Why I love my job..

...well, at least one reason - trust me, I have several!

Today the math journal prompt I used was "Tell me everything you know about +" We're starting our unit on addition. So some kids put that it was a cross, one little girl put that it was a plus and we use it for math and that 2 + 2 = 4, but most kids put "I don't know." (Which in my class is just fine and my kids know that) But one little boy melted my heart. He wrote (in his kindergarten writing) "I don't know about that, my mom didn't tell me." Talk about a kid who thinks his mama hung the moon. I. LOVE. IT.

HomeGoods

Dear HomeGoods,

Where have you been all my life? I love you and am so glad I have found you. I see many, many, meetings in our future.

Love,
Heather

Yay for finding new shopping places! :)

Blockbuster Surprise

I moved up several movies on our Blockbuster queue that were more on the girlier side of things because of my being home during Spring break. I had been watching a few as I cleaned (see my last post) during Kaitlyn's nap time. But tonight Cody agreed to watch one with me, so after we put K to bed we popped in Love Happens. WOW. What a touching and great movie. I'm not great with words when it comes to reviewing movies, music, etc. but if you have not seen this movie - please do. It examines grief and human nature in an amazing way. I love that it shows how people can have a smile, but really be so hurt inside. That should remind us in our everyday lives to treat everyone with kindness. You never know why someone is the way they are - what happened the night before, the week before, or even years before. So the next time someone cuts you off in traffic, or in the grocery line, before you get mad take a second and think about what might be dwelling inside. We just never know.

Spring Cleaning

My Spring Break is almost over. If you don't get a Spring Break you probably don't feel that sorry for me, but man I feel sorry for you! :)

Anyway, each Spring Break I try my very best to do lots of Spring cleaning. I get more done than I would during the week after coming home tired from work and I don't want to spend the time I have with Kaitlyn and Cody cleaning. But this Spring break was different. This Spring break I watched a show called Hoarders. Yep, Hoarders. The name says it all, but you really have to see an episode to truly get the level of hoarding that some people do. It is down right amazing - but in a very, very, awful way.

Now, I do not consider myself a bad hoarder by any means, but there is a lot of stuff I have in boxes that I have to reason to keep. I've come a long way folks, trust me. I was a little girl that refused to give any of my stuffed animals up because I thought they all had feelings. (The Velveteen Rabbit did not help my theory out any either) And my parents had garage sales when I was younger and I would always end up in my room in tears because my stuff was leaving. Like I said - I've come a long way.

But now I'm at the point where I am a mom and I want a household that is organized for my daughter. I want her to grow up the way I did - in a clean, organized home. So that means getting rid of all the "stuff" every now and then. So I've gone through closets and got rid of clothes and shoes I don't wear (or have no business wearing for whatever reason). That part was easy. But then I came to downstairs "miscellaneous closet." (Feel free to enter a good DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN here.) Talk about stuff I didn't need to be keeping. I had three cameras in there that I didn't even use anymore. I had kept the first Canon Rebel I ever bought right after my high school graduation...it took film. But for some reason I've just never been able to let it go. Until I watched Hoarders. I kept thinking to myself as I watched that show, "It's just stuff. Just get rid of it already." Well, I wasn't practicing what I was preaching. Sometimes that is harder than it seems. Now, I still don't get the whole keeping pizza boxes and old jars like I saw on the show, but the stuff that has memories - that, I totally get. But I am proud to say that Mission Arlington now has a TON of my stuff - including cameras. And now we have more storage space - yay! I also talked my hubby into getting rid of the old Nintendo (yes, the original one) and his old x-box plus all the games. They just sat in the closet with no use at all...except for the memories for him. I did tell him he could go get a new softball bat if he got rid of all of it. But he REALLY wanted that bat, and the bat stays in the garage and I get even more storage space now, so I still think I end up with the better deal. Although I'm pretty sure my sister-in-law isn't going to be too happy with Cody, because he didn't take it to Mission Arlington with all my stuff - he called up his brother and asked him if he wanted it and of course he said yes. Sorry Candy!!!

So now some of our "stuff" is no longer ours, and really I'm very okay with that. I still have the memories and God willing I always will. And we are not finished making memories - not by a long shot! :)

Undercover Veggies

Kaitlyn did so great with veggies in the beginning. She didn't really take to green beans, but I could always get her to eat carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. Now that she's eating all solids she has turned up her nose at several of the veggies she used to eat. She will eat broccoli and cauliflower, but she gets burned out on them very easily. I give her the veggie chips too, but I feel like a bad mom if I don't do something more. So now I've resorted to hiding veggies in her meals. At first I tried to just sneak them in, but she would pick around them. So now I mush them up and create a puree of sorts. But hey, it works and I feel better about her eating. Doesn't everyone like carrot and cheese quesadillas??? :P

Sonic Cup

I got a movie editing program for Christmas which makes me oh so excited!!! I have so many videos of Kaitlyn that I wanted to edit, but couldn't with what I had. So here is my first attempt at just playing around with it. I made the lighting a bit better, cut some of the video out, and added a snazzy (and very unoriginal) title. I was pretty proud of myself! :) I can't wait to actually know what I'm doing and make more movies!!!

And if you're wondering....this video was on May 16, 2009. It amazes me how small Kaitlyn looks to me now!!!

Yikes!

So I'm thinking that one of my New Year's resolutions should be to update this blog more!!! Geez! Christmas is just a few days away, which means I'm off work and getting to spend all day with K which I am loving!!! But the Christmas shopping really stressed me out yesterday...

Usually Kaitlyn has no problem shopping. She points to everything and yells, "Light!" (lately that has turned to "Bight" but oh well!) :P So yesterday we were at Old Navy and waiting in the checkout line. Kaitlyn was getting a bit restless, but was not crying. She was in her stroller and was getting kind of loud. She wasn't screaming out of anger or anything, but she was loud - sort of singing and sort of doing the over and over sound that she does when she is tired. So the lady behind keeps sighing a whole lot - and very loudly. I know that if I take K out she will just want me to hold her the whole time or put her down so she can explore - neither of which was a great option for me at the moment. So I just leave her in the stroller and she just keeps singing. Well then this lady says to her little boy (who mind you has to be like four), "I'm so glad I can take you shopping and you don't act like that." At this point I really almost turned around and said something, but I literally bit my tongue. But it didn't stop there. She kept saying things like, "Are you tired of shopping?" to which the little boy said no and the lady says, "Good, I'm so glad you can shop." I know what she was doing and she just kept at it. An older lady in front of me turned around and smiled at me and then talked to Kaitlyn a bit which made Kaitlyn happy so she babbled some more. Of course this made lady behind me sigh even more and I started to tear up out of frustration. But I never did turn around and say anything. As I got to the car after I had checked out I was still flustered. I was so upset that someone could be that rude to my child and me. Kaitlyn wasn't crying or screaming out - she was just making noise. It truly hurt my heart. I just hope that lady finds something that can make her heart lighter - especially at Christmas.

Anyway...I didn't want this post to be that negative....I promise the next ones will be happier! :) After all - it's Christmas time!!!