The new house...almost finished

I realize why I only had three blog entries in August of last year! It's because things are so crazy during the start of school and getting back into a routine has really taken a toll on my blogging life.
I thought there for a while that Kinsey was never going to understand this whole kindergarten thing. Luckily, she is doing very well now. As teachers, we forget just how much influence we have on our students when we are trying to teach them everything under the sun at school. But watching Kinsey pretend to be some of the teachers when she is at home makes me realize that everything we say and do leaves an impression on them in some way. Needless to say, she has come a long way from knocking down kids in line on the first day.
In other news, we are getting closer to closing on our new house. I can't wait until it is finished and we are done! They just hung the dry wall and have the outside finished. They are going to start all of the interior next. As long as everything stays on track, we should close on Sept. 18th. So if you would like to help move...we are looking for helpers! Here are some pics of the progression, enjoy :)

the plot of land with the pond in the back (I know you can't see the pond, but it's there)


second week of building


looking from the back to the front door (I would have taken more pics of the inside, but it all just looks like a bunch of wood and you really can't see the layout)


third week of building, siding and stone finished


the beautiful stone we picked out


More pics to come as they build it :)

First day of kindergarten

#1 I know I've been a bad blogger. No excuses...but I have been so busy with new house stuff (more to come on that later) and starting school.
#2 Let's talk about the first day of school. Of course, I mean Kinsey's first day of school. I have no doubt that she will adjust and be just fine. However, her first day will be one to remember. Here's a little list of how it went:
*All grade levels are walked to their classrooms by the teacher. While one of the kindergarten teachers was walking the kindergarten students up, Kinsey decided that she didn't want to walk in the line and could get to the classroom faster if she got out of line and walked around the teacher. Good thing Kellie was walking behind her to get her back in line!
*While standing in line in the classroom, Kinsey stuck her butt out and knocked down the five kids standing behind her. Her defense was that she only did it that one time.
*She wouldn't stop touching the kids in front of her in line and wanted to play with their hair.
*She is super concerned that Mr. Richey won't do cheerleading in PE class.
*She cried the whole way home because she couldn't ride the bus...even when I tried to explain that Indianapolis doesn't send buses to Fishers, she didn't care.
*She fell asleep on the way home.

Tomorrow we'll get up and do it all over again!

Who knew one pampered chef party had all this fun packed in

Thank you to Emma Hetrick for a wonderful Pampered Chef party! First things first...Greg and Emma's house is beautiful and I want it for myself (which takes me to a completely unrelated topic far from Pampered Chef in our battle to find a new house) With that off my chest I can talk about new kitchen items, delicious food, practical jokes, and baby talk.
I am super excited about the things I ordered from Pampered Chef. I got a pineapple wedge so I can slice and core fresh pineapple(my favorite)hassle free, a mix n' chop (which I'm told I can't live without), and a few new orange peelers because mine has mysteriously come up missing at school. I decided to pass on the corn kernel cutter for now even though I might need it soon (that's a whole separate post in itself). Among all this excitement of new supplies, I also decided to host a Pampered Chef party in August. So I have order forms if anyone would like anything from Pampered Chef if you're not able to attend the party.
Our wonderful host made a delicious meal of .... some kind of chicken and pasta. As I was eating my pasta and little tartlets, minding my own business thinking how cool the mix n' chop was, I look down and notice that someone has slipped a little cookbook into my purse. A cookbook that our host specifically told Jill was for prizes later on in the demonstration. Of course, I knew right away that Jill was trying to punk me and make me look like the disobedient one. I calmly put the cookbook back where it belonged. A few moments later our host began demonstrating how the pineapple wedge worked. When she was finished she asked the perfect question, "Does anybody want to gnaw on the pineapple core? At the last party someone wanted to chew on the core." Naturally, I pointed to Jill and told our host that she wanted to gnaw on it. Because who doesn't chew on fruit cores? She believed me and I laughed at my revenge from the cookbook scandal that Jill tried to pull.
In hindsight, I might be sorry that I decided to pass on the kernel cutter mentioned above. I know it's getting close to some season where the Gallmeyer's shuck, can, scoop, freeze corn or something like. All I know is that this kernel cutter at the Pampered Chef party was all the rage. The last time I went with the Gallmeyer's I ended up on a Cider press with Grandpa Bob chugging cider straight from the gallon jug with a piece of straw hanging out of my mouth (just a slight exaggeration...it was a half gallon jug). I felt like I was really missing out by leading such a city life, so I went straight to Amazon.com to search for deals on a cider press I could set up in my backyard and start having Kinsey and Kaitlyn pick apples for it. Needless to say, I didn't find one that was easily packaged and shipped so the bottom fell out on that deal. I resumed my city life and now that I know it's almost corn season, it took me back to my cider pressing day. That's why I really should have bought the kernel cutter because I couldn't get the cider press. I just hope they freeze me one bag..even a baby bag of sweet corn since I won't be there with them because I didn't buy the appropriate tools. However, if they happen to wait until after August 23rd, I can buy a kernel cutter at my Pampered Chef party and join them in corn madness.
The rest of the party was a hit too. Even though little Blake Libey wasn't there I was glad Kamie was there so we could talk about babies. Hearing her talk about Blake getting kicked out of the nursery where she works out took me back to when Kaitlyn got kicked out of the daycare when she was just six months old for crying. I can totally sympathize. Sometimes babies just don't have the same agenda as adults and sometimes there are adults that just don't sympathize with a fussy baby. Both of my girls were fussy...still are for that matter. The childcare nightmares and searching for one that you trust is all part of it. You just want to ask them "Are you sure you can handle my children?" As Kamie put it, "Do you want to do a two week trial run just to make sure?" When you are looking for childcare, I think it's almost that you feel you need to get the adult adjusted to your child rather than your child adjusted to the provider. It is such a delicate balance and it's never easy to go back to work after having a baby. Just remember, no one will care for your children the way you care for your children. So if you just had a baby and are going back to work, I wish you all the best.
Great Pampered Chef party Emma! I can't wait for the next one. I'm off to go camping for a few days. Hopefully I won't get eaten by any bears or other exotic animals in the wild. If you don't hear from me by Thursday, call the authorities. I don't know where in the heck we are going...I just know it's far out of my comfort zone away from the city...so just tell them I'm in Northern Indiana somewhere. I'll send a smoke signal or some other distress signal. Have a great week!

