Classroom Pics

I am LOVING my new school more than words can express! Life is just so much easier and it really is ALL ABOUT THE KIDS! I love being a part of such a warm, exciting learning environment!

This is my door

I kicked off the school year with a Rainbow Fish Unit on friendship.

The kids made coke bottle fish. Too cute!!!

Elmo's Green Thumb

Last night Kim and I took Brody and Bryce to see Sesame Street Live. Brody LOVED it! I wish I had gotten better pictures. For the first twenty minutes he was literally in a trance.

Then all of a sudden he started smiling and clapping. By the end, he was down running between the seats laughing and dancing! I was so glad we weren't on the floor, but 90 mins is a long time for a toddler to sit still. There weren't very people sitting in our section so we got to move to the bottom row and Brody and Bryce could just run around and play and dance without bothering anybody. It was the perfect setup!

The cast of Sesame Street Live!

Brody sat with Kim for most of the first half. I wanted to see his face..which for the most part looked like this...

Starting to get into it...
Laughing and dancing by intermission!

Bryce and Brody

Had To Post!

Brody got a hold of one of the ornaments I had been practicing with for Oopsie Daisie. I remember saying to Ken..."Its okay, they're plastic." Ha!

Brody had been walking around playing with it for a couple of minutes happily yelling "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" at the top of his lungs.

I came in to get him ready for his bath and accidentally dropped his "ball".

And Oh my goodness....the DEVASTATION!

Christmas....In August?

Tonight I was little late getting home after taking a couple of hours of girl time with Casey. I come home to find that I have learned two things:

1. How my sweet baby boy has turned into a BOY. My little toddler. I came in to find this:

*Sigh* As excited as I was to know that my mother got him these on her lunch break, it makes him look like such the little boy. No more Pedapeds. Real big boy shoes!

2. How blessed we are to have such amazing friends. Rob and Kim and most importantly, Bryce, gave Brody some big boy toys tonight. Bryce has outgrown these and they didn't make the move into their new house. Instead of selling them in their garage sell they gave them to us. He LOVES them. I thought the Elmo tool bench would take the cake, but he loves the farm house just as much.

(I apologize for the bad lighting...)

Taking a Deep Breath!

Before I begin this post let me say one thing first.

I. AM. NOT. COMPLAINING.

Okay. Now on to my post. I have been insanely busy these last couple of weeks with life in general. New job, booming side business, toddler, hubbie, revamping house...and on and on and on!

School is AWESOME!!! I can not begin to explain what a difference this experience has been so far. My kids are not perfect. My room is not perfect. My school is not perfect.

But...I have support...from my principal, parents, assistant, and everybody at my school. I had a situation today, that I had wanted to keep to myself, but these kids tug at my heart so hard its easy to tell if one has upset me. My principal came up to me to see what was wrong, pulled the child off the bus and straightened the situation out. (I think I have set the record for earliest paddling in that school!)

I have anything and everything I could ever need or want at my fingertips. It is fantastic! The children really aren't that different from the district I have previously taught in. But my environment now is such a positive, encouraging one for everybody in it! I'm so glad to be a part of it.

I do have to admit, I have very overwhelmed. So many changes in such a short time. But I am adjusting and I LOVE it! I'll have to post some pics of my kids and my room soon.

I am definitely having to remember what its like to juggle a "new" job, and being mommy and wife, but its slowly starting to come together.

Brody is loving walking. He is perfecting it every day. Therapy is going well. I thought he'd be taken out once he started walking but they are still working with him on anything gross motor related. Its amazing what a different person he is now that he has so much freedom.

Oopsie Daisie (my side buisness) is taking off! I have at least an order a week, which I was hoping for one a month! It really lets me get in touch with my creative side and is great therapy! We have converted our guest room into Brody's playroom and my painting space. I love it!!! I get to watch him play while I work without worrying about what he's getting into.

I hope to get back to posting a couple of times a week. Life just has to slow down a bit. I'm not really sure if I want it to, I'm really enjoying this new phase God has planned for me!

Seriously Slacking!

But not really. In fact, I feel like that is the LAST thing I'm doing. But I guess in bloggy land I've been a huge slacker! I have lots of pictures to upload, but our office/playroom is not 100% back up and running and I don't have my USB cord hooked back up.

So what have we been up to...

Ken:

That's easy. W.O.R.K. 'Nuff said!

Nicole:

1. Painting our bedroom AND rearranging

2. Re-doing the guest bedroom and converting it to an office/playroom

*moving OUT furniture, painting, moving IN all of Brody's toys...ahhhh Heaven!

3. Starting school again. Yes folks, today is the official last day of summer vacay for me!

* This consisted of Casey coming with me to Flora (20 min. drive) to my classroom to help me set up. This took the entire week! And I'm still not done.

Brody:

1. Talking up a storm! Not all real words, but we know what he's talking about. He even said a complete thought yesterday...daddeee bye bye! But he thinks Ken is supposed to take him with him.

2. Walking and running EVERYWHERE!!! He hardly crawls anymore.

3. Standing from seated position is no prob anymore, does it with ease!

4. Squats to pick up toys instead of sitting to get them. Yay!!

*** and is waking up now....finish post later!

But the greatest of them all is LOVE!

Last Saturday, July 25th, my baby brother got MARRIED! It was such a great weekend! We were a little unsure of how Brody would act considering his surgery was Thursday the 23rd. But he did great! And a HUGE thanks goes out to my fantastic MIL, Mary Eileen, who kept him most of the weekend for us.

The weekend started out with the rehearsal in Flora with the rehearsal dinner back in Ridgeland at Reservoir Pointe. The food was yumm-o! We had salad, fillets, and dessert! The highlight of the weekend was getting to see all of our family that we miss so much!

Tim and Lisa (Auntie Tink to Brody)

Olivia and Michael~the soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Barnard!

~Wedding Day~

Michael and Lauren
Groom's Cake

Cutting the cake...

First dance...

Dollar Dance!!

Throwing the Bouquet

Now the garter...

Congratulations Michael and Olivia!!!!