Birthday Party

Andrew had his birthday party yesterday at Playworld. His 5th birthday is this Tuesday. He had a lot of fun at the party. He got all kinds of cool stuff:
Shaving Kit, Mouse Trap Board Game, Lincoln Logs, Cool Markers, Batman with neato Wings, Fun clothes, Power Ranger, Transformer, Robot, and Legos Helicopter. Uncle Bruce didn't make it to the party but brought him a really fun Nerf Bow and Arrow gun. Believe it or not he's played with EVERY single toy. He's also had a little help from his little brother, Parker:). Parker was upset yesterday at the party. He kept saying, "I want a birthday". He has a short memory and seems to have forgotten he just had a party with Sparky at Playworld in February.

LIttle Miss Crafty

Andrew's birthday party was yesterday at Playworld. I knew the kiddos would get cake but they don't ever bring enough for the adults so I decided to make some cake balls. They were super yummy and fun to make.


This week I saw the coolest idea from the lady I teach with. She made a ziplock quilt with duct tape. It has 25 openings to showcase student work. I decided to make one to hang in the boy's room. They're always hanging up art around the house so I thought we could display it in their ziplock quilt. You just open up the bag to change out the pictures. I'm planning on making a green (his favorite color) one for Parker so they'll each have their own.

Happy 4 month Sweet Piper Jane & Muffins for Moms

Piper is 4 months old today. She is still just the sweetest little thing. Her favorite things to do right now are talk, pull her tongue out, spit and flip over:).


This morning was "Muffins for Moms" at Kindergarten. It was so much fun. I've got the cutest pictures of Andrew with some of his friends. There are four of them standing by each other with their arms around each other. As I was taking it I was thinking how we'll probably look back on it when he graduates. I would upload it but don't want to put pics of kiddos on the internet that I don't really know well. Maybe I can do some cute censoring:).
God has really burdened me for a couple of kiddos in Andrew's class. One of them is just unruly but he's dealing with a lot of yucky stuff at home. Then there's another one who Andrew talks about some. I noticed today that his mom didn't come to muffins for moms. I can't go into detail but have learned some really heart breaking things about him, also. I have some free time in my schedule and asked Andrew's teacher if it would be okay if I could come in and work with these two. She thought that would be a great idea. I can't share their names but please pray for them. My heart literally just breaks for these sweet babies.

Vroom.. Vroom...

Andrew spends thirty minutes before and after school in my room. We have a lot of fun together. Today I went to get him from class and he said, "Mom, I've got homework. I need to make sure and do it nice and neat so I can get a sticker":). Since he spends so much time in my room, I get a lot of art on the board. Usually he just writes his name but today he drew a picture. This is the first car he has ever drawn. Isn't it sweet? It looks like the driver is in a lazyboy:) I love it!

Perfect lunch dates and my ministry..

Cameron is off every other Tuesday and gets to spend the day with Parker and Piper. Today we thought it would be fun if he and Parker came to eat lunch with Andrew and I. My mom came by and watched sweet little Piper for us. It was a lot of fun. Cam picked up some pizza and we all sat on one of the back tables and ate together. Parker was really excited to see Andrew and Andrew was SO excited for Parker to get to see where he spends his days. Afterwards, we went out to watch Andrew play with his friends at recess. It was so sweet! 

This is my 10th year to teach but my first to teach in an elementary school. I am really enjoying it. One reason is because I truly feel my job is my ministry, definitely a calling. God gives me such a love and burden for each of my students. I spent my first three years at Jacksonville High. I LOVED that place. I think of those students ALL of the time. I'm constantly trying to figure out how in the world to get a hold of McKinley, Lamar and Terrell (yes, I've tried myspace and facebook). My heart aches because I don't know how they are doing. The next three years, I taught in a behavioral hospital. I loved it, also. I believe God has gifted me with a love and passion for kids who have "issues". I have spent many nights in tears and prayer over my students. The last three years, I have taught in a Jr. High. I loved it so much. I LOVED my students. I hated it when they moved up to the high school. God gave me the most incredible opportunity to bring the "world" to my students through teaching about the kids in Uganda. Our Jr. High kids were on FIRE for those kids in Uganda, raising over $7000 to help build a school. I'm so proud of them and truly believed their lives were changed forever. I think they really got it and that's saying a lot for Jr. High kids. I am so thankful for each student that God has allowed me to spend time with. I'm so excited to be working in the elementary school to try to make a difference early on for these kids. God has blessed me so much throughout my career with my masters, National Boards and even a couple of teacher of the year awards but NOTHING compares to seeing that change in my students. A little fellow that I've been "mothering" for the past two years sent me a text tonight. He leaves for Job Corp in 2 weeks. I am SO proud of him and pray so much that he will stay the course. The Lord also gave me the opportunity to share Christ with this young man. I tease Cameron all the time that my goal is to change the world, one kiddo at a time:). 

I love FREECYCLE, but...

So I've been using Freecycle a lot lately, thanks to Anna. It's such an awesome way to get rid of things without throwing them away or storing them for a yard sale. Just this month I've given away baby clothes, a toddler bed, a kiddie pool, and a dresser. I've received from other freecyclers a kindergarten mat, boy clothes and some kid's books. Tonight while I was cleaning out Parker's dresser I decided to give away a lot of clothes that were too small or on the verge of too small. It was so sad. I slowly looked at each piece and could remember a day that he wore them. I especially got sentimental over the pajamas. Parker does this nightly routine where he stands behind the couch and says, "WHO AM I?" and I have to guess who he is. Sometimes he'll give me clues. Tonight he said, "Who am I? I'll give you a clue... vroom vroom". Of course he was dressed up as Lightening McQueen:). It was so hard to bag up all of those sweet clothes but I got really excited about some little boy getting to see all of his new PJs. I put them on freecycle and waited for a reply. Sure enough, just a few minutes after they posted I get a reply. I give them directions and they come pick them up. While we were giving them the bags of clothing Cameron said, "so you guys have a little boy?" The lady said, "No, we have girls but figured we could still use some of them". I was DEVASTATED!! Little girls won't be excited about a Superman PJ that even had the CAPE! Ugghhhhh... next time I'm screening. I'm suspicious that they just want them to resell which I guess is okay. The point of freecycle is to not contribute to the tons of trash we have here in America BUT come on, at least have a boy if you're getting fun little boy clothes. Maybe I shouldn't pack a little piece of my heart into each Wal-Mart bag I give away:). Maybe the real reason I'm sad is because Parker will never wear his Elmo pajamas again:(. 

My Mr. McDreamy:)

Cameron always goes above and beyond. He's such an amazing man and a wonderful husband. This week he sent me the prettiest flowers to work, just because. He cooked dinner two times and just today he gave me about a 45 minute massage. He's so good with the kids, always slow to anger and believe me there's a lot of provoking:).