Jaedyn Enjoys Drum Cafe!

To end the first week of school, a group called Drum Cafe came to Evers. It was really cool because every kid got to play a drum. Here is Jaedyn enjoying herself with her class!

A New School Year Has Started!

I started my 6th year of teaching this week. I have a great class of 18 students. I took a bunch of pics of my classroom and wanted to share. Here are some before and afters. The day I took these it was set up for our Meet the Teacher night (sports theme).




The week before school started!


Our rug area.


View from the door. Table in the corner will have 2 student computers next week! I'm so excited!

Classroom library.

My area.

Grace Place Kick-Off!

Grace Place kicked off Sunday and we started off teaching Mallory's 2 year old class. Here are a few of our precious little ones. We had 5 more show up after I took this picture.


Our project was to glue little tiny beans to a terra-cotta pot. Not something a 2 year old can do very easily! Mr. Grant had a great time! :-)

Some really ominous rain clouds from the day before!

Our "Staycation"

The weekend before school started we had a mini-staycation. We spent some time downtown. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe and took a horse carriage ride around downtown. The girls loved it (despite Mallory's reaction in the family picture!)

Jaedyn's First Day of School, Garrett's Baptism, and More...!

Today was Jaedyn's first day of school. She will be going to Evers with me in the ECC (early childhood collaboration) program. It's a program for preschoolers of NISD staff. I know I'm going to love having her with me and she's super excited. She woke up at FIVE O'CLOCK this morning bouncing off the walls!

Mally getting in on the photo action as well. She's continuing at Country Home, but her "first day" in her new class is next Monday!

Jaedyn in front of Evers.

Mrs. Perez (her wonderful teacher) showing her where to put her stuff.

Another teacher, Mrs. Segovia playing with J in the kitchen area. She had a good day (although hard to leave mommy at first) and says she wants to go back tomorrow!!Here are some pictures of my nephew Garrett's baptism this Sunday.

The girls at the dentist!

My friend and co-teacher, Valli, and my awesome principal, Jessica, at our staff picnic.

Why I Never Shop With My Kids!

So today was errand day. I usually try to avoid doing this with both kids but today I had stuff that just had to get done. I had to go to the mall (Dillard's) to exchange some shoes. I gave the usual speech about "good behavior inside" and we were on our way. J was very excited about riding the "moving stairs" so that was motivation. We rode the moving stairs up to the shoe department. I had to return some shoes that J said she's NEVER going to wear and exchange some that were too small. I bought them last week when I went to spend a gift card I had. By the time I used up the GC, the remaining balance was $58 which I put on my debit card. OK, so I made an even exchange with one pair (no problem). On the return, which was $31, I wanted it put back on my debit card. The sales person said there was absolutely no way she could put the money back on my debit card, it had to go on the gift card. I didn't like this and asked to see a manager. By now both girls are roaming freely around the shoes and Mallory is trying on various pairs of Crocs. A manager comes and tells me pretty much the same thing to which I reply with some choice (but polite) words. He goes to get another manager and Jaedyn starts to flip out. She starts ranting about how she can't possibly wait any longer and it's taking way too long and she's hungry and tired and her feet hurt and she hates this place, etc., etc., etc. It was like an episode of Super Nanny. But where is she when you need her? I calmly turn to the sales person and ask her to call the Dillard's Police. I've used this before at other stores and it works like a charm. The sales lady looks at me a little weird but I think she got it. Jaedyn immediately settles down (for about 2 minutes). Then she's at it again. All of the sudden, a security guard in full uniform with a big silver badge appears out of nowhere and he just stands there. Jaedyn is now terrified and clinging to my leg. I'm trying so hard not to laugh because I can't believe this guy's here. I ask him if he's the Dillard's Police and he looks at J and says he is. He stands there for about a minute and then just turns and leaves. I couldn't have planned it better! Finally the other manager comes back and puts $31 back on my debit card because I'm sure she's just ready for us to leave! As we make our way back to the moving stairs I'm thinking that I'm almost free and I'll never bring my kids to the mall again. We get to the top of the escalator and J gets scared. I ask her if she wants to go to the elevator (which M hates) but she says no, she just wants me to go first so she knows it's safe. So, M (in the stroller) and I step on and start going down. I look back and J is standing at the top screaming that she can't do it. I am stuck. I'm on my way down with the stroller with no way to climb back up. This nice lady offers to take J down but she won't do it. So the lady (and a small crowd that had now gathered) waited with J while I went all the way around and back up again. By now I am seriously doing the math in my head for how many seconds it is until school starts again. We start looking for an elevator and who shows up again but the Dillard's Police. He shows us the elevator and we're finally almost to the door when I turn around and see a mannequin on the verge of taking a spill. J has been high fiving, and I might add touching the private parts of all the "white men with daddy's clothes on" (they are painted bright white!) I quickly lead her out the door and she trips on the door mat. When J falls it's a big deal. She gets MAD. So I turn to check on her, let go of the stroller, not realizing we're on an incline, and there goes Mallory rolling out to the street. Luckily I catch her before the Dillard's Police shows back up again. 30 seconds later we're in the car headed for home to wait by the phone for the call announcing my award for Mother of the Year!

The Things They Say...

I just wanted to blog tonight about the funny things my girls say and do. By the time the day ends and I sit down to relax, I never can quite remember everything, but here's a few samplings from today:

Jaedyn after watching a Wendy's commercial, "Mommy, I'm going to have a restaurant and call it Jaedyn's."
Me: Sounds like a great idea. What will you serve?
J: Hamburgers and ice cream. And you and daddy can visit anytime you want.
Me: Great, can I eat for free?
J: Yes. Hamburgers are a dollar.

Jaedyn (again) watching TV downstairs. We had been watching a re-run of the men's gymnastics trials. She yells upstairs to me: "Mommy those guys you like are on TV swinging on the onion rings."

At the pool this afternoon: I swim over to Mallory and ask her for a kiss. She refuses. I look at Jaedyn and I'm about to ask her for a kiss. She says, "Mom, sometimes NO ONE wants to kiss you." Ouch!

Mallory: Pretending to talk on the phone.
Me: Who's on the phone?
M: Papaw
Me: Oh, what's up with Papaw?
M: He's getting some tomatoes.
(no one else will get this except for my parents!)

Me: Mallory, do you want to take some pictures for mommy?
M: Yes
I'm completely shocked (they never want to do this for me) and I run up to find her an outfit. I put her in some jeans, a shirt, and then I wrapped a cute cardigan around her shoulders.
M: (gives me a very strange look) Oh my gosh, what is that?
I have never heard Mallory say anything like that so I thought it was pretty funny.

OK, even if no one else reads these or thinks they're funny, at least I have them written down for myself. And because I don't like posting without a pic, here are a few recent ones of the comedians:

Pop Go the Wiggles and Mallory Graduates Beds!

Thursday we surprised the girls with Wiggles tickets. Jaedyn was super excited, while Mallory sat in a catatonic state for most of the concert. It could have been slight chocolate poisoning, as she ate almost an entire bag of M&M's.


The girls came prepared with roses for Dorothy the Dinosaur and dog bones for Wags the Dog! Here's J on the edge of her seat (where she was most of the time when she wasn't dancing!) She really got into it this year.

And here's Mallory.....

Here's J waving good-bye (or hello?) to Sam, Jeff, Anthony, and Murray.

And here's Mallory after the sugar high kicked in!!

This week Mallory moved to her big girl bed. The crib is still in her room and she's been taking naps in her crib, but at night she's in her toddler bed. Here's proof: