Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Great Indoors!!!

Ah I finally have a moment to sit for a minute... (not really, but I am making a minute). I want to start by saying... I am LOVING my student teaching experience. I honestly could not imagine enjoying it as much as I have. I still cannot believe that I am already at this point of my schooling! (I know, I know... my repetition of this thought I am sure is getting annoying!) Anyway, I have been so blessed with being placed with the most awesome group of kids and the most awesome teacher I get to observe, work with and learn from! I am in a really good situation and am enjoying life right now. My kids are with a really great sitter who adores them and they love playing at her house! AND I love that they are not cooped up in my  house everyday in this horrifically cold weather!
What can we do for free to get out of the house in negative temperatures?? TOYS at the mall!
The adjustment has had its ups and downs with me going back to work and there are definitely pros and cons. Carlyle especially has become attached to me when we are home at night. He wants to sleep in my bed every night and usually has been getting his way. (And lets face it... mom wants him in there too). I like making up for the time we aren't together during the day even if we are both asleep. Lenore and Hudson are adjusting well but are both tired earlier in the evening so my time is cut a little shorter than I sometimes like. HOWEVER, the best part about STUDENT teaching is I get to go home as soon as school is out, which is 3:30. So I don't feel like I am not getting solid time at home. I am HOWEVER losing solid time of house work (AKA laundry). I hate laundry! haha!
Here is what I get to wake up every morning!

With this terrible weather and awful inversion it is hard to get out of the house. So the BIGGEST advantage for our family as far as my going "back to work" is getting all of us out of the house in the morning. My kids get moving more, playing hard, and taking long naps for the sitter! :) (Which I am sure she enjoys).
Gotta love a warm bath before bed!
Besties

I am learning so much about teaching from my coordination teacher (Kim Mills). I am learning that I love this job! I enjoy being in front of the classroom and honestly feel proud when students are grasping concepts because of what I am teaching them. It amazes me how smart a 2nd grader can be and I am finding true joy in this experience. I feel it is making me a better person and mom and leader. I am beyond excited to be at school during the day and for the first time in a job experience, I am not looking at the clock every hour. I do want to learn to manage my time better so when I get home I can do a little laundry and just hang with the kids. (SO I need to be on top of the crock pot meals).

She lines up her princess and puts them to sleep!

How do I rotate these images???

Anyway, in spite of the changes at home and the freezing cold weather, we are having a great winter and finding time to enjoy the indoors! ( Although I really miss me some Vitamin D!)

Sunday, January 6, 2013

I was on Holiday

So I kind of went on a blogging hiatus this past month. I was thoroughly enjoying my 4 weeks off from school, my last few weeks at home with my kids and of coarse, the holidays! So let's sum up the last month of 2012 and the first part of 2013.

This was our second Christmas home, here in Logan, with just our little family. We sure enjoyed the relaxing few days James had of work. When I was growing up a tradition we had was to go to Chinese food on Christmas Eve. I loved it so much we decided to carry the tradition on with our own family. We also thought it would be fun to start the tradition of going to a movie on Christmas Eve. So we all loaded up in the car and headed to see "The Guardians". We were running late and missed the first  showing (little did we know we should have continued to the theater to buy tickets to the next showing) but instead we went to lunch and took Carlyle to the dollar store to pick out a Christmas gift for Lenore and Hudson. We then headed back to the theater and of coarse they were sold out! Who would have thought a movie that had been out for a month would be sold out? So we bought tickets for Christmas day and figured that was a better tradition anyway. We weren't hungry right away so we headed home and the kids were so tired we had leftover pizza for dinner and decided to go to Chinese Christmas day. (Maybe next year we can carry out the true tradition.) I have to say it was nice not to cook for 2 days and just get to enjoy my family!

Another tradition James and I both had was opening pajamas Christmas Eve. We decided that even though as adults we realized how completely unoriginal our parents were, the tradition is a lot of fun so we want to carry it on and be completely unoriginal ourselves! Lenore was way into with her princess pj's and Carlyle LOVES when Hudson wears the same thing as him, so their matching monkey pj's were a hit!

Growing up we weren't allowed to go look at the presents until everyone was awake and we would all go down together to see what Santa brought us. I was willing to give up every other tradition to keep this one in my house with m own kids. James didn't have that "tradition"/"rule" in his home, but he understood how much it meant to me so he reluctantly lovingly gave in to keep this tradition in our home.

We wake up the kids around 7 in the morning and go downstairs. Santa came and brought Carlyle a RED bike, and Lenore sweet little princess "barbie type" dolls. They were thrilled and so cute to see their eyes light up. Even Hudson was beside himself with an interactive music toy Santa brought Carlyle and Lenore him.

We opened presents until about 10, ate homemade quiche for breakfast, took a nap, and hung around the house until we got dressed and went out to the movie and to dinner. The kids had a hard time sitting through the movie and we decided it was probably the last we would take all of them to together for a while, but dinner was nice and all in all the whole day two days were so great! We love that we were able to change our plans last minute according to the kids and go with the flow of the day. It is nice to be on our own schedule when James has a few days off!

I love this time of year and getting to reflect on the things we have accomplished and get ready for the fresh start and clean slate of the new year. I especially love reflecting on the birth and life of our Savior. It is neat to get to teach our children about the true meaning of Christmas and listening to them speak of Christ in the reverent ways they do. Our hope as parents is our children will always have testimonies of our Savior and always want to do good. Carlyle is a shining example of charity and love even at 3 years old. We feel so blessed for the things we have and the challenges we are given to help us grow. 2012 was a great year and we look forward to the great adventures 2013 will bring.

Our New Year didn't start out as planned. We were going to have a little party with friends, but unfortunately they were sick and we partied on our own. The kids went to bed early we had snacks and a Cheers marathon in bed and were both passed out by 10:30!  Even though we didn't get to participate in a New Years count down and I believe James and I have yet to share a midnight New Years kiss (since being married), it was again nice to get some good sleep and enjoy our New Years day hanging around the house and getting ready for the week.

My parents have made a few trips down and we have had fun opening gifts, sledding, playing games, and eating with the family! My brother is being deployed to Afghanistan in a couple months so it was nice to spend some time with him before he has to leave. I sure love the relationships my children are building with each member of our families and we feel blessed to have such great influences in their lives!

Well it has been too long and I will post later this week about goals and resolutions, but one of them is to blog about once a week and not let the precious moments I get to share with my kids and family be forgotten.