Changing from Bitterness to Thankfulness

I am struggling with my attitude in many ways. I have discovered that when I am feeling grouchy or discouraged it is a good idea to list a positive thought or a blessing from God to help me balance my negativity...so hear goes.

1. I am upset because Dan is sleeping even though he slept all day...however, I am thankful for the long hours he puts in at work and the way he gets up to be with the kids on Friday afternoons so I can stay longer at work, instead of sleeping in like I do on Saturday mornings.

2. I am frustrated by my children and their constant demands....however I am thankful that I get to have them in my life, many families struggle with the permanent loss of a child or the inability to have children and don't experience all the little joys like hugs and smiles. I love the hugs and happiness that a simple word or phrase can accomplish...makes mothering slightly easier.

3. I am tired and achy...yet I am thankful for a decent paying job, fun kids to work with and the garden tub in my bathroom! I am so taking a bath tonight. A long hot soak will do a world of good!

On top of it all I am so thankful that my loving God never gets tired, irritable or upset with me and is eternally loving, kind and longsuffering towards me with all of my negatives. Philippians shows us Paul rejoicing in suffering and I can do the same thing even though when it comes down to it my list of grievances are nothing like being thrown in prison. My suffering really isn't suffering its just being tired and a little bit whiny!

It's crazy...it's full of school spirit...it's Over!

Today is last day of Penny Wars and Spirit Week at school.

I'm so glad that things will get back to normal next week. It's been a lot of fun but it's been rather crazy too!

So in honor of the week I am doing my Happy It's Friday Happy Dance!

On a side note...I have a week left of being 31...32 approaches next Friday...makes me feel kinda old!

AWANA craziness

I am the Sparks Director and I have some great Calvary students helping me with AWANA this year. It's all good. We have a good time. The new favorite pasttime is hide my Dr. Pepper can!

I will admit, I am a Dr. Pepper junkie...love the stuff, it's my favorite drink! I usually have a can on Wednesday nights...and I often set it down to do stuff with the kids. Well the new game for the leaders is to try and hide my can of Dr. Pepper. Tonight, it was easily found but I will give props to the leader who was able to swipe it without my knowing while I was discussing my hair from crazy hair day at school. That took finesse and skill, lousy hiding place, made for easy finding but I didn't notice it was gone right away and I was sitting within 12 inches of the can!

My hair...crazy day edition

It was green, red, blue and orange. Seven ponytails...and I giant headache later...but I was top dog on Crazy hair day!

One of my lifesavers

Meet my crockpot...my new best friend. I use it at least once a week maybe twice. For me I make dinner overnight for the next day. Since Dan and I work opposite schedules he needs a meal at 2:30 so I cook a meal overnight and then divide it into smaller containers before I leave for work. Then at night I have a good dinner and Dan gets a meal for the afternoon! It's only taken 3 years of working odd schedules for me to learn this handy dandy tip!

Superhero Day

Today is Superhero Day for school...

I'm not going to wear a costume or anything, just dress up like myself...simply because my son told me that I am his Supermom!

So I am going as me, the super hero that I am!

Spirit Week

This week is Spirit Week at my school and at the kiddos school. Today at my school it was Pajama day...so I wore my fuzzy fleece penguin jammies....makes for a good day!

Tomorrow is Super Hero Day...I'm still not sure what I am going to wear tomorrow for this...I'm having trouble coming up with an appropriate costume.

So much Better

We went from Jaron looking like this...crazy hair boy...

to this.....

To this....


Doesn't he look so much better...so much less work!


He got the new bear for sitting still and letting us shave his little head!

Hamster Wheel kind of Day...

busy, busy, busy.... the kind where you just run and run and run!

Between the meetings at work, Kindergarten Roundup, sick kids at school so extra kids in a classroom and all kind of stuff, I feel like I have been running non-stop for 3 days...one to go and then the weekend.

Good news:) Dan and I have a date night this Saturday....dinner and maybe a movie. Mom and Dad will have the kids over night too so we can have a nice time without worry!

Wordless Wednesday...almost

Me thinks someone needs a hair cut!

It's what day?

I love holidays from school and getting days off they are wonderful times of recharging ones batteries and in my case getting my house more undercontrol! The hard part about holidays is going back to school the next day.

Today is TUESDAY!!! All day long I was confused off and on thinking it was MONDAY!!!

I walked in thinking we would have different specials and that my Monday Wednesday Friday kids would be at school...instead I was a little off all day! Makes for some fun times at work!

