pictures to make you smile!!

*Riley loved holding Jake- she did it every chance she got.
* Aunt Rie and Jake
*The boys did a lot of watching (they each held him- he got passed around a lot)
*the cousins watching Ton and Jerry
* Snugglin' cousins

*Kait at the zoo (on Uncle Matt's shoulders)
* Lookin' at the Rino's
* Caleb actually took this picture- I think it turned out good!
* Riley and Daddy looking at the Bongo's
* My amazing family looking at the camel

*Swinging before hitting the water park
*Riley at the water spouts- She loved these!
* Caleb coming down the slide- it looks like it is raining, but every few min the ship and other areas let off a huge burst of water- It did rain for a few min that day while we were there
* Ian coming down the slide
*Riley's present for no accidents and peeing in the potty for 2 weeks! She was WAY excited. Bring on the princess gear!

What have we been up to....

since getting out of school? I wish I could tell you we have been going every day, doing fun and exciting things- but we haven't. But I will tell you that we have enjoyed our time together, at home, hanging out. This morning, the kids played in their rooms for 3 hours!!!!! They had a blast and went of too many adventures to recount. I have been potty training Riley, and will be for the next few weeks I am sure. We have only had 2 accidents so far, and they were minor. I think we will play in the sprinkler this evening, when the temp drops to 90 (can you hear the sarcasm??) :) We may run a few places when Daddy gets home. I have things planned for us to do and we will be taking a few weekend trips, but I want this summer to be fun. Caleb will start Kindergarten in the fall, so I want this summer to be relaxing and fun. And with gas prices the way they are, we plan on doing things at home.

My wonderful husband and I are dating again. Yes I know, we are married, but here lately we got in a rut of sorts. We decided to really focus on God first, of course, but then us. We have placed the kids up there and not fully concentrated on us in a while. It has been wonderful! We enjoy our little moments together, even if it's making dinner. we don't have to be doing something specific, but just being together. Matt has done all sorts of wonderful things for me. When he first asked me out on a date, he held up 4 cards and told me, if I picked a heart I had to go on a date with him. Low and behold- I picked a heart. Then he turned them all over and they were all hearts. :) Well I had to go into work on a Saturday (last day of school) and when I got up in the morning, there were cards taped certain places that Matt knew I would go to. They were in the exact order that I would do my "routine". They were all hearts and he had written all the things that he loved about me. Talk about misting up! They were amazing and so sweet. I couldn't stop smiling. Then I got a beautiful arrangement of flowers the other day. I have never been more in love with my husband than I am now- not just because he has done these things for me, but because I know he loves me and he has taken the time out to create these wonderful moments for me.

The Monkey's Tree House

Last week, the kids and I went with some Friends to a new indoor play area that I had heard about. Marcie and her daughter, Halen joined us along with Rebecca and her 3 kids, Jackson, William and Thomas. (Marcie, Rebecca and I all work at Lebanon together. ) Let me tell you- this place is awesome. For my 3 kids to go in, it was a little over $22 and it was an all day pass. you can come and go as you please and the kids didn't run out of anything to do. There are chairs and couches all over so parents can just sit and relax while you can see your kids playing. There was a huge sandbox in the middle, 2 big tree houses, a fishing pond, dinosaur table, knights table, train tracks everywhere, art are, general store, stage area, dress up area, kitchen area, magnetic are and an area for those children under 2. It was so much fun. The kids hung out in the sand box, most of the time, but ventured out occasionally. They have already asked to go back, and I think we will be visiting a few more times. It is over in the Bellevue area, which is about 45 min away from us, so we can't go often, but it really is a good idea for those really hot days!

* The sand box (Riley's favorite part!)
* Dinosaur table
* The fishing pond (there were wooden fish with magnets on them- Ian had a blast)
*Bigger view of the sandbox- the table in the middle had funnels that led the sand out of the trunk

*The knight table
*Thomas climbing the rope ladder
*Caleb and Ian on one of many rope ladders
*Sandbox again (do you see the trend?)
*Ian peeping out of the clubhouse window

*My little monkey
*William in the laundry/kitchen area
*Long view of the tree houses
* A sample of the art area
*General store

*Ian in the dress up area (Gee what a surprise- a star wars mask)
*Inside the general store
*The magnet area
*One of 3 train areas
*Again- you guessed it - the sandbox

Goodbye Blue Room

Well, I started out my first year back to teaching in a small room that I painted blue. It was an old Home Economics dining room, that had some really, I mean really ugly wallpaper that was not coming off after being stuck on there for the last 20 years. Matt and I painted over the wallpaper joyfully and it turned out amazing. Calming, yet bright enough to keep the kids up. As you can tell by the post, I am leaving that wonderful room. I will be moving into a portable for the next year. I will be painting yet again this summer, but there will be much more space than before. My students will also be changing as they move up into a transitional class. I will have freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors this year. It was decided that we would break the students up according to ability, and I have the students who are required (by NCLB) to take the gateway exam. I will mainly be teaching to that exam and the skills needed to take the exam. I took some pictures of my students that I wanted to post. They made my first year back exciting, trying, fun and exhausting at times. My 2 aides are Mary (in the blue floral print shirt) and Percilla (Ian calls her Mrs. Percilly) in the plaid sleeveless shirt in the last picture. They are wonderful women and I was very lucky to have gotten to know them.



(The lady in front of the basketball poster is an Exceptional Learner (a typical student who takes my class for a grade and learns about the different disabilities and how to interact with people who have disabilities))

Ian's Birthday Party

We celebrated Ian's 4th birthday on the 24th of May. We did a Star Wars theme (surprise, right?), and he loved it. we had a bunch of kids there and it was pretty chaotic- but we loved it. We had a pinata and blow up light sabers that the kids enjoyed. I think the pinata was a hit although it took a few of them a little bit to get into grabbing the candy. Ian had a blast and we look forward to all the joys that being 4 will bring!


*Nana and Riley (Nana was the director at the daycare that the kids attend)
* A few of the attendees
*Family and Friends

*Burning some energy
* Getting the Darth Vader Pinata ready
* What do we do with the stuff that fell out??
* The loot
*Future Jedi knights

* The cake (no I didn't make it this year- I couldn't find the correct shaped pan I needed in stock and Kroger so graciously did this one for us)
*Ready for the candles
*Singing Happy Birthday
*Wonder what he wished for?
*Riley and Halen sneaking a taste

*Opening presents
* You can see Matt jumping up from the couch. That is because Ian is holding a real t-ball bat and he was ready to swing that sucker to show how he could do it.
*Playing with the toys
* Getting ready to hit
* The home run hit that won the game.

Ian had a wonderful time and we thank everyone who came to celebrate with us!