Yesterday....

This picture hangs next to our sink and I see it every day...and smile. Not only does it seem just like yesterday that my little man (he's almost as big as me!) was E's age, but this picture reminds me of the spirit within him, what a serious soul really is hiding inside the mass of ADHD and budding testosterone that fight to control him. In this picture I also see that my plans for him are simply that, MY plans, not his and not God's plans for his life. He is his own person, making his own way in this world, and though I sometimes struggle to remember that, I never forget how blessed I am to be his mom...

5 second memory

I saw a picture if a '5 second memory book' instead of a baby book today and started to think about all the things I haven't written down about Elliette that I did write down for Jackson. So, a few things that have been in my head lately that I don't want to forget...I recently realized that E has traded saying "lo-gurt" and "lellow", for their proper "yogurt" and "yellow". She is also starting to give up saying "I need-want ______" whenever she wants something. She makes up songs ALL the time, including songs about the new babies she is going to take care of at school, but our favorite song is "Dora panties, for my butt cheeks"!!!! Love both of my kids and hope I don't forget all of their funny stuff!!

Valentine's Day

A late post of a few V-day treats...heart shaped pancakes for breakfast and a special treat for J's teacher!

King Cakes

Happy Mardi Gras! We don't really celebrate Mardi Gras, we avoid the big parties and crowds, but I will usually take any reason to make fun desserts. I found a recipe for individual King Cakes and E and I made them while J played with some friends. They turned out a little crispy, ( I must say mine were better than E's!), but were still yummy.

Starting off....

Adding cinnamon and sugar

Guess which ones are mine and which are E's?

Playing with the extra sugar

Finished product!

Snow cream

Couldn't let what might be the only snow we get this year pass without making Jackson's favorite winter dessert...snow cream!

Snow!

Finally got our first real snow of the winter (although there still may not be enough for a snow day). Got a few pictures of the kids playing while dinner was cooking.

Literacy Ball

Every year our school throws a 'literacy ball' as a chance to get parents into the school and to see what opportunities there are to work literacy into their everyday lives. Teachers run booths with different themes and activities, but must involve some component of reading or writing. There are usually lots of opportunities to perform as well, like puppet stars and poetry cafes. Here are a few pictures of my kids from the night. Jackson asked my mom to come with us, but then he spent the night running around with his friends (typical preteen!). They both went to the 'build a snowman' booth that 2 of my colleagues were running, however E couldn't read the recipe and J decided to ignore it!

Think Math

Friday we had a half day at school, ad I had a chance to do some math stuff that there wouldn't normally be time for. Yes, I may have gotten the idea for this from Pinterest, but it actually went really well with the "think like a mathematician" idea we have been using at school to get our kids to think more critically.
I broke the kids into groups of 3, and they each had to work on the same question. The first question yet could use any operation they wanted, but for the last two questions I narrowed the parameters and they had to use multiplication or division (and even some fractions) to write their questions. It was very interesting looking around the classroom and seeing them write and rewrite their questions because they found it much more difficult to write word problems with multiplication /division as the operation. Ultimately they were successful and we are going to do this again, but I already know that I am going to make at least one problem with a fraction as an answer and see what they come up with.

Word to the wise...

E has decided that it's funny to say that people stink. I think it started as a joke at daycare, she and YA would say that the other person smelled like pillows, or blankets or some other inanimate object...well she has recently upgraded to just saying the people stink now AND she has decided that it is her job to mother the other kids at daycare who are currently potty training...so none the less she like to talk a lot about poo. Tonight she decided to tell me that poo is stinky and found her copy of "everybody poops" for me to read to her. After finishing the story, she very kindly looked at me and stated, "sometimes all people are stinky". Very, very true E, very true...