Me thinks he likes me...

This is what Dan brought home for me from the store...oh yeah! I think he likes me!

Happy Birthday Mr. President

Thank you for celebrating the Presidents. I'm extra grateful for the opportunity to have the day off.

Today"s President day accomplishments...

dinner cooked and shipped with Dan to work, I am also working on making dinner for tomorrow so he has extra food for the rest of the week!

Laundry completed

kitchen cleaned

Bedroom cleaned

Bathroom cleaned.

All in all I am feeling good about what was accomplished on this President's day!

My Valentine Progression

I have had mixed feelings about Valentines Day over the last 3 decades( yes I am old).

In my first 10 years, Valentines Day was all about fun. I loved exchanging Valentines in school, I love the parties, the treats and everything. It was great! Lots of fun!

In my second 10 years I began to resent Valentines day. I hated that everyone thought that if you didn't have a boyfriend or a significant other on Valentines day that you were basically a "loser". More often then not I was single on Valentines Day and I went into hate mode. If there had been conversation hearts with mean things instead of happy ones I definitely would buy them and my friends and I often exchanged sarcastic cards full of making one feel worse about our singleness. My parents and grandparents made sure to send lots of love to me on the holidays and that certainly was much appreciated but not the same thing as having a "date" on Valentines Day.

Now in my most recent 10 years (plus a couple) Valentines day has taken on a new meaning. Dan and I wish each other a Happy Valentines day and celebrate sometimes but it really doesn't matter. Valentines Day is just that a day. I don't need a day to tell my husband that I love and appreciate him. Little things I do for him during the week mean more to him than a gift in the middle of February. We show love to the kids but this year instead of candy and stuffed animals, they will be getting gifts that they can use for the longer term and get quality time from their parents. Being a happy and content family is the greatest gift that we can give to each other.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the parties again. I like helping my kids with their Valentines exchanges and in my opinion there is no greater Valentine card than the ones with FUN DIP! I have eaten my weight in conversation hearts through the years! I enjoy the parties at school and seeing the excitement for Valentines Day on the faces of the students in my class. I can truthfully say that I have come full circle. Valentines Day is a silly holiday that make you think of love and that's okay by me! So to anyone reading this...HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Good News!

I found my phone...it was where I left it in the bathroom.

3 day weekend ahead of me!

Jaron's teacher emailed me and told me that he had a better week and seemed to be more focused! So thankful for that!

Cellphone Madness

I think my phone is afraid of me...maybe because I drop it alot!

It's been hiding from me all day...

This morning, I left it on the kitchen table and didn't have it all day...I don't have a clock in my classroom and I don't wear a watch so I was clueless as to the time all day...I'm a very time oriented person and I was feeling helpless all day!

Dan charged it for me and I had it on my bed and some other places after work and I put it somewhere and I can't find it...that's twice in one day...that's pretty sad! I'll need to use Dan's in the morning to help me find it...we don't have a home phone so I can't call myself to find it!

Kids say the darndest things...lunch edition

We have several students who have dietary restrictions. Two of our students are vegetarian, and two are no beef, no pork. Well today one of the girls asked me what we were having for lunch, and I told her"...Hamburgers...well, I am not sure what you are having because you don't eat beef and pork."

She looked at me and said" my dad say's we eat with Forks..."

I just had to laugh

You never know who's watching...

Where I work there are windows in some of the classrooms that are two way...When the lights are on in our classroom then you can't see out, but people can look in. However, when the lights are out at naptime, the windows become mirrors in the hallway and we can see out.

Today during naptime we watched these 2 teenage girls walk by the windows checking their apperance. At the end of nap they both came up and stop in front of the window and proceeded to preen and do their hair and all that silly stuff teenage girls do in front of a mirror. My co-teacher and I sat and laughed at the fact that they didn't know we were watching them..if I had been able to I would have flipped on the lights just to see their faces when they saw us, but if the lights are on you can't see out the window so we would have missed it.

Made me really think about how God is always watching us...

Psalm 11:4The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them.

What have you done today when you thought no one was watching?

A Good Day

Work was a challenge today since I was not feeling good. Fortunately, with specials and extras and the kids being extra helpful it made for a decent day! I was lucky to get to go home early since we had many children leave early, were down in numbers and able to combine. It was a blessing!

I rested for a few hours then started the laundry which I didn't have enough energy to do this weekend. I've gotten 2 loads washed and dried, and one ready to dry in the morning. I also ran the dishwasher, which was good.

