32 weeks.

I look pregnant, right?
I thought it was pretty obvious.

Apparently, not to 6 year olds...

I've always made my class give me a hug before they leave on Fridays.
Everybody.

So we were talking about it the other day and I was explaining how they should hug me gently, so they don't hurt the baby.

About half of them were shocked!

"You're having a baby?! She has a baby in her tummy?!"

(Apparently, they just thought I was fat.)

And then one hollers out, "So you're getting married?!"

Gotta love first graders.

loft.

Exciting stuff happening in the garage loft...



Sheetrock is finished.


Daddy had lots of help painting.


We managed to distract them from wanting to paint the walls by pulling random things out of the recycling.

Painting is done.

Carpet hauled up there today.

It's all coming together.

Slowly, but surely.

concert.

Corey and I got to attend an amazing concert last weekend...
Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus!
(I'm not sure who is who, though.)

It was very loud and very energetic.

But they had so much fun.

she's cute.

I have outdoor duty after school this week. Sophie usually joins me for the 15 minutes I have to stand out there.
Yesterday, I was talking one of my students and two 5th grade girls came over near us. (One was kind of dragging the other one.) As they get closer, one of them says something to the other.

She either said (about Sophie)... "See, I told you she was cute."

OR...

"See, I told you she was huge." (probably not about Sophie)


I'm choosing to believe that she thinks my daughter is cute. :)

kites.

ladybugs.

Finally starting to get some things put together for this little lady...

honeymoon.

My "honeymoon period" with my class is over.
I had to get pretty grouchy today.
Still nothing like last year... but it was a frustrating day.

At one point I actually told a little guy no when he asked if he could hug me.
Grouchy.
(Don't worry, I did hug him later.)

Miss Yadira made me laugh today, though.
As we're lining up to go somewhere, she looks at me and says in amazement,
"Mrs. Jones... everything you're wearing today matches!"
Now generally... that's the look I go for most days.
Maybe I'm not succeeding as well as I thought???

clothes.

The past couple weeks, we've been really consistent about having the kids pick out their clothes the night before. It just makes the mornings go smoother (and mommy needs all the help I can get in the mornings!)

Sophie usually hangs hers over the end of her bed, lays them on her dresser, or just throws them on the floor.

Lawson does this.
Every night.

first grade.

Sophie's first two days of first grade were wonderful!
She is thrilled with her teacher.
Two of her best friends are in her class.
She has made new friends already.
She told me that the first day of school was "the best day ever!"



We get to see each other every day at recess!
(Her teacher has a son in my class so we tried really hard to coordinate our recess times so we could each see our kids!)
I am anticipating so much change in Sophie this year.
She was so excited on Friday to tell me about a story she had written in writing centers...

My mom is have a baby.
She is have a baby grll.
We dot no wt hrr nam is.
I kat wat til the baby coms.

I can't wait for her to start reading to us.
I know that she can read. She knows lots of basic sight words and she can stretch through and figure out lots of other words. But if you ask her, she will tell you that she can't read. She just doesn't see herself as a reader yet. But I know how great her teacher is... and I know that her perception of herself is going to change soon.
I can't wait to see it.



My first two days in first grade have been wonderful, too!
My faith has been reaffirmed that this is what I am meant to do. This is my calling.
So different from last year.
I have a couple challenges this year, one in particular, but considering I had around 8 last year, this one seems easy.
The "first day of school project" that took me 9 days to complete last year... we did on Day 1 this year. It's amazing to me how different each class can be. Our class size went up a little this year to 22. (I'm really jealous of the classes across town that have 16 and 17 kids.) But our upper grade classes are sitting with 25 or more, so I shouldn't be complaining.

My feet and ankles are swelling to lovely tree trunk size by the end of the day, but overall I have had more energy at school than I did the last few days at home. (Although I have realized I need to leave a little sooner to get places on time. I'm moving a little slower this year!) I guess I do better when I'm busy. The exhaustion has been hitting me when I get home and sit for a few minutes. (Which is why it took me 3 days to post about our first day of school!) Luckily when I do get home, I have a cute little red-headed man who wants to spend some time snuggled up with his mommy.

