WINTER ARTWORK AND TREE HUNT

Lily's latest from Monart. It's a winter scene of 2 people pullling a sled with a house in the background. It's done in marker and chalk pastel. She was especially proud of the shadows.
Her penguin that is up at the theater where Happy Feet is showing. We need to go check it out.
Jeff with a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. We watched it just a couple of nights ago--I love that show!!
Getting ready to go look for a tree. Lily is measuring herself with the tree measuring stick.
Wyatt's monster in charcoal that he did in art class. I thought it was cool.

Well, we went to TRY to cut down our Christmas tree last night. It had rained off and on all day, but luckily stopped right before we went. The selection at the tree farm was pitiful. The tallest they had was about 5 feet and that's just too short of a Christmas tree for me. I think the kids were a little disappointed, but we went to Lowe's and got a great tree for $20!! Can't beat that!! Next year we'll have to do some research and try to find a better tree farm. This year is just kind of crazy with me starting this job and us trying to get the basement finished. That's what we will be working on all weekend. Our carpet is in and we need to get some finish work done before they can install it.
The job is going great. I'm getting to know the kids and all of them are really sweet kids! It's really rewarding to know I am helping them learn. I have been giving tests, assessing students and generally helping them in class. My days go really fast. I just need to get better about going to bed earlier! I still want to stay up like I used to and I'm afraid it's gonna catch up with me. Luckily, it hasn't seemed to yet.

THANKSGIVING 2006

Lily made this in school. It lists what she is thankful for. It is so sweet.
This is the stuff I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for my family because they help me when I am stuck on my homework. My house is neat. My friends are spectacular. My school is so, so, so good. I'm thankful for me because I want to live. I'm thankful for a bunch of stuff.

Wyatt decided at the last minute that he would sit on Santa's lap.

Helping Nema make meatloaf.
They both made place cards for their place at the table on Thanksgiving.
Here's Wyatt's.
Eager to help with the cooking. Here she's chopping green peppers---with a real knife-yikes! She did a great job.
The finished meatloaf. The small one is Lily's.

Wyatt and Lily with Mimi--Jeff's mom.
Anxiously awaiting Uncle Steve.
Wyatt got the long side of the wishbone.
The wishbone.
Playing cards with Uncle Steve. I can't tell you how many games of Scrabble we played-we all love it. Wyatt does really well and Lily is getting really good at it, too! We also played lots of Uno(the kids' fave), Racko, and Yhatzee.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We drove to Lexington Wednesday, stopping at the outlet malls on the way so Jeff could check on things. The kids and I shopped while he worked.

Thursday, we had Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's. It was great as usual. Lily was totally into helping--she made her own meatloaf! My mom can't just make turkey. She had turkey, beef roast and meatloaf--and of course all the trimmings! We tried a new sweet potato casserole recipe this year and it was awesome!

Jeff had to head back Thursday night, his store in Edinburgh opened at midnight!! He had 250 people waiting outside the doors to get in at midnight! He said it was crazy all night! The kids and I stayed in Lexington and had our traditional mall day on Friday. They always see Santa the day after Thanksgiving. There is never a line! I didn't think the mall seemed quite as crowded as years past, but it was still crowded! My parents drove us back on Saturday and we stopped at the outlet malls again and spent all day Saturday shopping. We found some good deals. I found some work clothes, which I need! Try dressing 5 days a week and not wearing jeans! Jeans have been my uniform for the last 10 years! As enjoyable as it was, I think I've had my fill of shopping and eating for a while!

My first full work week will be this week. I'm looking forward to it-I know I'll be so tired by the weekend. It's gonna take me a while to get adjusted, I'm sure!

Well, started my new job today and it went well. The day went super fast. It looks like my lunch is going to be at 2nd grade lunch time so I can eat with Lily sometimes. That's cool.
Found out a secret from the music teacher today and I can't tell Lily. She got a solo part in the school Christmas program. She's been talking about it all the time lately. They have been trying out. She REALLY wanted a part. There are 7 elves that have solo lines and she got one of them--it's so hard not to tell her!!! She'll find out next time she goes to music. She also got a special part in the church program. She's an angel and singing with a small group--7 I think. She is totally into the singing thing lately. I guess if her interest continues, I'll look into voice lessons for her. She walks around practicing all the time. But you know how that goes. Could totally be tired of it next week!! We'll see.
Can't even believe Thanksgiving is this week! Where did the month go?!?!

Yay! We ordered the carpet for our basement last night. We went with a berber in the color Sand Dollar. Our main goal was durability and from talking to everyone berber is the way to go for that. We were so impressed with the lady that helped us at Home Depot. She really knew what she was doing and the actual price quote came out exactly the same as her estimate. I was worried there would be a suprise there. She said it was because Jeff knew what he was doing measuring and gave her accurate measurements. Now we have some work to do before they can lay it. Jeff needs to get the risers on the stairs and we need to get a few things organized. We should have the carpet down by Christmas. I can't wait to be able to send the kids down there to play! I have so much to get done this weekend before I start work Monday! Better go get busy!!