My dirty floor was driving me crazy! I vacummed and then used my new handy dandy rug stick by Woolite! I love it....makes carpet cleaning very easy! It's great for getting the grime out and it's cost effective too. Smells good too!

Tomorrow looks to be rather busy but I am hopeful that I am feeling better. My achiness seems to be lessening.

Thanks to every one who prayed for me today! I made it through and while I am not 100% better things are looking up!

Hi ho Hi Ho...it's off to work I go

I am still not one hundred percent. My throat is feeling better but I feel yucky.

I am going to work today...please pray that it goes okay

Sick...ick...ick

Dan was sick earlier in the week.

He gave it to me.

My head hurts.

My throat hurts.

I'm spending some quality time with the couch!

Mission Completed

Today I really struggled with my attitude. I get frustrated with juggling my role as a wife, mother, teacher, and friend. School was good, I was tired today and that makes me less patient than I need to be. However, on Tuesday and Thursday there is more planning time and that makes the day go by faster!



However, my big issues came after school. I get home and load up the kids in the car to go run errands. I planned to go to the bank to make a deposit, then go to the mailbox to get our mail, then go and get my car washed since it was disgusting and the weather was nice for a car wash. As I am driving to the bank Dan calls me and wants to know if I am going to get his glasses. I had received a call this morning letting me know that his new glasses are in and ready. I had texted him during the day to ask if he was going to pick them up or if he wanted me too and he had texted me " when convenient, don't stress" so the day that is most convenient for me is next Tuesday when the kids are at Good News Club. My answer wasn't exactly what he wanted to here. So he called to ask how the kids were and then if I was going to get his glasses. I said that I had to go to the bank and get my car wash but I would try to get them. He got rather short with me on the phone and made an issue of me getting them before next Tuesday! I have to admit that I didn't answer with a spirit of love and kindness but one of bitterness and anger. After I hung up I felt convicted by Ephesians 4, about being kind so even though it wasn't super convenient we went and got the new glasses and they look good.!



The whole ride in the car my children are being obnoxious and demanding. Normally they are fine with errand running but today Jaron wanted to go to Quik Trip and that is all he wanted and so he was whining and crying in the back seat. Quik Trip was not on my agenda and so I would not give in but it makes for a long car ride! Janea was antogonizing her brother and making me frustrated! On a plus side, they both giggled and laughed all through the car wash and the surprise of pizza for dinner made for a much more relaxing drive home, even though Jaron still wanted to take a trip to Quik Trip.



We are home, fed and able to enjoy the gorgeous weather that we are having this February. I love having warm days! We made it to the bank, the mailbox, the carwash, the glasses place and to Little Ceasers for a pizza and crazy bread for dinner. My meeting at school was cancelled so we can have a more relaxing night. So we are going to work on showers, baths, and then it's the plan to get everyone to bed earlier and start off on a better foot tomorrow morning.

Wiggly boys

My life is full of wiggly boys. I teach them at school and I have one at home.

Jaron is frustrating his teacher right now. He is extra wiggly and having trouble keeping still. She is seeking ideas on how to keep him more under control. I'm racking my brain for ideas that might work.

If you have any ideas on what might work please let me know! I could use some help with this!

Kids say the Darndest---Snack Edition

We had pudding earlier this week for snack. Usually we have butterscotch or vanilla pudding but on Monday we had Tapioca pudding with a little bit of whipped cream on top! One of the girls in my class is eating the pudding and stops and asks me this question.

"Why are there noodles in my pudding?

Happy Birthday Mom

I had my parents over for dinner tonight! We had a yummy chicken dinner and then cake. I went the easy way and bought a cake at HyVee. I ran out of time to make one on my own! Happy Birthday Mom, the kids and I love you very much!

Where did January Go?

I can't believe it already is February. Now I definitely shouldn't be surprised since I do calendar activities every day at school but really...didn't we just have New Years.

My goals for February:

*Get in the WORD more....daily!

* Maintain the house better!

* Be an encouragement to my husband not a discouragement.

* Enjoy Valentines Day parties with the kids and my class!

* Find some new and yummy recipes that I can make for our budgeting purposes! We did well in January but I want to be more adventurous this month!

Praises for the Month of January:

*No sickness for the family! Thank you God for keeping us all healthy!

* We are sticking to our food budget and eating more at home! I found some good recipes and I am being more adventurous in my cooking!

* Great kids who are learning and growing and enjoying school, Good News club and AWANA!