And for the first time in I don't know how many years... I am not going up to school this first weekend. I feel ready for Monday, my classroom was organized still, I feel prepared. (Of course it does help that we have Art at 9:20 on Monday morning and I will have a 45 minute plan time then!) I'm spending the weekend at home, trying to catch up on laundry and cleaning and budget... all things that were neglected while I was getting ready at school.

Obviously still working on "Finding the Balance."

ready or not.

I think I'm ready.

I hope I'm ready.

I guess I'll find out tomorrow!

30 weeks.

How has it already been 30 weeks?
How can it be that there are only 10 more weeks until we get to meet this little baby?
70 days?

So ready to meet her in many ways, but so not ready in many other ways.
Rooms to rearrange.
Crib to assemble.
Figuring out how to add some girly details to a room full of tractors.
Clothes to sort.
Supplies to get.

It's been almost 4 1/2 years since we had a baby in our house.
I'm not sure how easy that adjustment will be this time.
For any of us.
But I'm so ready to meet this little girl.
So ready to hold her and snuggle her.
So ready to see her be smothered by her adoring brother and sister.

Praying that the next 10 weeks go fast.
(and I'm pretty sure they will!)

not ready.

I start back to school tomorrow.
I'm so not ready.
We have meetings all day Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday is a work day.
"Meet the Teacher" night is at 6:30 Wednesday. (I think.)
Kids come on Thursday.

My classroom is far from ready...


Piles everywhere...

I'm pretty sure my lack of "readiness" has something to do with my lack of energy and this giant belly I am trying to work around.

Class lists were posted Friday.

Sophie is thrilled with her teacher! (who is not me!)

I'm going to head to school for awhile today to start writing names on some of the 30 things that need labeled.

Some people wonder how I already know the kid's names on the first day of school?

I've always been good with names and writing 22 names, 30 times... they tend to stick in your head.

Hopefully that will make me feel a little more ready at school.

But I'm really not ready for the mornings.

And I'm not ready to dress up every morning.

I haven't seen 6 am all summer (except for getting up to go to the bathroom. Or to roll over.)

My kids haven't seen 6:40 am all summer.

I'm pretty sure we've never left the house before 8:00 (and those days were rare!)

So getting all 3 of us up, dressed and out the door by 7:15 each morning is going to be a bit of a challenge for awhile.

But each day I spend at school means I am one day closer to meeting this baby girl.

And I am very ready for that.

space mud.

Lawson and I made this together for our last Mommy/Lawson day.
We used to play with this all the time at the daycare I worked at during college.
I made it my first year teaching... not sure I've made it since then.
But this was perfect timing since Wal-Mart has their glue on sale right now!


It's pretty much a solid, but you can pull and stretch it like taffy and it spreads like a goo as it gets warm and sits for awhile.
If we just left this alone, it would end up looking like a puddle of spilled paint.

It's perfect for cutting with scissors...


and makes fun bouncy balls (which Lawson kept asking me to make and then he would squish them right away!)

Cookie cutters work best if you fill the cookie cutter, leave it for a bit to "fill in" to the edges...

then flip it over.

You can also do cool stuff like this...

which starts to "melt" onto your hand...


and ends up looking like this! (and then just peels right off... it's very "rubbery.")

Space Mud

In one bowl, mix:

2 c glue (I used almost 4 of the little bottles of Elmer's)

1 1/2 c room temperature water

Stir together and add food coloring.

In another bowl, mix:

1 c HOT water

2 1/2 T Borax (a laundry detergent booster, bought mine at Wal-mart. $3.97 for a good sized box)

Stir.

Pour the glue mix into the Borax mix. Stir and knead with your hands until the water is absorbed. (Mine never did absorb all the water. I took it out of the bowl after awhile and let it sit on the counter, flipping it over occasionally. It helped it "set up" a little better.)

