Benny the Beautiful

Poor Benny! Someone should have really told him that when he came to be a part of our family that some changes might occur. You see - in a house full of all girls - minus Donald of course - strange things can happen. Oh, yes - very strange things! Little girls (especially mine) are infatuated with make-up. Why? - I don't know. I don't wear any myself so I find it odd that Anna and Sophia are just crazy about it. They ARE little girls after all. So I found it quite hysterical when Anna ended up losing her lipstick tube. Where in the world could it be? What in the world could have happened to it? Well...

Here is the culprit!

Doesn't he look just ravishing?

Poor Benny!

Igloo

I thought I would take the time to share something that I do in my classroom every year! Each Winter the boys and girls and I start collecting milk jugs. Why you may ask? Well to build an igloo of course. How fun is that, right? It takes about 175 milk jugs to complete and alot of patience on the part of Mr. Gerling! I had to laugh when I had a parent tell me that her son informed her that Mr. Gerling helped make the igloo - except for during hunting season! The mom thought that was funny. Donald did help so much with this project. He was my engineer and my developer. I on the other hand am I hunter/gatherer. I gathered and organized all 175 of the jugs that my students brought it. I bet they were drinking a LOT of extra milk during our project. In the end - it was COMPLETED - and the boys and girls use it as a reading/writing center. Alas - all good things must come to an end and with Spring right around the corner the igloo must come down. I hope it leaves them with fond memories of kindergarten and the cool things that we have this year. I have added a picture of the kiddos with the igloo! I think it's cool! How about you?

Tribute

This is our dog. This is our first born "child". This is our best friend. This is Cisco. When we first got Cisco I have to admit that I wasn't very thrilled with him. Oh - I had thought he was SO cute when I saw his picture in the paper for the Humane Society, but once we got him home he drove me crazy. Every time I walked across the room he would grab my leg and how should I say this delicately - go to town. I wanted to ship him back right away. But we didn't and I am very thankful for that. He was one of the best dogs that I have ever had. He was a good snuggler and he loved getting attention. Never mind the fact that he would break every dish we owned if we left them on the table after a meal. Boy could that dog sneak the food! He was a hound for sure! He loved to chase rabbits, dig holes, look for moles, bark at us in the swimming pool and sleep in our bed. He was a good boy. We have had Cisco since right after Donald and I were married. When went trough all of our troubles with having children, Cisco became that kid. He was in our Christmas cards and we even always dressed him for Halloween. Of course, after we had kids he was pushed quietly to the back burner. No more cards and no more costumes. But he was still a tremendous part of our family. He was a fighter. When he was run over by a car and had extensive damage - he survived - pins and all. He would also follow us between our house and my mom and dad's. Who's going to chase our car now? Who are we going to race with? Yesterday when we went for a walk, Cisco followed us. Donald told him to go home, but I guess he didn't listen. While we were walking we heard a gunshot. We didn't know that it had hit Cisco until later that night. Looking at him last night - we really thought he would make it. The girls prayed really hard and I know that their little hearts were breaking inside. The prayers did not help us it seems. I guess it was just his "time" - even though that sounds so cliche. He passed away this morning and as much as my heart is breaking and as much as I'm sitting here crying as I type - I knew I needed to write about my sweet dog, Cisco. I loved you very much and you will be very missed.

Forgive my sloppy speech and writing today - my thoughts aren't very coherent.

Oh - The Things Kids Say

Today in class I was mentioning how I was watching my weight and that I was not supposed to drink soda. The class was making little comments here and there about it when one little girl raised her hand. I called on her and asked her what she would like to share. She looked at me with her sweet little face and said (and I quote), "Yeah, I know about that. Like - um - my dad's not sposed to drink too much beer, but I can't KEEP him outta the bars. How's he sposed to lose weight like that?"

No joke! Spoken just like that! If only their parents knew!!!! :)

*And as a side note - I know "sposed" is spelled wrong it was just the way she said it!

Sophie-ism of the Day!

While feeling somewhat puny the other day, Sophia had her chance to hang out with paw paw and just kick up her feet and relax. I was worried about her so I called to check up on her during my plan time. My dad put her on the phone and I could tell that she still sounded pretty stuffy. Here is how our conversation progressed:

Me: How are you feeling, sweetie?

Sophie: Gooder.

Me: So you're feeling better?

Sophie: No. Gooder.

Me: Well, I'm glad you're feeling a bit better.

Sophie: I'm not better at all mommy - I'm just a bit gooder.

Gotta love my kid!

Kindergarten Sayings...

Sometimes my job just really makes me smile! I had one of those moments this afternoon. While handing out our "I kept my STAR shining bright" paper (for good behavior), I had a little girl that was looking really confused. I stopped and asked her what was wrong. She held up two star papers that had been left at her spot. She looked me straight in the eye and said, "I was good, but I KNOW I wasn't THAT good!


Hehehehehehe
Gotta love my job!

Exonerated!

Exonerated!! So sometimes I have the habit of jumping to conclusions. Ok - I jump to conclusions a lot. But this time I was just sure of the circumstances. This time I KNEW that my little booger of a baby had done it. What is the IT I am refering to? The IT is throwing my cell phone in the trash. You see, Julia is a great BIG helper. Sometimes she is too big of a helper. She loves to clean up. Everything she thinks is trash goes in the trash can. Thus this is the reason I believed that my little cleaning angel threw my phone into the trash. We had gone over to my mom and dad's before heading home for the night. We visited for just a bit and then I loaded everyone up. By the time bedtime came I realized that I hadn't heard my phone at all. Not that I get and enormous amount of phone calls, but it was strange that it hadn't rang at all. So I called my cell number from my home phone and nothing. I had Donald call it while I checked the van and nothing. It had just vanished. I called my mom the next day and asked if she had seen it - nope. She did admit to hearing a beep coming from the kitchen. You know - the sound your phone makes when it's about to die. So she had my dad go through all the trash bags as that is where it sounded like it was coming from. No luck. Man oh man was I mad. I just couldn't find it anywhere. It had to be Julia. My cell phone loving baby HAD to have thrown it in the trash. That's all there was to it. So we gave up the search and I got a new cell phone as my Christmas present. End of story. Or is it? Fast forward four months. My dad pulls out an old jacket of Donald's. He says that mom thought it was his and hung it back in the furnace room where it has been hanging for months. Donald puts on the coat and reaches his hand into the pocket. Lo and behold - my cell phone. My little booger wasn't the theif afterall. She was wrongly accused and watched like a hawk for months for no reason! Poor Julia. Bad mommy! At least the charges have been cleared and she can go on cleaning to her hearts content!