100 Board and Other Wonderful Perks

It was back to school and today, after what turned into a long weekend. It was a wonderful weekend with the kids. Lots of lounging and relaxing.

It was an average day for me at work, nothing too stressful, and no special treats, but it was a day at work, which is a blessing in and of itself.

I know so many people who are either loosing their job, or facing some sort of cutbacks, and although I don't make a whole lot of money, I am extremely blessed to have the job I have.

I am a Montessori School administrator. Some call me the principal. Sure, there are times when I do have a lot of stress, but I typically begin my day greeting 3-6 year olds, which is awesome.

I also happen to have a great staff that I enjoy working with. Sure, I get frustrated, but really, I do actually enjoy coming to work and being with them.

But, the absolute best part of my job, the part that makes me praise God throughout the day is when Mally comes running into my office with pure excitement when she learns to read her first words, or when Meyer brings me some leftover snack from his classroom. I get to be there with them as they learn and witness their proudest moments.

Meyer will not be in school next year with me, and Mally will follow soon after that. But at this point, right now, I am so blessed to be with them.



This is a picture of Meyer finishing the 100 board. It is quite a process for a 5 year old to master. He has to arrange the numbers 1-100 on this board in order, while reciting the numbers. Mally just finished her 45 board.



This is Mally and I just after she finished her continent map. Finishing a map is a huge deal. We toast this in our house upon completion and then hang it up. First, the students memorize each continent, by doing a puzzle where each piece is a continent. After they can name all of the continents, they use a puzzle piece to trace the continent onto a piece of construction paper. Next, they punch out the continent with a pointer. Upon completion of punching out all of the continents, they punch out the hemispheres. Next, they put together the map and glue it onto a large piece of construction paper. You can see why we toast map completions in our house. Meyer has finished his continent map, his map of North America (which means he can name all of the countries in North and Central America) and is almost done with South America.

Mally's Party

We had Mally's 4th birthday party on Saturday at the Racine Gymnastics Center with 20 of her little friends. It was a great time for her, her friends, and because of my wonderful friends, it was a blast for us as well.



I really want to thank everyone who came to celebrate this wonderful occasion with her. I love celebrating birthdays and want to make the birthdays for my children as fantastic as they can be.



My friend Brigitte made Mally's birthday cake. It was a three-tiered cake that took her three days to make. It was only her fourth cake. It was the most beautiful cake and absolutely delicious. Thank you so much Brigitte, it was so special and we will never forget it.

And thank you to Tracie, Jane, Tiffany, Brent, Brigitte, for being there for me that night, and always.

Big Surprise

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/12/27/local_news/doc495568026e9e8297331702.txt

In April, I did a relay with 11 other women in California. It was an amazing experience. I will never forget it. I was quite shocked to see that the Journal Times featured us in this article, but very honored. I was also shocked that they looked up our time.

Below is the original article that was featured.

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/02/03/local_news/doc47a69b4fbcf51617992905.txt

Thanks ladies for such incredible memories.

New Year's Eve / Mally's Birthday

We had a wonderful New Year's Eve/Mally's Birthday. We spent the day with our family, then we went to visit some friends. Our friend Tiffany was kind enough to have cake and a little party for Mally. We all had such a great time. Thanks so much Tiff.



Oh, and if you look very closely, you might be able to see the new nose pierce.

Beluga Bubbles

For Christmas, Ryan got a good amount of Best Buy cards, which I thought was fantastic because I really thought we could use an upgrade in our digital camera. Ryan disagreed and thought what our family really needed was Rock Band 2. What! Rock Band 2?

So Ryan and Meyer headed out to Best Buy while I stayed home with my mom and Mally. When they got home, we had a delightful after Christmas, but Christmas dinner. Then after some pumpkin pie it was off to play our game.



Meyer came up with a band name for us that was quite impressive: Beluga Bubbles (no idea where that one came from, but I love it.) Now that we had a name and Mally had her glasses on, we were ready to rock out!



I was the singer, Meyer and Ry started with the drums, and Mally rocked out with the guitar. I wasn't preforming my best because I could not stop laughing. It was hilarious! Meyer was so focused and was actually rocking his body to the beat. Mally was just doing whatever. I haven't seen my mom laugh like that in years. It was great.



Then it was switcharoo for everyone and my mom even got a turn singing.



It was such a great night and I have to admit, a great purchase. We have continued to enjoy the game. And Ryan, what's with the hat?

Prayer Request

This is my friend Tracie and she is having an MRI tomorrow because she is having eye pain and vision loss. I am asking you all to pray for her.

What?

So, at church on Christmas Eve while I am singing away, Ryan turns to me and says, "I think you should get your nose pierced." What? Was that God speaking to you? Where did that come from?

On the way to his Grandmother's house he elaborated a little more. He said nice things like it would work well with my nose shape and that he had been thinking about it a lot.

Anyway, I let it pass, because most of the time with Ryan, things pass, but this one didn't.

So, on the way back from the museum, Ryan brought it up again but this time said, "So, we should go get your nose pierced tomorrow."

I never told him I didn't want to. I always laughed it off. Did I want my nose pierced? I had never really thought too much about it. I think it looks nice on certain people but I never thought about it for myself.

So when we got home from the museum, Ryan popped in a movie and I had to run some errands. Grocery shopping, setting up paint supplies, and doing a little more research on this piercing thing.

I decided to do it. I love my husband and his happiness is one of the most important things to me. If it didn't work, I could take it out and it wouldn't really be obvious.

When I got home, Ryan was shocked as were the kids! Ryan loved it and the kids seemed to like it as well.

So now, I have my nose pierced. I am still getting used to this.