Less than $5.

10 minutes to make.

Hours of fun!

organizer.

Sophie and I spent an hour and a half the other night, cleaning and organizing her room.
Since then, she's been very into organizing things.
The other day she asked me if she could organize our refrigerator...

She's definitely my daughter.

picnic.

... in the driveway.



It takes so little to make them happy. :)

mommy days.

Mommy/Lawson Day (Monday)

* Breakfast at our favorite donut shop
* Deliver a donut to Daddy on his break time
* Quick stop at ETC (Educational Technology Center) to get some school things for mommy. (Lawson sorted, made patterns, and counted teeny tiny erasers while I got my things)
* Parked on a side street to watch construction workers (Lawson crawled up to sit on my lap in the front seat. Somehow, he spotted Daddy driving past us, hollered "Daddy!" and Corey heard him through the open window. He backed up and we got to see Daddy again!)
* Home to play games... 4 games of UNO, 3 games of Candyland, and 2 games of Let's Go Fishin'
* lunch at home with Daddy
* trip to Wal-Mart to buy glue and Borax
* make and play with Space Mud (pictures to come)
* naptime
* begging to play at the park after we pick up Sophie, but it was 100*, so Mommy kept saying no.



Mommy/Sophie Day (Tuesday)

* Breakfast at our favorite donut shop
* to the courthouse to pay tags/taxes on van (yikes!)
* swimming playdate with Gracie and Jada (we kept assuring Jada she could touch in our pool... she couldn't. Oops.)
* more swimming alone... "Watch this, Mommy! Watch me now, Mommy!"
* lunch at home with Daddy
* trip to Wal-Mart to buy school supplies (1st grade!)
* Barbies
* naptime (so we don't take a cranky girl to Grandma's tonight!)
* more swimming after we picked up Lawson
* met Grandma at a Pizza Hut halfway between our two towns... supper together and Sophie went home with Grandma!



Mommy/Lawson Day again! (Wednesday, because Sophie is having a Mommy/Grandma Day!)

* sleeping late... 9:00!
* snuggle on couch watching "Max and Ruby"
* read 11 books (the only reason we stopped was so Mommy could get dressed for lunch with Daddy. He could read for hours!)
* lunch at Wendy's with Daddy
* quick walk on the creek path, down to the "tunnel"
* play at "Daddy's park" (and see Daddy again!)
* more playing at Daddy's park... it was 79*, no sun and a perfect breeze... I couldn't make him leave! Perfect park weather... and we were the only people there!
* stop at Mommy's school to pick up something (and chat with friends... I figure the more "chatting" I do now, the more I will get done Thursday and Friday morning when I'm actually there to work. I still have SO MUCH to do!)
* home at 2:30, so he made himself a cozy bed on the couch and is watching "Toy Story" and resting... "But can I keep my eyes open the whole time, Mommy?"
* in one hour we will leave to drive 30 minutes and meet Grandma again... he will join Sophie until Friday!



Mommy/Daddy Day (Wednesday night and all day Thursday!)

prayer pail.

I can't take credit for this idea... I read about it here.
But we are loving it!

I made up most of the sticks, but the kids had a few more suggestions to add...

* Marley (dog)

* Chloe and Zoe (cats)

* Konley and Baby Cora (We talked again about how we don't need to pray for them anymore, because they are already in heaven. So then they wanted to add...)

* Russ and Jenny

* Joel and Jessica

So sweet.

The kids have been really into it so far and ask to do it before supper each night!

Some of my favorite prayers so far...

Please be with Chloe and Zoe and help them not throw up so much.

Please be with Sophie and help her not be sassy.

Thank you for all our neighbors and please help Craig and Miss Amy get home safe from their trip.

Thank you for all my cousins... John, Mary, Sarah, Cara and Maggie and next time they come visit us, please help the airplane driver to be safe.

parade.

They were even passing out hotdogs with this float!

We came home with lots of candy!

Combine demo derby... Monday night.

Corey wants to go. I think I'll pass.