pajamas

Grandma Wessel made pjs for all her grandkids. SO NICE!! The kids were excited to get a package in the mail. Shout out to Grandma Wessel..."You make awesome comfy pajamas!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

fellow hooligans

I LOVE THE TEACHERS AT BURKE!!!! We sure had a good time during our 2 week teacher training this year. Lunch at Crackers, chocolate, and pictures!!

suzie and karen

mmmmm, potato soup at crackers

rachel and i

karen, rachel and i

and us again...

suzie on the hot bus ride to happy valley school.

krystal and i on the hot bus ride to happy valley

5th and 6th grade teachers (with one 2nd grade teacher joining us) from burke at our seminar at the happy valley school.

presenting our use of a thinking map to the seminarees. we rocked it!!

becky parsons, rachel and i

learning stuff...

karen and kat...on the way to wendy's (i think that was our destination that day)

rachel, karen, kat, and i returning from wendy's

becky, rachel and i on our final day of training...ready for the year to start? not really...but we did have fun in the photo dept.

first day of school. 2011-12

So not ready for school to start this year, but oh so ready for school to start this year!!! We love summer with no schedules, nowhere to be, swimming everyday, later nights, sleeping in, and play, play, play. We also like the structure of school everyday with activities and projects and assignments to keep us busy and productive! I just miss my summer Sunday evenings. They are much more relaxing and enjoyable when we don't have school the next morning. Jacob is in 6th grade this year (how did that happen?) Jr. High next year...we are not ready!!! His teacher is Mrs. Hollenbeck and we LOVE her!!! He's going to have a great year! He is an awesome kid. Sofia is in 5th grade. She wanted to be in my class this year, but I have a standing rule of not teaching my own kids, so she was out of luck. She has Mrs. Lesperance and we LOVE her also! The best teachers in the school have my kids this year. Isabel is in 3rd grade. She has Miss Cronk. We LOVE her as well. Isabel has a hard time every year when school starts. She cries, wants me, and this year we added a tummy ache. The first two weeks of school she complained of a tummy ache every morning, at recess, at lunchtime, after school and in the evening before bedtime. Not fun. We haven't really dealt with anxiety before to that extreme. She has been doing better of late. We have a system where she is rewarded for days of not crying and the more comfortable she gets in her class the more relaxed she becomes. Still can't believe my 'baby' is in the 3rd grade and will be baptized in Nov. I have a 5th grade class of 34 students. They are all angels!!! I have the best days with these students. Such a sweet class that I haven't had to use any of my discipline strategies, or call parents, or be frustrated. I don't know what to do with myself seeing as the past 3 years I have had a more than a few 'handfuls' who have made teaching challenging. It's going to be a super year. (Fingers crossed!!!)

And we are still loving the uniforms. Makes getting ready in the morning so simple!!! Who knew!

swimming 2011

All three kids love the high dive. I'm so glad they didn't inherit my fear of heights! Isabel just started jumping off the high dive the last few weeks. Fun to watch! We had a great summer spending most every day at the pool.isabel

isabel

isabel

jacob (started doing flips this year...also loves to dive off the high dive!)

isabel

sofia

sofia

isabel

friends.

My good friend and old NAU roomie Lindsay is having a baby!!! I was invited to her baby shower at Tia Rosa's. YUMMY!!!! It was so good to see her and visit. And surprise of all surprises another good friend and apartment complex-mate from my days at NAU was there also, Marianne. So much fun to catch up and be reminded of why I love these girls so much and the good times we had!! (and eat some really good food!) And so happy to see Lindsay become a mother!!

Lindsay and IMarianne, Lindsay, and me.

wow...

So I found this on my camera the other day. Apparently Sofia and Isabel were bored, so they got out the makeup kit. Creepy!!!

Deep Purple