my next house will be a rambler

In one weeks time two separate set of stairs have attacked me. yes, both times I was holding onto the railing I've learned that it hurts less if you attempt to pull the railing down with you.
My mom suggests I scoot up and down the stairs on my butt.

For all of you

I love my job!!!

Yes, it is the week before Christmas break. And yes, I did have to threaten my students today with extra work. But, I can honestly say that I still love my job! My kids are so awesome and they make me smile everyday. I love to see them when they really want to succeed and they are so proud to show me their scores when they do well on the computer math and reading. I love seeing at one moment how grown up they can be and when the recess bell rings they are out on the snow pile playing king of the mountain. I can see some of myself at that age in everyone of them.

On Monday I was having a really bad day. I was stressed, my kids were out of control and I was so overwhelmed. I called my mentor and she brought me the simplest thing...6 Dove chocolates!!! It made such a difference. Even on that horrible day though, I knew I still finally chose the right profession.

Another thing that makes me smile is when I'm walking down the hall and so many children know me and will call me out by name and want to give me a hug.

Even though I am excited for 2 weeks off, I am going to miss them.

In the spirit of me being goofy...

I'm doing my first ever blog contest. The first person who can tell me how many surgeries I've had will get a prize from me. We were talking about this last night and my brother-in-law told me I've taken all the good excuses for not going to certain family functions. So, it got me thinking...how many surgeries have I really had in my life?

So, go ahead and guess while I try to remember. I'll keep this open until after Christmas

Christmas last year

I wanted to share with you all again how gorgeous Jenna is and what a wonderful photographer Jason is. This picture was taken last year for our Christmas card. Jason took Jenna out to the Great Salt Lake shores. It was freezing outside and about every 3 or 4 minutes Jason would put Jenna in the car to warm up for a minute. She was such a sport. You can't even tell that she was cold. You can see the snow on the ground, that kind of gives you an idea.

Anyway, I love this picture. Jason entered it into a contest online with Circuit City and he won 3rd place with this awesome picture. He didn't photoshop it at all. He did digitally develop it using Lightroom - that will mean something to you photo people out there.

The reason for the season

I almost teared up today as Jenna and I were driving to dance. She was telling me that her two friends were telling her that Christmas was all about presents. A normal 4 and 7 year old response, in my opinion. This is wear the proud mama moment comes in. She said, "but mom, Christmas really isn't about presents, it's all about Jesus, isn't it?"

I hope she always remembers this. Jesus is the reason for the Christmas season. What a wonderful example she is to me. She reminded me what I really should be thinking about.