Well, after a year of talking about it, Wyatt is finally signed up for Space Camp in April and he is so excited. The 4th grade goes every year and he's been talking about it since last year's 4th grade class went. I can't believe we're sending him to Alabama for 4 days!! We went to the info meeting tonight and feel really good about it now and figure it's a great learning experience that he would probably never get to do otherwise. There was only room for 100 kids and probably that many were at the meeting, so we paid the deposit tonight to guarantee a spot. There were lots of kids he knows that are going and he was happy about that.
Well, my last week of freedom wasn't very free. I ended up subbing 3 days. Oh well, the money will be nice this time of year. So far they haven't called me for tommorow. I'm kind of hoping they don't. I REALLY need to get some things accomplished around here!

Lily's latest dry erase art. It's a chihuahua. Don't ask me why it says round and round he goes.(She insisted that I take a picture and post it on here) We still just have the 4 dry erase colors but more are on the way courtesy of good ole e-bay. Check out her name in cursive at the top. She is so excited she can do that now and writes it every chance she gets. She is working on a Christmas scene in her Monart drawing class right now and it will take them a couple of times to complete. The last thing they did was a penguin and I don't have that because they are going to hang them up at the local movie theater when "Happy Feet"opens. That will be cool.

Lily drew this Rudolph on her dry erase board and wanted me to take a picture of it. Ever since I drug this dry erase/chalk board combo up from the basement---she has used it every day!! Their favorite thing to do is play school. Stuffed animals and dolls as students, of course. Oh, the reindeer is blue because we only have 4 colors of dry erase markers!!

GRANDPARENT'S DAY

Nema with Rachel. It's worked out well the last 2 years with Rachel and Wyatt being in the same class so Mom can be there for both of them since Rachel has no Grandparents living.

Nema and Wyatt outside of his class by some of his work.
In front of the school.

Showing Nema her work on the wall.



This is what Wyatt was doing when it was time to take Nema on the school tour. Computer with his buddies. He didn't want to go with us(Nema, Lily, Rachel and I)-he gave us his favorite new line when I asked him, "I'm good" meaning no thanks. I guess that's what happens as they get older--friends start to take precedence over us!! Boo-hoo!

My mom was here for Grandparent's Day on Friday. The kids love having their "Nema" here. We had a good time shopping and eating out. She spoiled the kids, as usual. Lily got not 1 but 2 Build-a-Bears. She really paid for most of the first one herself with her chore chart money she earned and some tooth fairy money. Nema helped out some, too. She really wanted the husky dog and Mom and I liked another one better and talked her into it. Then we felt really bad because she really wanted the husky. So Mom took her and got the Husky today. Rotten girl!

Wyatt got 2 video games--one with bongos as the controller!

Oh, Mom gave each of them $20 today--Lily's was for her BAB, and Wyatt had his to spend on whatever he wanted. He came up to me totally out of the blue at the BAB store and wanted to buy Lily a Christmas gift! I was floored. He spent $10 of his money to get her the little puppies that attach with magnets to the big dogs' mouths. I was so proud of him for wanting to spend his money for that! As much as they fight, they really do love each other so much.

BROWNIES

This is an art display in the hall at school that 2nd graders did. I helped them finish these the day I subbed. I thought they looked really neat all together. Patriotic Pop art. Lily's is the Christmas tree at the bottom.
Making a mixed juice drink recipe.
Yum-frosting.
Just a few pics of Lily's last Brownie meeting. They did the Make It-Eat It try it and decorated small cakes and made some punch. They also put together a cook book of all of their favorite recipes.
My mom is coming today for Grandparents day. She is driving 3 hours to spend 1/2 hour in each of the kids' classrooms. Oh well, it really means a lot to the kids for her to be there. Jeff is out of town til Saturday so it'll be nice to have her here.
I did accept the teacher's asst job at school. It starts November 20. I'm excited. If I could pick any room to be in at the school, this would be it because I won't be in the same room all the time or with the same kids all the time. And I will only work with small groups and not a large, noisy class! Plus I really enjoy helping the kids who really need extra help. The teacher I'll be working with is really awesome at what she does and I'll learn a ton from her I'm sure. Just the few times I subbed in there, I learned lots of study tricks that I could apply to my own kids.
Well, off to get a little more cleaning done!!
Have a great weekend!!!

TRICK-OR-TREAT

Yikes!!
Off they go.
With their loot afterwards.

The trick-or-treat gang: Savannah, Lily, Emma, Trevor and Wyatt. Wyatt and Lily.
Lily with Savannah and Emma---the Cheetah Girls!!
OMG-this picture scares me!!! Is she 7 or 17?!?!?!

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating tonight. We went with Tracee and her kids like we always do. We went for pretty much the full 2 hours and they got way too much candy! Wyatt was the bloody scream guy and Lily was the "Cheetah Girls" with her friends. Wyatt's mask bugged him right away, which I knew it would, but he really wanted this costume. Lesson learned. He has always hated masks.

I'm subbing tomorrow in Lily's class. She is so excited. I've never subbed for her class before.

I guess I'm going to accept the teacher asst job tomorrow. Kind of scary, but I know it's the right move. I'm motivated to save money and pay for our vacation this summer. It doesn't start until Nov 10, so that'll give me some time to get things organized around here.