Wednesday Ramblings

OK, here's a new post - but I'm not sure I have any exciting things to share so prepare yourselves for some ramblings...

Things on my mind regarding school:

1. The recorders are coming - the RECORDERS are coming...That's right it's that time of year when I suffer - I mean teach - recorders to my 4th & 5th graders. They are thrilled about it, I'm reaching for the Advil. Tomorrow I'm off to purchase 95 instruments for the kids.

2. I have a program in a couple of weeks with 100 darlings & I'm feeling the pressure.

3. Grades are due next week for 500 kids - fun.

4. Weekly lesson plans seem to be tough to come up with lately for my semi-weekly classes.

5. 3 choirs on top of all of this - keeping them singing fun stuff & holding their interest is a little challenging these days...


We did have a 2 hour delay this morning due to weather - so I was able to accomplish a lot. Still have tons to do, but that is usually the case.

Tim made a delish dinner tonight. We had a salmon pasta bake with steamed asparagus. Yumm!! I'm currently drinking some tea & getting ready to hit my warm snuggly bed.

Happy Wednesday to you!

Our Weekend

What a fun (super busy) weekend we've had! :) Our Friday night began with our good friends Ben & Amanda. We went to dinner at Red Robin (my fav) & then Amanda & I took a detour to Target while the boys came home & played on the Wii.

Saturday morning, Tim & I went to the gym where he taught me how to play 'Squash'. It's like Raquetball only a little more intense. Even as I type, I'm sore. :) After Squash we meet up with Amanda & went to Starbucks, then headed to Silverton to that fabulous yarn store I told you about last weekend. Tim is currently working on designing a new website for them, so when it's up & running I'll give you the site address. After we played out there a little bit we came home & prepared for the troops. Laura, Nellie, & Mia came over in the afternoon & the games began. Nellie is now in preschool & doing so well. Mia is a complete crack-up. Her speech is clearing up & she can almost say my name crystal clear, which is a little sad because I've been 'yethie' for a while now & I love it.

We had a wonderful time playing hide & seek, coloring, going to the bathroom, watching Veggie Tales, running around the house, painting nails, and cutting hair. We even had time to make homemade pizza! Here's a photo of Nellie helping Uncle Tim with dinner preparations.



Mia was very helpful from the livingroom sofa. :)

When they left last night Nellie asked me 4 times if I could come home with them. I almost did - what a sweetie.

Today was church, followed by a nap, and then an Oscar party. It's been a very fun weekend, but I need one more day to get all of my other things done - although I'm happy to report the laundry is done & the house is clean. Basically, I just want a day to sit around. Ah well, maybe next Saturday.

The Final Reveal...

...of the laundry room. Here it is in all of it's glory. I'm so glad to have it all complete. I'm going to start hanging out in there more - I love it.

Happy Thursday evening. I'm off to make fajitas for dinner & then watch LOST on the Tivo & Gray's Anatomy. Can't wait!!

Wednesday Fun

Andrea had this on her blog & I loved it, so I decided to give it a try. Yes, that's right, I'm a copy cat - deal with it! :) Hope you all have a marvelous Thursday. I'll post pictures soon of my COMPLETED laundry room!! The decal came in the mail yesterday & we put it up last night - it looks fabulous. Stay tuned...

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

Today is EE's birthday. He's already 3 - is that possible?!

Even before Ethan entered the world, I was deemed 'Auntie' Jessie. What an honor. I love Ethan to pieces and as he gets older his personality shines through even more - he's such a crack-up.

To see adorable pics from Ethan's 3rd birthday celebration, go to Andrea's blog. What an amazing mama he has - so creative - a perfect party for a 3 year old boy! Happy birthday Ethan!!

Weekend Update (One Day Late...)

This weekend my mother-in-law came to visit. We had a wonderful time going to visit different places, (we found a fabulous knitting store in Silverton - more on that at a later time) & spending time with just the three of us.

Saturday night, my friend Amy joined us for dinner. We decided to make homemade pizza - so Faith told me how to make pizza dough & we were on our way. (I now have the recipe written down for future use...). This is Amy posing proudly next to her pizza & Faith's pizza (Faith didn't want her photo taken). :)

This is Tim's pizza creation - yes - he use to work at Pizza Hut...

This afternoon we took Faith back up to the airport - but not before we stopped in at Les Schwab to get my brakes checked. Almost 2 hours & a good chunk of change later, we were on our way with new brakes...ah the joy of vehicles.

Looking at the clock, I need to stop blogging & go get in bed - it's back to work for me tomorrow. Happy week ahead!

Are You Kidding Me?!?!

Okay, so I just finished watching this week's 'Gray's Anatomy' & I can't believe them. I'm still wiping tears from my eyes...

They won't get away with this...

The Reveal

So my secret pal was....Janice! :)

Janice is a kindergarten teacher at my school & a super sweet lady. She did a perfect job as my secret pal. Thank you Janice!

Hope your love day was filled with fun & surprises!

Happy Love Day...

Happy Valentine's Day!! I love this day (no pun intended) because of the extra fun we allow ourselves to have, the time we take to tell those around us that we love them, and the chocolate of course! :)

My students have been bringing me valentine's all week. They are so cute - several of them have been hand made too which makes them extra special. Today I was teaching a class when 2 small kiddos wondered in...they looked almost lost (I was teaching a class of 5th graders at the time). I saw the love notes in their hands & directed them to my cute valentine box that another classroom made for me to hold my valentine's in.

