Kiss the Cow

Queen of the Fundraising!

 I got to wear the above tiara last Monday at school. :) It was actually kind of fun too. I felt really special, since it was my students who made it happen. I love working at a school like Legacy. This is my seventh year teaching, fourth at Legacy. It's nice because I have really connected with my students and staff there.

This year, the school decided to have a fundraiser called "Kiss the Cow". Students had two school days to bring in their change to their favorite teacher and which ever teacher out of the entire school (Pre-K through 8th) had the most change would "kiss the cow" on Monday during the peprally.

Anyone that knows me, knows I love competitions. In fact it's one of my five stengths (http://www.strengthsfinder.com/) I'm the only faculty member in the school with "competition" as one of the five strengths....this fundraiser was right up my ally! So, I made a competition out of it with my four math classes. It was mainly aimed at my 7th and 8th graders to motivate them to bring in something. I wasn't trying to "buy" their favortizm.

I told my classes that the one class that brought the most money in at the end of the day Friday would have no homework on February 4th. I expected a maximum of $20 from all my classes..... They went beyond my expectations!  In two days, my 5th - 8th graders brought in over $545!!! The entire school raised just under $600!

 So on Monday, I not only got to kiss the Chick-fil-A cow, I got to cheer with the cheer team....

 and was crowned the queen of fundraising...until next year....

Gosh I love being a teacher!

So we go from a beautiful high of sunny 76 to a cold, rainy high of 39 tomorrow to possible snow on Friday?! Anyone else think that's crazy?!

Makin' It Monday

Lemon Essential Oil by Young Living

Today we're at home. We usually have school/work today, but today we don't. There's a flu/bronchitis thing going around and over 20% of my students are out sick...plus teachers....and administrators.... So we're at home - enjoying this extra day off to get some things done.

Today's "Makin' It Monday" is all about flexibility. When I found out that we were going to have no school today, the first thing that ran through my mind was my lesson plans. I've spent so much time perfecting them (sometimes I hate being a prefectionist!) that I don't like changing them. Then I thought about my sweet students and their families. It's okay to have our plans change. In fact, I think it's a good thing every once and a while. It reminds me that I'm not in control - God is. And it also reminds me that He will give me strength for each new day.

To keep my own family from getting this nasty little bug that's been going around, I've been using Lemon Essential Oils on everything. One of my student's gave me the little bottle as a Christmas gift, and it's been the BEST gift ever! I read in an article that it is more powerful than bleach at sterilizing - and it's perfectly safe for my little ones...Not to mention my house smells WONDERFUL after cleaning with it!

To clean your floors (and it's safe for hard wood floors), fill your sink or bucket with a gallon of hot water. Add a quarter cup of vinegar and then 10 - 20 drops of Lemon oil. I thought at first that it would still smell like vinegar - but it doesn't! AND it cleans far better than any other cleaning product I've used thus far. Makes my floors shine.  :)

To make an all purpose cleaner (one that actually takes off those little greasy fingerprints on your dishwasher and stove), fill a spray bottle with water and add 5 - 10 drops of lemon oil.

On the tough smell of little boys missing the toilet, take a paper towel and place a few drops on the towel to get it moist. Wipe directly on the area around the toilet. Scent will last about a week - and the "pee pee" smell won't come back!

In your pantry, or wherever you store your trash can, place a towel moistened with lemon oil near the trash. It will keep even the dirtiest, smelliest things fresh.

Have a great Monday, and stay healthy!

Je T'aimes mon peu ceux

Jenna's in love with her baby brother

It's been one hectic week around here - half my school is sick with the bronchitis/stomach flu that's been going around pretty much everywhere. I've been trying to really focus on staying on top of everything and maintain that "Supermom" title that so many people have given me. I guess trying to prove that I really can do it all is more like it - because I can't do it all.... Then it hit me.



