Hello October....

hello long sleeves...


hello learning how to color...


hello Oreos...

...it's nice to meet you!

* just trying out a new header...
LOVED this picture and thought it was appropriate for the time

Goodbye September..

***************
sorry for the absence... very busy... teaching more days...
i'll come up for air soon and share some thoughts

rock collections

these are what my sweet little one gave me on our walk this afternoon. she is a scavenger... no rock or stick in her path will be left untouched... she finds rocks in cracks on the sidewalk and has to pick at it until it is in her hand, only to put it in mine... and in her mouth every now and then. my favorite is the littlest one on the left.

i feel like every aspect of motherhood could be defined as a bittersweet experience... you long to watch your children grow and learn but mourn for the sweet days of the past knowing that you won't see them again... rejoicing for milestones but wanting the others to come slowly... needing a break from the day in and day out but then longing to be with them every moment... wanting to show them when they are wrong but wanting to look the other way so that they don't have to learn a hard lesson and your heart doesn't have hurt as you teach them... oh motherhood! what a joy and a hard road.


this seems to be to position of choice these days... any other one year olds out there
squat like this... all the time??

baby shower and birthday

we had lots of life celebrations going on around here this past week.

remember those invitations from a few weeks back? the shower for the sweetie and her momma was a success! we wanted to give her a shower that was totally girly... i think it worked out! here are a few pictures from the event.

i turned a year older... no big deal. it was a fun day... lots of surprises... my sweet hubby sent pizzas to the school for a surprise pizza party... he said he thought a pizza party was fitting for an elementary school... i didn't see anything wrong with his thinking...neither did the other teachers!

i was given many handmade cards by a few of my students... they were so sweet and quite funny... a few of my favorites...

can't get any better than "happy birth birthday girl!"

gotta love the "hair flap" woman or the cyclops woman?!

Ryan and I went out on a date to a great restaurant where he had flowers waiting for me... so sweet
(thanks Deborah for the cute shirt!)

and Amy made this sweet cake for me!

it was a fun day full of celebration! thanks to my thoughtful family who made the day special!

i love this girl

wanted to share some oldies but goodies. enjoy!

it is amazing how quickly they change!
have a good week!

I can sew!

the past weeks have flown by without much sewing going on around my home. although it is a true love of mine and a great creative outlet, it has been nice to not clean up tiny fabric scraps, rip out seams that i can't seem to get right (seam/seem- get it?), or have the pressure to make what i see in my mind. my creativity is being funneled into a different place... these kids. i wish the school day was full of extra time to fit in all of ideas that are swimming around in my head.

luckily, i am with a teacher that values childhood and the creativity and imagination that comes with it. she makes time for her students to draw what they are thinking, to represent their community with Popsicle sticks and felt, and gives them "fun friday"

fun friday is 30 minutes of pure excitement for a bunch of second graders. it is a time of freedom- no academic pressure, no test to take, no math problem to write... just a time to enjoy each other. they are allowed to play with anything other than a textbook...they choose from things like board games, legos, books and a reading tent, and play dough .... it is a glorious room full of rambunctious, friday loving kids ...

during one of the "get to know you" activities we had at the beginning of the year the kids asked about my interests... so naturally sewing came up... to listen to the gasps in the room was great... "you can sew? i wish i could sew" "i sewed one time" "my mom can't even sew" ... so began the thought of teaching a little about the needle and thread...

this fun friday sewing was officially added to the list of things to do... it was a success! i only had six needles and luckily only six girls wanted to come and hang out with me ... funny how things work out. so we set out with the intentions of learning how to cross-stitch... as you can tell by the pictures, we gave up on the whole follow my pattern thing and began to create individual patterns and techniques... it was incredible to watch them get so giddy over putting a needle and yarn in a plastic grid... dreams of making a dress or a pillow for a sister were born. over and over i heard six little girls well up with pride as they repeated ....
i can sew!

my little bunch of girls learned so much in those thirty minutes.

happy friday! i get to hang out for three WHOLE days with this little girl.
can't wait!!

glue sticks and kleenex

i did it today... i finished my first day of student teaching. walking to school this morning i wanted to barf up the banana i was nervously eating. i felt like a giddy school girl... so ready to meet my cooperating teacher, worried if she would like me, and if we would get along. needless to say, she didn't bite me or stare at the big red zit that decided today was a good day to make a visit. i really liked her. she was energetic and funny and really had compassion for the kids in our class. she really appreciated all the quirks that each kiddo had. and oh, they had them... it was such a great bunch of eager second graders who were not afraid to show their personalities!

i remembered what i love about the classroom... the smells (come on- you know the glue sticks, the crayons, new school shoes, the muggy closets that are painted shut... all of it), the colored paper just ready to be cut up, pencil sharpeners, all of the ready minds waiting to learn more and find out all of the simple things about you... where do you live? how many brothers and sisters do you have? do you like to read?...

but it was a bittersweet day... the beginning of a new adventure full of learning and teaching ... but also one of separation and sadness... i left my baby for the longest time ever... honestly, the day was so packed full that i hardly thought about her... knowing she was with my sister and right down the street was quite helpful... but it was when i came home i realized my heart was quietly hurting to see her face and hold her little body... what a treasure it has been to be able to spend so much time with her...to flip through books and bang on drums... to clean up a box of dominoes fifty times a day.... mind you i haven't always been the mom i dreamed i would be....but today helped me appreciate even more the opportunity i have to stay at home with her....

the year is young (well the school year) and many dreams have been dreamt for what it will bring and i hope i get to play a part in helping some of them come to pass or at least, help someone discover their dreams....

swings, stairs and sweet tea

just a few things we've been up to these days...

so i've seen this invitation floating around the blog world lately... i saw it a few months back here and when the opportunity arose to use it my friend and i jumped all over it... i love the way they turned out... simple yet special.

also we have our new friend here (my little sister)... we are having lots of fun getting into the groove of having her here... we love you amy

sweet tea on the front porch

lots and lots of going up and down stairs

aren't her chubby thighs the greatest?!

more birthday party fun

here are a few more pictures from last saturday....enjoy!

think she liked her cake?!

i have a one year old

so i still feel like i'm in a fog of birthday mist.... i couldn't have done it without my family.. i am sad that they are leaving in the morning but happy they are leaving my little sister here for a while. i feel so blessed to have her come live with us this semester and spend time with sara. it's comforting to know that sara will be spending time with someone who will always be in her life and love her... anyway we are going to go through a bit of transition ... (new person in our house, new baby routines, schooling after a year and a mommy who hasn't left her baby for a whole day...) but i am very excited and happy with the new adventure that is unfolding... ok back to party stuff
i focused on yellow and white as our color scheme (can you tell?) with a bit of cupcake touches. i always debate when planning things like this as to how far i should take the whole theme/color scheme... but i decided that i hadn't done much for sara (no baby book, no big announcements...etc.) so i thought it would be nice to actually do all the things i think about. which in reality i still had to turn off my brain and the ideas that kept coming but i am so happy with the way it turned out and how fun it was to spent time with our friends and family.

the food table minus the burgers

first birthday bib

dessert and party favor table

more dessert/candy table

i wish i had taken a better before picture of sara's cake but i didn't... oh well... you can see it here in the middle- the huge cupcake... i found the mold here and at michael's ... it really wasn't that hard to make and sara loved it...

more pictures to come!

ps. i got placed for my student teaching at the school two blocks away! SO excited to get to walk to school and be close to home!