We are also going to reveal our secret pals tomorrow morning. It's a tradition at our school to do secret pals at Valentine's Day instead of Christmas. We started last Thursday & it's so much fun to give the gift & find out later that you helped brighten someone's day. I've also received many nice little gifts. Today I got a Starbucks card & 2 Valentine pencils.

I'm being the secret pal for one of our school secretaries. I was brave yesterday & brought her a coffee from Starbucks & handed it right to her, claiming her secret pal had asked me to deliver. It was so fun to do that because I got to see her face light up over her treat - what fun!!

I don't know who has my name this year - but they've been great - here's the rundown so far:

Thursday: Pink Tulips
Friday: Nicolas Sparks book - 'The Wedding'
Monday: A bag of kisses & an apple ;)
Tuesday: Starbucks card & 2 Valentine pencils
Tomorrow....the reveal...

Mom's Weekend Visit

This weekend my Mom came to visit us. My sister dropped her off at my school around noon on Friday & she spent the rest of the day at school with the kiddos & me, then we went out on the town. We had dinner at 'Red Rob Bob' (as EE refers to it) and then went & did a little shopping.

Saturday morning we went to a ladies brunch at our new church. It was very nice & so much fun. I loved having my mom there with me at this special event. And if it wasn't already so neat, I also won a door prize! So cool. :) The rest of the afternoon we shopped a bit, took a nap, & relaxed.

Sunday morning we went to church, came home & Tim made us a yummy lunch with waffles, eggs, and turkey bacon. We then took another nap (it was the theme for the weekend) and went to Craft Warehouse to look around. Sunday night, we took Mom back up to Laura's house & it was very fun to get to visit with all of them for a while. It's been almost a month since I've seen Laura & my nieces, that doesn't happen very often (thank goodness).

Nellie did not want to go to sleep, so I begged Laura to let me go into Nellie's room (where she was special requesting 'Aunt Jessie' - how could I resist?) & I sang her 'You Are My Sunshine'. As I sang to her, she joined in & stared into my eyes the whole time we sang together. Then I kissed her goodnight & she stayed down for the night. Precious.






My Mom & Me

My Mom pestering me - can you imagine?!?

Done!!

So it's only February 8th - & I'm finished with my Christmas gifts! That's right, this is a belated Christmas clutch. I finished this one (for my brother-in-law's girlfriend) & did one for my friend Mary. So now I'm officially finished & ready for Christmas!! :) Ah well, they both knew they would be late. I think I'm done with clutches for a while.

I'm perusing my Itty Bitty Baby Hats book for a hat. I'm still so excited about that book - it's currently living on my coffee table (at the correct angle of course!).

Not a lot to report today - I've been sick with a cold but am feeling much better tonight - hooray! Happy (almost) Friday!!

Pretending...

Okay, I'm going to pretend that Andrea has tagged me. I really don't have a lot to report from the weekend - so instead I've decided to share 6 insights into my strange little world. The challenge: Share 6 weird things about yourself - here goes...

1. I love to fall asleep to the sound of the dryer running. Something very comforting to me about that (now I don't love to fold the laundry when it's dry - but I usually do it). :)

2. Everything on my coffee table must be in it's place. I'm much better about this than I use to be - but the candles still need to be turned at a certain angle, and the magazines, etc. A little OCD if you will...

3. I must fasten my seatbelt before I turn on the car - otherwise its beeps at me & makes me cringe.

4. I LOATHE the word 'behoove'. It makes my skin crawl a little bit & I want to plug my ears.

5. I can't touch my belly button. Grant it - I had it pierced when I was in college (that is no longer the case - it's a long, sad story...) but I can't stand for it to be touched.

6. I don't eat beef or pork - but sometimes I have a craving for Costco hotdogs. So weird, even writing it down makes me feel weird. :)

Okay, that's all I have to confess today. If anyone else wants to confess 6 weird things about themselves, consider yourself 'tagged'.

By 8:15 am I...

This morning by 8:15 AM I had already made the bed & was on my way to the gym. By 9:30 I was home again, clean, & had a load of laundry running. I think it's going to be a productive and fun day!! Hooray for Saturday!

A 1/2 Birthday For Me...

That's right, 6 months until my real birthday. Tonight we went to Corvallis to visit Nicole (my most faithful lurker) & she had made me a 1/2 birthday cake!!! How great is that? Chocolate cake with sprinkles, what more could a girl ask for? This picture was taken on my cell phone & Tim magically transported it to my blog - fun, no?

In college I use to throw 1/2 birthday parties. One year I invited several friends over & my roommate at the time (another one of my most faithful lurkers, Erin) came along behind me and un-invited everyone. She told them not to come over, that we weren't having a party, and not to encourage such non-sense. They came over anyway. :) We had cupcakes, drank glasses 1/2 full of milk/water & they sang 1/2 of 'Happy Birthday' to me. Since then, I've received numerous 1/2 cards for different friends (& my spouse), halves of presents that I get the other half of on my real birthday, & other silly acts of kindness. What fun.

I encourage all of you to embrace your 1/2 birthday & enjoy an extra celebration each year (but with only 1/2 the fun of course)....

Happy Friday!