"Why the heck am I even worrying about this?" Here's my precious little ones who go about their day-to-day lives with not a care in the world. They don't blink an eye as to a fifth of the stuff I find my self worrying about or processing through. No wonder God says to "have faith like a child". Children have so much faith and trust, it's amazing. When ever you're down or wondering about tomorrow, remember that tomorrow will take care of itself and live for today. Live for what REALLY matters - not what we tend to think matters. You can learn a lot from kids - especially when they're you're own. :)

 Take for example, Josh. what four-year old can teach you so much?! Spend a day with him and he'll set your priorities straight. His "love language" (the way he feels most loved and the way he shows love) is "acts of service". He is always thinking of everyone else before himself and its considered a punishment if he's not allowed to help out with something. He shows so much of how we should be in our daily lives. Imagine what the world would be like! I am so thankful that God gave me him as my little boy - my cuddlebug - to watch him grow and teach me so much.

Jenna's love language is hard to tell between physical touch and quality time. She's still growing into hers, but she loves her back to be rubbed when going to sleep and just be "near" you to know you love her and want to spend time with her. She's got a sweet bond with her brother too and is the "little lover" of the family....although she keeps a secret that she's a daddy's girl a lot. Kinda funny to watch.

Julianna and Jayden are too small to really tell what they're going to be - BUT you can always see little glimpses in Julianna of quality time. We'll see what the younger two grow into. But for now, I am treasuring this time of being their mommy and molding their young lives. The rewards far outweigh any sacrifices (if that's what they'd even be considered) - when four little hearts are in your hand and you know that you hold them so carefully, what more could you want? It's a perfect example of God's relationship with us - "He'll never leave us or forsake us".

Josh loves to spend time with Jayden. Here's a video of him reading Jayden his Cars book. Obviously he's making the story up - but it was too cute - I had to share

Makin' It Monday

A mom's best friend during the winter season

Today's "Makin' it Monday" is all about just makin' it through the day. Do you ever feel like the 24-hour day seems to triple in length? An hour can seem like four...a minute an eternity. This is how I feel when my little ones get sick and I my focus shifts to just "make it through the day".

The weather during the winter time here in Texas is nice. I like it because it actually has a touch of winter and the temperatures are in the low 30's upper 20's in the morning and rise to the 40's/50's during the day. Generally we are able to keep everyone pretty healthy, other than the occasional cold during the "flu" season.

No, we don't get flu shots - the times we have had one, we've all been sicker than we've ever been before! So we just keep the vaporizor running in the living room during the day when we're home and the kids take baths in the "Vapobath" by Joshnson & Johnson. It's more of a proactive measure than anything else. It's worked the past couple of years anyways!

The problem.....Jayden.....He's too little still to really do much with, so he is now under the weather. We're just trying to "make it through the day". I did a little online research and he's got the classic symptoms for croup. It sounds scary, but it's actually not that bad. It sounds horrible when he coughs, but other than that and havign to sleep in the bouncer, he's okay - no fever, no puking, and no loss of appetite.

So right now he's in his bouncer next to me with the vaporizor running to halp him breathe a little better, and has Vick's baby rub on his feet with socks on. He's also catching up on his sleep. Sunday night he slept only in 20 minute intervals, so it was a LONG day yesterday. I was literally focused on "just making it through the day". There's a bunch of improvement already, as he's not coughing as much and he slept pretty good last night....

Let's just focus on one day at a time...."baby steps"..... and lots of mommy love....

Thankful Thursday

"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine"

Today is "Thankful Thursday"! Sometimes it is really hard to be thankful in the world we live in of "do everything right now, and make everyone happy". Let's admit it - it's more stressful being a 20-something adult in today's world/economy that it was a decage or two ago. It's so easy to get stressed out, and look at the things we don't have, or the things that didn't go right during the day. That's why I'm creating Thankful Thursday :)  To take a break and look at the things that you are thankful for - it really can change your whole outlook on life and you'll have a good day, I promise!

Today I am thankful for my husband, Jason. Out of all the people in the world, God chose me to be his wife. We've been married five and a half years, and have four beautiful children. I am thankful for him because of who God has made him to be. He works hard for our family so that I can stay home Tuesday's and Thursday's. Granted, he's not perfect, but he tries.

He spends quality time with the kids, making each one feel special. After a long day at work, he comes home and still plays games with Josh and Jenna. He sill finds time to cuddle with Julianna and Jayden. And he makes time to talk with me and listen.

