Brandon's Visit

Brandon surprised us with a visit a couple weekends ago, and we had a great weekend. We were really lazy, but we still had fun hanging out around the house. The girls love Uncle Brandon, and he seems to be getting way more comfortable with them as they get older. He takes the best pictures of the girls; I wish I had his eye for photography! Here are some of the pictures that he took over the weekend.

Adilyn was showing Brandon all her "looks'. This is her "sad" face and her "sweet" face. I can't believe how grown up she is getting!

It was Brandon's birthday, so we made him cupcakes. Adilyn absolutely loves to decorate cookies and cupcakes with sprinkles and icing. Kacy liked them, too!

It was a gorgeous weekend, so we hung out outside a lot. Another one of Adilyn's favorite things to do is paint, but it's such a mess. Luckily, when it's nice weather we can go out there and make a mess outside. Of course, she asked if she could paint her hand, as she was painting it.

Kacy loves to pretend she's a big kid, and one of her new skills is trying to drink from a regular cup. Again, this only gets to happen outside!

Some days I can't believe how big my little girls are getting. Every now and then I will just get a glimpse of them, and it hits my how the time is just flying by! They are going to be in school, and out of school before we even know it! I try to enjoy each moment while they are young, and I hope that I can remember these sweet, simple, little memories.

More Thoughts on My New Job

The first six weeks of the year is over, and after many ups and downs, I have some new thoughts. I really believe that I this job is not "my calling". I had really hoped that I would get in the job and absolutely love it. Unfortunately, that did not happened. I think that if it was really an all P.E. job working with someone that was great to work with, I would like it. The health part is interesting, but it's difficult. I do not like try to keep them quiet and still while I am teaching. It's hard for the kids to sit still because they have been sitting and learning all day long. When they finally get to leave the classroom, it's hard for them to settle down and learn more! I try to make it as fun as possible, but the reality is that I still have to teach them information. We have been playing games for the last 15 minutes, so that makes it a little better. I have learned that all kindergarteners really want to do is color. I could probably let them color for the full 50 minutes, and they would be fine! I was feeling a lot of hostility from the 5th graders for the first week or so. I finally got them to talk to me about why they were so angry about health. They told me that the old teacher was really mean and treated them like they were in a bootcamp or something. She would not let them talk at all, and she yelled all the time. I think that they are having more fun, but I can't get them to shut up now!

Some of my interesting experiences:
*We were talking about emergencies, and I never could have imagined how many kids lie like crazy! I had about 5 people that told me that their house had caught on fire. They didn't stop there, they went on and on about how they saved their little brother and they jumped out of the window or how their dog was upstairs, but they went up and found him just before the house blew up. Wow! One boy told me that he got bit by a shark when he was a baby swimming in the ocean by himself. I asked him where he got bit, he said, "I think it was my whole leg." Very interesting imaginations!
*Some kids came outside for recess, but there was no teacher with them. I asked one of the kids, who brought them out. He said, "I don't know, I was just following the line." It's so funny that everything they do is in lines, and they all just blindly follow the person in front of them!
*I showed a video to the kindergarteners about when to call 9-1-1. The main character handed out "9-1-1 Hero" stickers to the kids in the video. I had of the same stickers, and when I gave them to the kids, you would have thought they won the lottery! It so funny that they were so amazed that I had the very same stickers from the tv!
*To 90% of the kids my name is not Mrs. Henderson. It's Mrs. Health Teacher.

Now, here is my new epiphany...I went to the Beck volleyball game last week. I was a little anxious about how I would feel. My girls and I were sitting there in the stands. I was watching the game with little emotion. The girls were climbing all over me and being really cute. Some of the Beck girls said hi, some parents talked to me, but there was no emotion connection at all. I didn't feel sad, I didn't miss it, and I sure didn't feel like I mad the wrong decision. That night I was thinking about everything, and I realized that this may not be my dream job, but it has taught me some things. The first thing that it taught me is that I do not "have" to coach. I really don't miss that. The other thing that I have learned is that I would really like to do elementary PE. The only problem with that is that those jobs are pretty hard to find, so if I leave my current job, I may not find another one! I guess I'll stick with this one for awhile, and we will see how it goes. :)

Oh, How Different They Are!

My little ones are so different in so many ways, but the biggest one lately is their eating habits. Adilyn has never been the best eater, but I never really let it bother me. I always figured that the more I bugged her about it, the more she would fight me, so I let her eat what she wants to eat at dinner. If she doesn't feel like eating what I made for dinner, then she just doesn't eat that night. I feel a little bit bad about it, but I think that it is better in the long run. I am not going to be cooking different meals just because the kids don't want to eat it! I believe that they will eat if they are that hungry! :)

When Kacy started eating solid food, she ate everything! I don't think that I ever had to throw any food away that I made for her. I would scrape the bowl for every little bit that was left. Once she started eating "real" food, she went through a period that she got a little pickier. For about two months or so, she wouldn't eat any fruit! I refused to believe that I might have a person in my family that didn't like fruit! I love fruit, and we eat it all the time. Because I refused to believe that she wasn't going to eat fruit, I put it on her plate every night. Every night the watermelon, peaches, grapes, strawberries, etc would just sit there, untouched. A couple weeks ago one night at dinner, I noticed her fruit was gone! Yay! My little eater was back! Now, she cleans her plate, and even tries to lick it some time. She loves to hand me her "happy plate" when she is "all done!" (They call it a happy plate at school when they eat all their food.)

Fun Times

The sound on someone throwing up is never a sound one likes to hear, but it's especially bad when you hear it coming through a monitor. I went upstairs last night to find Adilyn asleep in a bed full of throw up. Yuck! Then, you always have to make the decision - do you clean up or take care of the kid. I tried to do both. I had to clean her up first so I could actually hold her without getting it all over me. Poor girl! She threw up almost every hour until 3am. Of course, she was sleeping with me, and as much as I tried to push her to the other side of the bed, she would get right up next to me! Every time I heard her make a noise, I would make a mad dash for the trash can. It was pretty funny, sad but funny, to hear her comments. Whenever she thought she was done, she would said, "I'm done, Mommy." Then, of course more would come out! She apologized when she threw up on me, sweet girl. After one episode, she asked, "Mommy, where am I going to throw up at school tomorrow?" I told her that she wasn't going to school. She said, "Okay, will you tell my teacher?"
So sad! She is much better today, and we have spent the day hanging out and watching movies. Thank goodness those nasty stomach bugs usually go away pretty quickly!

Other funny things:
The other day she said, "Mommy, you are a teacher, right?" I told her yes. She said, "Well, you have to teach me something." I asked her what. She replied, "You need to teach me how to jump on one foot. Chloe and Abby can do it, but every time I try, I fall down!"

She was talking to Cory on the phone the other day, and she was just talking away about everything she did that day. She wouldn't let him get a word in!

She wanted to wear a jean skirt the other day, but it was pretty chilly. I put some tights on her, and she started screaming, "Get them off! Get them off! They are too tight, I can't breathe!" Sorry Sweetie, they are called tights for a reason. :)