Forever Friends

A couple of weeks ago my BFFs got together in celebration of the upcoming arrival of twins! These gals are AWESOME! We've been together since preschool, or maybe even before, and we've seen each other through everything, crushes, heartache, graduation, weddings, babies, loss of loved ones, and lots more through the years. Sometimes we don't talk much, but we can always pick up where we left off. Our personalities are all so drastically different that sometimes there is friction but we love each other no matter what.

Here we are - left to right - me, Dee, Amy, Jenny, Sara, and Angela. Does Ang. look like she's carrying twins?

Pretty Girls! Amy is the level-headed gal with an emotional heart that is good to the core. Dee is the work-a-holic of the group and although she is small, you better believe she is mighty!


Sara, my fellow teacher, is the laid back one of our group. And Little Brandon joined us, isn't he sweet!

Jen, testing out the backscratcher at the hostess' house, she is the funny one of us all, and by the way, she's full of useless info from years of reading Cosmo magazine.

Ang and hubby, Tyler, are expecting a boy and a girl. I am thrilled for them. Ang is the typical blonde, a little ditsy, but kind and nurturing.

Love ya sisters! Can't wait to meet the new additions to the group!!

It's Beginning To Look...

...Alot Like Christmas! We decorated the house before we left for Thanksgiving break but I made a few changes this year. I put all the obnoxious decorations in Madelyn's room. They are appreciated more there. You know, the ones that sing and dance so loud and so long you tell yourself that next year they won't make it out of the box. But she's in heaven, her own little crowd of Christmas toys to enjoy!

How long is Forever?

This was the discussion after we got our flu shots yesterday and sported matching metallic silver band aids.

Madelyn: "I'm gonna leave this band aid on foreber, and foreber, and foreber. (she pronounces the v with a b). How long will you leave your's on Mommy?"

Me: "For a little bit longer."

Madelyn: "Well, I'll leave it on foreber. I'll take it off before bedtime."

Me: "Me too!"

So how long is forever? Aparrently to a toddler, forever only lasts til bedtime.

"Awesomeness"

I know "AWESOMENESS" isn't a word, but it describes perfectly how I feel today. Today was like playing Santa for my kiddos at school and it was so incredibly fun. My co-worker and I attended several conferences last year about the positive effects of providing movement in classrooms. Duh, you might be saying! Well we already are trained in Cooperative Learning which gets kids moving and we already have planned and spontaneaous brain breaks. Why do we do all this? Well you try spending from 8:15-3:40 in one room with no windows or doors and see how much you are bouncing off the walls at the end.

So, we were wanting to make a change, a BIG change. That left us with these wonderful little jewels:

We spent quite a bit of our free time writing this grant to replace our regular, hard chairs with fitness balls. We got input from our occupational therapist, principal, and a person on the grant selection committee. All of this for devestation, we didn't receive it. But I wasn't going to stop there. I began researching cheaper options and was prepared to go begging. So I gathered all my info and went to my principal to see which companies he thought I should begin begging at first. And what he told me was, "the price I found was right, and if I let him comb through our school budget for a few weeks, he might find a few extra dollars to purchase these for us." PAUSE - my principal is wonderfully amazing not just because of this but because of things he does for our students and staff each and every day. YEAH!! So, we spent last night airing up our fit balls for our kids and getting rid of most of our old chairs. The when I told them what they were getting, they were over the moon excited. I love that they are excited to have some fun in our classrooms and I hope that they help us get the active learning that we need!!