This economy might be going south....we may never feel like we have "enough money".....we may be sleep-deprived, frustrated, overwhelmed parents at times....but in the end when our kids grow up and go away to college it's still us. And we're choosing to support one another and to do the best we can at raising our kids God's way.

What are you thankful for today?? (Don't forget to comment!)

2 Month Update

My sweet little Jayden is now two months old. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. I wish I would have thought that when I was pregnant! The time seemed to drag on then...Our little munchkin is learning to roll over, he gets stuck about half way, so I suspect that when I update for three months he'll be rolling all over. :) He's our little social butterfly (definately takes after his momma) and "talks" to whomever's infront of him. He loves to smile and laugh too. :D

I don't know his "official weight" as I decided to weigh him using my Wii fit program. I am going to swing by the hospital tomorrow and weigh him and see how accurate my own method was. But according to the Wii balance board, Jayden weighs in at 9.54 pounds and he is 25 inches tall now.

It's times like this - when I am sitting here and reflecting on how fast the past two months have gone by - that I truly cherish my kids. All the hard times, the challenges, and the crying, sleepless nights make it worth it. I cannot imagine my life without a single one of my blessed children. I understand the verse "Children are a blessing from the Lord". I also know that God has creared them with a purpose. I can't wait to watch them grow into wonderful masterpieces!

My sweet Jayden, your mommy, daddy and brother & sisters love you so much. You truly remind us that God ALWAYS answers His promises...

No, Julianna - your brother's ambulence is NOT a teething toy.... Needless to say, she ate a tire off the toy, but we got it back. The last of her teeth are breaking through.... which translates into sleepless nights and eating everything. I think she could give Pepper a run for his money on the amount of things chewed on! :)

Makin' It Monday

With this new year approaching, I've decided to start something new with this blog. It's called "Makin' it Monday". This will feature something easy that I've made that can be used around the house or whatever. Or it might feature a tip on how we make it through the day to day "stuff". :) Fair warning, I don't sew. I wish I had inherited my mom's talent and ability to sew amazing creations, but I didn't. However, I do put together a mean scrapbook!

Today's first feature is Backpack Tags. With four kids and a mom that is a teacher, we have our fair share of backpacks and bags around here. We take two to church - one for Jayden (diaper bag) and one for Julianna (a few diapers in her little backpack). We take five to school - one for each kid, plus one that carries my graded papers and laptop to school. Since the three older kids are in the same class at school for now, I want their teacher to know whose bag is whose. Especially since Jenna can't have apples. So I decided to put my scrapbooking stuff to work to make simple, cute backpack tags. Here's what they look like before lamination:


You will need:

• scrapbooking stickers
• colored paper/card stock
• double sided tape
• thermal laminating paper (I use 8 x 10 size so I can do all at once and it saves space)
• iron
• hole punch
• ribbon

Since I have two girls and two boys, I decided to make the boys using a blue/dark brown theme and picked out the dot stickers for their names. I laid them on white card stock, then cut it out, layering it on dark brown card stock and then blue paper, using double sided tape to adhere them all together. I also created a little border around each layer to give it a little added pizzaz. The layers are not only cute, but they help make the tags more stable and sturdy. I used a pink/light brown theme for the girls' tags. After cutting them out, I laid them in the thermal laminating pouch and turned the iron on to the hottest setting.

To iron the sheet, it works best if you have something to iron, that way you can iron that item on top of the laminating pouch. The heat creates a permanent seal around the paper and it makes the tags waterproof too! After the page is heated and sealed, I run the iron directly on top of the plastic around the edges of the tags to ensure a tight seal. Then you cut the tags out, leaving a small border around the paper. Take a hole punch and punch a hole on the side you want to attach the ribbon to hang it on the bag.

I also did this up in our playroom to label our toy bins with the contents of each bin. That way it gives the room a little flair and the kids have no excuse as to where their toys go! :)

Join me next Monday for a new "Makin' It Monday"! Have a blessed week! <>

Animals and Clocks

Julianna has been practicing her animal sounds. I think she needs some work on a few of them... Here's a video of her practicing....

