Halloween Shenanigans

We had yet another festive Halloween! Ella dressed up as Cinder-Ella and Jocie dressed up as Anastasia. Ella thought it would be a great idea if my mom could come down and dress up as the Fairy Godmother...and she agreed! Nanny tried her best to dress up as the famous character. . .and I must say. . .she NAILED it! The girls were ecstatic the first time they saw her in her costume.

After dinner, we headed out into the neighborhood. We were very glad to have such warm weather. Because of the great weather, we were able to stay out for 2 hours! The girls were so excited that they ran to every house (the only "healthy" thing about Halloween). Ella was a little too excited. She ended up falling twice, and also ran right into a tree. She suffered some road rash, but got over it shortly.

The girls are very lucky to have such a cool "Nanny". Ella already has an idea for next Halloween. She wants to be Tinkerbell, she wants Jocie to be Wendy (Jocie is not sold on this idea), and she wants Nanny to be Peter Pan. I would not be surprised if this idea became a reality!

From man-to-man to a zone

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure most of you know this by now, but I know I haven't been able to talk to everyone. Carl and I are expecting our third child :) I am almost 3 1/2 months along, and the baby is due May 3rd. Since I know I will be having yet another C-Section, they will probably schedule delivery for the very end of April, since delivery is usually set around 39 weeks.

I'm am excited to be into my second trimester! Although it could have been much worse, I'm glad the all-day nausea, constant hunger, and feeling like I need a nap 24/7 is over!! :)

Everyone is very excited about the idea of another addition to the family. Jocie is excited to by a big sister again, and of course Ella is looking forward to having a "real" baby in the house. We have also decided not to find out the sex of the baby early. So, unfortunately, you won't know until we know on the actual birthday.

Carl and I are also very excited, but also a tad nervous. Three kids seems like a lot more than two.....I know that sounds weird, but to us it makes sense. One of Carl's friends told him having the third child is like going from a man-to-man defense (in basketball) to a zone defense. Because now the kids out number the parents, so you need to know how to cover them all :) We liked this analogy, and now feel that we're up for the challenge!

Annual TC Kid's Marathon

This weekend was the annual Twin Cities Kid's Marathon in St. Paul. Since the first week of school, I have been training some of my fifth grade students to participate in a 5K, 1 mile, or 1/2 mile race. This year, I had 11 kids come down (4 participated in the 5K, 5 in the 1 mile, and 2 in the 1/2 mile). I made sure to get all my runners up to the very front of the pack at the starting line. While at the starting line, we were interview twice! Once by the race official (over the loud speaker!!), and once by Diana Pierce herself (Kare 11 news woman who sponsors the event) All my students did incredibly well in there races (thanks to my training of course)! One of my students actually ran the 1 mile race in 5.48 minutes and got 3rd over-all out of over 1,000 kids participating (WOW)!!

Carl, Jocie, and Ella also participated. Carl and Jocie ran the 1 mile race. I was so proud to see Jocie running super hard through the finish line. She also did an awesome job and finished the race in 7 minutes! Ella participated in the Toddler Trot :) As soon as "go" was heard, she was off like a shot, and looked as if she got 3rd place out of all the 3-year-olds. I always get a kick out of watching how serious some of the parents of the toddlers can be....scary (probably future stage parents...yikes).

We had a beautiful day, with beautiful surroundings of the State Capitol and the St. Paul Cathedral. The day was a lot of fun and a huge PINEWOOD Elementary success!

School, School, and umm, School

Sorry to keep you all waiting! I'm sure you've been on pins and needles waiting for this post (yeah, right). As you all know, school has started and we are incredibly busy.

Jocie is loving the 4th grade. She has a great teacher and really likes the friends she has in her classroom. She is studying for her "bones" test on Thursday and is also hoping to be apart of the new Pinewood Newspaper. She is also anticipating her up and coming basketball season. She will be playing on the Monticello 4th grade traveling team (I'm being serious. . . if you ask me there shouldn't be such a thing! I think kids should focus on skills and the basics of the game . . . not traveling the state!) Carl will be her coach, and I'm sure she'll have a blast with her friends.

Ella is having a great time playing at Missy's house with all of her friends. She especially likes playing house with the babies (big shocker).

Carl is keeping (too) busy with school, coaching 9th grade football, working on his masters and trying to squeeze in a few drivers training hours! Last weekend he finally got some "me" time when we were able to go up to Argyle so he could ride horse with Jocie and his dad. Obviously some much needed relaxation time!

I have also started my master's program. I have class every Wednesday after school until around 9pm (yuck) and also have some random Saturday mornings (double yuck). It's been an OK experience so far. . . even though I disagree with some of my professor's grading procedures. I'm sure if he could, he would be correcting my blogging ability :)

I hope this message finds you in good spirits and good health. I will try to do a better job keeping up :)

Teachers' week over = Students coming!

I just finished my teacher's in-service week, which is a relief, but can only mean one thing...the kids are coming!!! On September 2nd, my school will be bursting at the seems with over 1000 students. Some will be smiling, some will be crying, some will be excited, and some will be nervous (sounds like some teachers I know).

I have spent the last two weeks getting ready for the first class to come parading into my gym. I have never thought of myself as an authentic elementary teacher (way too sarcastic and don't enjoy signing in front of my students or at staff meetings), but little by little, I am seeing symptoms of "elementary-itis". For starters, this year I have made many more bulletin boards for my hallways and gym. These bulletin boards are compete with this year's Pinewood theme, "Be an All-Star", and decorated with carefully cut letters and stars, topped off with a colorful boarder. I am pretty surprised and impressed with myself!

Jocie will be starting the 4th grade (holy crap!). Her teacher, Ms. Hagaseth, is an awesome teacher who has lots of experience, is very caring, enthusiastic, and is HILARIOUS!! I just know Jocie is going to love her! Ella is already back at Missy's daycare (because of in-service) and is excited to be back with Missy and all of her daycare friends.

I must admit, I am a little nervous for school to officially start. But as someone once told me; it's good to be nervous because it shows you care about doing a good job. I'm pretty lucky to work in a school with not only great teachers, but great people. I know this year will be a great one!

These pictures were taken by the best photographer I know.....my step-mom Barb!

a girlie getaway

Last week was one of the best weeks of the summer! Jocie, Ella and I packed up the family truckster and headed north to good 'ol Maple Lake. We joined my mom, Jessie, Ali and Daysha for a sun-soaking, female-bonding good time. I did break the rule and brought a male with me; but only because this male can't live without me (Mario - my dog). Poor Carl had to stay behind because football had started and he was booked with driver's training. Although, I don't know if he would've enjoyed it too much anyway (WAY too much estrogen!!). He probably would have planted himself in front of the beer fridge in the garage after a few hours (no shame in that).

The week started out a bit slow due to the day and a half of rain. But when it cleared up, it was absolutely beautiful. We spent most of our time on the pontoon and at the sand-bar. Daysha and Jocie had a ton of fun tubing with Casey Anderson (Mandy's husband), and Ella had a lot of fun on the paddle boat.

Had a lot of fun, sun, walks (complete with bats), boating, talking, and cocktail hours. My only wish is that it would've lasted longer!

Pictures to come!!