Wishful Thinking

Right now it is 40 degrees outside, windy, and raining. We are under a winter storm watch for 4 inches of snow tomorrow.

Right now my girls are running around the house in their bathing suits. They are playing "pool"- jumping into a pretend swimming pool, blowing the pretend lifeguard's whistle, and buying pretend popsicles.

Do you think they are ready for spring?

A little bit fabulous

Tonight before bedtime, the girls and I settled in on the couch for a little star gazing. At the Oscars, that is. Yes, I exposed my innocent little darlings to Hollywood's finest and they loved it. They really just wanted to see Zac Effron and Vanessa Hudgens. I enjoyed their well-timed fashion comments... Why is her dress so big? (Anne Hathaway). Mommy, look at all those bracelets!! (Heidi Klum). After they were tucked in, I watched the end of the red carpet and a little bit of the awards. However, as soon as SJP came on stage to present, I had an over whelming urge to watch Sex and the City. I really miss the 11pm nightly episodes on TBS. So I popped the dvd in, poured some merlot, and here I sit enjoying the fabulosity. How weird would it be to move the family to NYC for a year or so??? Just kidding, I think...

Valentine's Day...from a teacher's perspective

If you ask around at any school, you will find some teachers who HATE holidays and special days, and then you will find those like myself who LOVE them. The haters have a hard time dealing with their schedule being uprooted, their students being hyper, and their classroom being cluttered. They must be those type-A personalities. Those who are like me, a spontaneous type who enjoys diversion from the ordinary, enjoy the holidays/special days for the simple joy of getting to experience these days like a kid again. I LOVE the cupcakes, Valentine cards, and shows of "love" between classmates. When you force every kid to bring a Valentine for every kid in the class, you actually end up with them being nice to each other, even if it's just for a little while. How sweet!!! Now that I do not have my own classroom anymore, I get to go up the hall to S's class and help with their parties. I get to be THE room mom- how fun is that? And that's where I'm heading right now- to eat a cupcake with my girl! Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Busy little Bs

That's what we have been lately in the Tiaras house. We are working hard on our home overhaul every spare minute we get. We are slowly making decorating decisions for the family room (pillows and artwork purchased this week, curtains to come). Our back door entrance is complete. It (from garage to kitchen) has gone from this...

To this...
I am in LOVE with these hooks and cubbies!!! My wonderful hubby and his dad did this all by themselves. I also adore the new green walls.

A couple of weeks ago, R went to a birthday tea party for one of her best little friends. Keep in mind that they are 3, turning 4, so there was an ettiquette lesson, finger sandwiches, Cinderella story time, dress up, etc... R enjoyed herself!

S had her first real sleepover at our house that same weekend with her sweet friend, also S. These two get along famously and there was not a bit of the dreaded girl drama. A very easy night for mommy...

****For some reason, Blogger will not allow me to put spaces between the paragraphs, so I apologize for the rumbled up mess below...****

This past week was just like any other: Busy. I've been very addicted to Facebook lately, which explains the blogging break. We've all been uploading the most hilarious and incriminating old photos we can find- college, high school, middle school, and beyond. It is truly the best way to catch up and the best waste of time!

Monday was a regular day- I work at my *other* school and rely on a friend to bring S home. She is always WILD when I pick her up after playing with my friend's 2 daughters.

Tuesday, school was closed for a snow day. This sounds fantastic, except that our part of the county had no snow. Not even a flake! But, a day off is a day off and I enjoyed every minute.

Wednesday, we had a teacher meeting after school in my old classroom. It is now inhabited by Meg, who took my place in the 5th grade team. I dearly love her, and we are very much alike in our teaching style and tv show choices (Sex and the City) but we are as different in some ways as night and day. Take this for example... In my former classroom, which used to be totally organized, of course kid friendly, but also decorated all in lime green with splashes of pink, there is now a lizard and a corn snake! If you know me, you know I am a poster child for The Indoor Girl. No snakes were ever allowed into that room when it was mine! Part of our staff meeting was getting to take a look at Meg's room, and she showed us a video of her corn snake eating a live mouse. Gross!!! After the meeting, I hightailed it out of there and we made it just in time for S's gymnastics. S is still doing great in the gym and loving her coach, which makes me so glad that she has found her *thing*. She is best on the balance beam, of all things, and taught herself a round off the other day. Back handspring buildups are next!

Thursday is R's gymnastics day. She is taking lessons here in town at the local (ie: po-dunk) YMCA. Her teacher is one of the cheerleaders at the high school who also goes to our church- very sweet, but not much of a teacher. It is more like exercise for the 3 year olds, but R has perfected her consecutive forward rolls, and is working on cartwheels and backward rolls. She loves it, but it's just another place for me to be each week...

Friday I had the day off!!!!! I took S to a dr's appointment that morning (more on that in another post, but we are working on getting to the bottom of her attention issues). We ate lunch with one of my oldest and dearest friends (Kristen) and spent the afternoon shopping. It was a really great day, and so nice for me to be able to spend some quality time with S. She needs it!

Saturday we were pretty lazy in the a.m. I did about 10 loads of laundry and just picked up around the house. The girls spent Sat. night with my parents, so B & I had date night with some friends. We saw the movie Taken- it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time- I would highly recommend it. If you watch 24, it was kind of like Jack Bauer Goes to Paris. Great film! Dinner followed, Japanese, which was of course delish! I had the fillet and shrimp, yum!

Today, we did make it to church, and then I took the girls to a cheerleading competition. One of my favorite former cheerleaders was competing with her all star gym. Her mom works with me at school and is one of my lunch buddies. The girls (well, S) were really in awe of the cheerleaders. R watched about the first 20 minutes and then spent the rest of the time climbing up and down the bleachers. S said it looked like fun and she would like to try it. I said, we'll see! All stars could be the answer to our yearly dance/gymnastics delimma, since it combines both aspects, but it is so time consuming, not to mention expensive. Tryouts are not until May, so we have time to ponder it...

Tonight, B (aka Project King) helped S with her 100th day project. She decided to make a giant goldfish out of 100 Goldfish crackers. Cute!

This week will be just as crazy as ever, though without the snow day. It was 69 degrees here today and I was loving it- bring on the spring!!!! Tomorrow night I have my teacher sorority meeting, which is always a great, fattening meal. Tuesday after school I am attending an information session with a nearby university that is offering a cohort for a Masters in Reading Specialist. I am seriously considering it, if only for the pay increase. Wed, S's gymnastics. Thurs, R's gymnastics. It never seems to end! As for now, I'll just continue to enjoy my little snack of Cold Stone cake batter ice cream and chardonnay~ nice combo, right?