Hard work pays off

Frankly, I think it's a little creepy that the advertisements on my blog are all about toenail fungus so I'm hoping that this post will change that.

I want to share some really great news that I just received yesterday via email. This is the first year that a few teachers at my building have submitted student work to be considered for publication in the 2009 anthology that is put together by The Indiana Partnership for Young Writers. I am so proud to tell you that we had five students selected to have their work published in the anthology. Hayley Terrell (3rd grade teacher)had one student selected, Daria Parham (4th grade teacher)had one student selected, and I had three students selected from my sixth grade class. There were a total of 185 students from Bloomington, Brownsburg, Carmel, Fishers, Gary, Indianapolis, Nashville and South Bend that will have their work published. I am so excited that five of these authors are from our school :) Congratulations to all of the teachers and authors who were selected!

It's all about the feet

Kaitlyn has been on me to paint her toenails. I am not the best at that job...especially given how incredibly small her toes are. We happened to be in Fort Wayne this past weekend and I met up with Sarah for our routine pedicures. I began to feel really bad thinking about how much Kinsey and Kaitlyn wanted their toenails painted. After Sarah and I finished, I got the girls and took them for their first pedi!! I must admit, they are awful young to begin this habit but I was shocked at how cheap it was for them (just a few dollars) and how much they loved it!
Kinsey-who is normally jumping all over the place, talking a mile a minute-sat as quiet and still as she could be. She watched so intently as they scrubbed her feet and painted her toes. She never said a word! Kaitlyn on the other hand...
Kaitlyn-who is normally shy as can be, and won't speak to a soul unless she knows you very well-talked to the lady the ENTIRE time. The lady would get one painting one toenail and Kaitlyn would say, "My mom thinks my toes are beautiful. Don't you think they are beautiful, Mommy? What are you doing now? What's your name? Why did you paint my toes? How do you do that? They sure are beautiful! Wow, I am beautiful." After all that, the lady that was painting Kinsey's toes began to paint a flower on hers. Kaitlyn saw that and immediately said, "I want a beautiful flower too because my toes are beautiful." The lady laughed the whole time! Somehow I have a feeling the girls are going to want to go with me every time I have a pedicure.


Naturally, while we were out shopping yesterday, we bought the girls new shoes...that covered up those beautiful toes!

My new obsession

It's no secret that I love pictures. I used to scrapbook but it is so expensive! I saw the idea of scrapblogging on someone else's blog...totally not my own idea..but I loved it. It is such a cute way to document pictures and make them crafty without spending a ton of money! Check out www.scrapblog.com if you want to make one of your own!

Kids bowl free

We love free things to do! I support anything that is fun and doesn't cost a lot of money. I recently heard on the radio that you could go to www.kidsbowlfree.com and register your children to play two free games everyday. I didn't believe it but I did it anyway. It is no joke. You can register up to eight kids I think. But I only have two kids so it was not a problem. If you have kids...add this to your list of things to do. There are several bowling alleys that are approved! Check it out :)