Joshua has been learning time (he knows daddy gets off at "five, zero, zero"), so I decided to teach him some basic times so he could see them on our analog clock. He knows 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and 9 o'clock so far. It's cool too because he knows that we usually eat at 6 o'clock and nap time for him and Jenna is at noon, so he feels like a big boy looking at the clock and telling the time. :) Here's a video of what he knows:

Back to School....

This past Monday I went back to teaching and the kids went back to "school" with me after being off for Christmas break since December 15th. One of the awesome benefits of working at Legacy is not just the fact that my kids can go to work with me, but that we get almost a month of for Christmas and New Years. During our time off this year it was quite pleasant as the kids are getting older and more fun to do things with. Here's what we did on one of the nice days outside:

We walked to the mailbox after naptime and Josh rode his bike...

When we got back to the house, the girls colored on the driveway with chalk...

Jenna's our little artist. You can tell by the yellow socks she picked out!

Julianna tried to ride her brother's scooter...

and Jayden slept the whole time....

we had a great time playing and hanging out over break, but now it's time to get back to learning! Good thing we all love school :)

Jenna-Girl

Have you met my Jenna-girl? She's my "little lover". She can come across as a little tornado at times, but she is my girly-girl, smart, artistic, and loving little girl. She's the one that went to the hospital when we had Jayden wearing her "princess" shoes, bracelets, necklace and purse (that had race cars in it). Our house used to be always cleaned and organized before she was born, now it's definately "lived in" as she leaves a trail behind her. She's the one who loves to read, cuddle under a blanket with you, and hold your hand when you're walking somewhere. She's my Jenna-girl.

Well, when Julianna was born, we did the girls' room in a ladybug theme. My mom and I painted the top green and the bottom pink with a cute ladybud border to finish the room off. I also hung each of the kids' first footprints on the wall. This is what it looked like when it was finished...


Well, my Jenna-girl must have been bored one day because she tore off the wall border and part of her name. :( The sad thing was the when she peeled off the border, part of it came clean off, but most of the paper backing stayed on the wall. This is how her room has been for several months now until she was past the "destructive phase"....

So today I decided to get the rest of the paper backing off the wall so that I could re-do the cute border. I had to actually research how to get that stuff off because it was stuck on there so good! I found the best thing to do was to get the iron and plug it in and set it for max steam. I placed it close to the wall so that the steam would heat up the paper and it reversed the glue! It just peeled right off! Of course it only does a small section at a time, so I only got half of the paper off her walls.
And of course I got burned by the iron in the process. It wouldn't be worth it without "battle scars", would it?

Coupons....

A lot of times I get asked how we do it. "How do we manage four small children while working and being involved in church?" "How do we afford to keep food on the table in today's economy?" And many others....

The answer to the first one is easy - I can only do it with God's help. He gives me strength and wisdom. I also have a great husband too that helps out a lot. It makes a HUGE difference if you are or are not on the same page as your spouse. I have to say that we make a pretty good team, and we of course have LOTS of love to give to our four blessings!

The second one isn't as easy. I have to admit that there's times where I wish we had more money to spend on food, clothes, etc. But having the "stuff" isn't as important as raising my kids God's way. We've sacrificed in order for me to be able to stay home part-time. A sacrifice that has been well worth it. We've also had to rearrange our thinking about buying.

Our society yells at you "Buy now, pay later!" and "even if you can't really afford it, it's okay - buy it anyhow!" It's hard to combat that. One way we try to save money is at the grocery store. We generally try to go to Costco once a month to do our shopping. This means saving $400-$500 for groceries. Although it's a lot to spend at one time, it is also not a lot considering we are a family of six and that's a month's worth of groceries.

There are a lot of times though that saving that for the month is hard. Especially when your husband is paid commission only. So sometimes we also shop at Kroger. This is where coupons really come in handy. It is easy to spend $200 plus dollars at the grocery store each week when not buying in bulk. This can add up quickly, so coupons are a must. I never used to clip coupons because I thought the savings weren't all that great and worth my time looking and cutting. BUT.....

Last night, I saw a TLC show called "Extreme Couponing" and it showed four women who spent $600 plus dollars buying groceries, but with the use of coupons, only paid $10 or less. One woman paid just over $2.00! Amazing!! So I've tried to take this as a challenge....Let's see how much I can save!