A long break

Well, to say that I have taken a break from blogging is an extreme understatement! I feel like I haven't had time to breathe, let alone blog lately. I knew that returning to the classroom would take up more of my time, but it seems to have taken up ALOT more time. I love my new position and I have a nice class with, of course, a couple of exceptions, but overall I am so, so glad to be back in the classroom. From the first day back, it just felt like I had come home again.

Below is a hodge-podge of pictures from the last month or so. Shelby turned 5 on November 11. That was difficult for me. Somehow, she just seems to big and grown up all of a sudden. She rarely comes up and snuggles with me anymore (she's too busy moving) so when she does I cerish it all the more. Sarah is still very, very snuggly. She has such a unique personality about her. She is very dramatic and easily flies off the handle at the smallest thing. On the other hand, she knows what she wants and expects to get it. This is a blessing and a curse! :)

We are all very excited to have 2 weeks off for Christmas vacation and the girls are very eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus this year. Shelby very happily realized that there is only 1 row left on our Advent calendar today. Exciting stuff!

I hope to get some Christmas pics up next week!

We took the girls to build candy houses this year. It was a great time, but daddy proved to be the master builder

We went to Breakfast with Santa at Timber Pointe golf club again this year. I say it is the only way to go visit Santa! No long lines and over priced photos.

The girls built a snowman with daddy after our big December snow. Luckily for him, the weather has stayed cold and he is still standing in the front yard.

The girl's new swing set. We were lucky enough to get this for FREE from a house near Nate's parents that had been abandoned. The real estate agent wanted it out, and we were happy to help. The girls love it! We even had to use it on the day of our first big snow.

Sarah's birthday party and updates

Here are some pics from Sarah's party which was last night. It was a "Dora" party which isn't a surprise knowing Sarah. She is Dora obsessed!! She had a great time and got so many cute things. Her real birthday isn't until Friday so hopefully, I'll have some other pictures to post after that. And maybe it won't take me over a month to do it! :)

Life is as busy here as ever. Nate's starting to get busy with work again which we are always grateful for, but it's always a little hard to get used to seeing much less of daddy than we did all winter!

I've only got about a month left of school before summer vacation which should be busy with Shelby playing teeball and both girls taking swimming lessons plus some fishing trips that I know Nate is planning for us. The end of the school year will also find me packing up my teaching things once again to move to a new school and back into a first grade classroom for next fall. Nate swears I can't stay in one place more than 3 years without getting the itch to move, and he may be right. I am very excited to be returning to the classroom, but I know that it will be a big readjustment for me.

Anyway, enjoy this pictures of my all too grown up, almost three year old. Where does the time go???

Today, you get lots of pictures and not so many words...yesterday we went to a birthday party for the girl's friend Lucas. The girls had a blast and there were too many cute pics not to share. The "Balloon Guy" from Perkins was there and made balloon animals (you would not believe some of the creations he comes up with) and played games with the kids. Here are a few of the girls holding puppets, playing games and finally Sarah helping make some magic. The last one is my favorite. Enjoy!

a long time

Finally, we're getting outside a bit. This one struck me as funny with little Sarah pushing her big sis around.

Sarah the bag lady!

Shelby and Daddy!

Hi. I know that I haven't posted in a long time, but I haven't had much to say. Life has been busy. I have been dealing with some potential changes at work. I have 2 and 4 year old girls. I have a bit of the winter blahs. I get them every year, and now finally spring appears to be making it's way into northern Illinois.

I added the pictures I had taken of the girls today to the sidebar of the blog. They are better than I could have hoped for. I have lived in fear of what happens when I take the girls to have portraits taken for 4 1/2 years and finally have hope that it won't be like that forever. They were absolute gems for me today. And they wanted to have pictures taken. They told me after that it was fun even.

This week is spring break for me and we have lots of little things to do, but it has been easy and relaxing so far which is great.

Sarah does have a new one-liner that I have to share while I'm thinking of it. Her new thing is "I'm tired of dis (this)!" She says this whenever she doesn't like something I ask her to do. Going potty it's "I'm tired of dis potty stuff!" At clean-up time "I'm tired of dis clean-up stuff!" It would be hilarious if it weren't so infuriating. :)

Shelby is all about letters, sounds and writing these days which makes this teacher/mommy's heart proud. She has come to it in her own time, but she is learning quickly! She is also all about bike riding when the weather permits. We have taken 2 - 2 mile rides up and down our road recently and she loves doing it. No complaints about being tired even!

No real reason that I've been missing so long from the blog except for being generally busy with life. Sorry to all that have been checking for updates and coming up empty handed. Not much that is really exciting has been happening in our house. We are all just trying to get through the winter blah's and anxiously awaiting nicer weather for so many reasons...bike riding, playing outside more, camping and fishing (well Nate's excited for that, I am a bit nervous about it).

The biggest news that I can think of at the moment is that we may just have Sarah potty trained! She's been wearing big girl panties all the time except for nap and bedtime and we've had minimal accidents! I am so proud of her and glad to not be dragging diapers or pull ups around for the first time in nearly 4 1/2 years.

Here are some random pictures of the girls that I have snapped in the past couple of weeks. Enjoy!

The movie star girl in her pink heart sunglasses!

Sarah with pretties in her hair. This almost never happens, but she decided one weekend that if she could have all the yellow ones (her favorite color) then it would be alright. Just for the record, I think we had 7 or 8 in her hair (all the yellow ones she could find).

A good use for the toy box...not to hold toys but to hold little girls! I think they were playing car.

Grateful

Do you ever have days when you are so, so grateful for what you have. I am generally someone who appreciates what she has, but I had reason over the weekend to really count my blessings. A teacher who I have worked closely with for the past 3 years and who I am lucky enough to call my friend lost her husband over the weekend in a snowmobile accident. I didn't know him well personally and had only met him in passing once or twice but feel like I knew him through the stories his wife told during the time we spent together at school. I am heartbroken for my friend and the 3 children who now no longer have their father with them.

It really made me reflect on all that I have and how lucky I am to have it. I may joke about how I hate that Nate can't ever seem to find the hamper in our house and that I am forever picking up dirty clothes or how the girls are forever yelling for me to come and help them in the bathroom (really I sometimes feel that I spend half my life there) but I would gladly pick up dirty clothes and wipe bottoms 24/7 for the rest of my life if it meant I never have to feel the pain and loss that they are feeling right now. I absolutely can't wrap my brain around what they have to be be dealing with right now, but I know that it has made me grateful for my wonderful hubby and girls no matter what their imperfections. Have a grateful day friends and family!

The bikes

I have been unmotivated to post lately because of work stress, back to school busyness and the winter blahs. Shelby asked me after Christmas was over if that meant the snow would be all done too. Oh how I wish my dear! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree on that one. I am all for snow in December to put me in the holiday spirit, but once Jan. comes, I'm over it. Right after Christmas almost all of our snow melted and we had a couple of warmer days (if you call 35 degrees warm) so we took the girls out for a spin on their bikes. They had a great time and can't wait for the warmer weather to come back so they can get out again.

As a separate note, Nate and I went out for a belated 10th anniversary dinner last night since we had a blizzard on our real anniv. and then went to see our friend Luke play with his band for the last time before he and his family move to Nashville for a new adventure. We had a great time, but it was a sad night too because we'll all miss Luke, Mandy and Addy terribly. Good luck friends and we'll miss you!