Gabba "Hat"

I had the day off yesterday for President's Day, so Liam and I spent some time at one of my favorite places, Target. As we strolled through the baby section we came across the toddler undies. I thought, why not? So, I let Liam pick out the undies he wanted. Of course, he chose the Gabba ones.

After paying, I gave the undies back to Liam to avoid the constant, "I want Gabba. I want Gabba." On the way home, I glanced in the mirror and noticed that Liam had managed to open the package. A few minutes later I glanced back again and discovered that Liam was wearing his new undies......on his head. I almost wrecked I was laughing so hard. I was so worried that he would take them off before we got home for a pic, but that was not the case.

Oh no....he left these bad boys on for about thirty minutes and kept saying, "Gabba hat." Take notice of the other two pairs tightly gripped in his hands.
And a view from behind..............
I think we have a long way to go before grasping the idea of big boy undies, don't you?!?!

Success Story

I received a message on Facebook a couple of days ago from a co-worker and close friend from Texas. She was out shopping with her son and when she was checking out, the boy behind the counter asked if she knew who he was. Once he told her, my friend knew. This boy was hard to forget.

He was in my class my first year of teaching. As soon as the principal saw his name on my list, he came to my room to warn me. This student had never made it through a year without being sent to alternative school. Never.

On the first day of school, I saw him coming. I didn't even have to ask his name. He was just what the principal described, but I put everything I was told out of my mind. I used him as my helper on the first day of school to keep him busy. I continued to do so for the first week of school. I eventually ran out of things for him to help with and the trouble began.

I wasn't going to give up on this kid, so I reached out for help from the counselor, reading specialist, my husband, anyone who was willing to help. We eventually discovered that this kid was smart. Really smart. So, I pushed him. And, guess what? He made the Honor Roll for the first time at the end of the year.....that's right. He was still in my class at the end of the year!

On the last day of school, I was happy and sad to see him walk out my classroom door, and I have always wondered what he was up to. And whether or not his 5th grade year made a difference.

This student was the boy behind the counter from the Facebook message. The boy that is a senior in high school, who has been accepted to college and is majoring in marketing.

I cried when I read that message.

I have had a tough year. I was starting to forget why I ever wanted to teach. This message reminded me.....it's not about me. Or my salary. Or the hours put into my class.

It's about making a difference in the lives of my students.

Thank you, Birmo, for sending me that message. YOU made a difference in my life!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

The final product

We have been working hard to get Liam's train table ready to be glued together ever since Liam's birthday. We didn't plan on gluing it together, but after having pieces of the track scattered throughout our house after his birthday party, we decided we didn't have a choice. I found the final accessory yesterday at Target, and David made the final changes last night.

Liam absolutely loves it! The crane he is playing with here is his favorite.
And this pic is just for fun. Liam loves to be upside down!

Have a great week!!!

Sledding fun

In my last post I mentioned the view from our living room window. This is what I was talking about. If you look closely, you'll see the birds in the tree across the street. Beautiful, right?

When Liam woke up from his nap we decided to take him sledding. We started small with the hill in our front yard. They didn't make it far before they were stuck in a snow drift.
At the suggestion of our neighbor, we decided to give the hills in the park a try. Liam was nervous about sitting on the sled on the way to the park, so I sat with him. David was a champ and pulled us both the entire way.
Liam and I went down the hill the first time. When we got to the bottom, Liam was excited! He kept saying, "Again! Again!" We took turns going down the hill with him and then he wanted to pull his Daddy around.
After a few more trips down the hill, Liam took off. I guess we were boring him.
I chased him down and since he clearly wanted to go to the lake, we decided to plop him down on the sled and walk to the lake. The lake was almost completely frozen over except for a small area in the middle where the ducks and geese were hanging out.

On our way back to the house Liam wanted to sled down the hill one more time. (Why is this underlining!?!?)

As soon as they got down the hill, Liam came running back to me as fast as he could yelling, "Again! Again!" Haha! This boy could play all day in the snow!
We decided he had been outside long enough and brought him back into the house. After we warmed up, we finally left the house. I've never been so excited to walk through Wal Mart's door in all my life! Then we went to Blockbuster and rented some movies. Hopefully we get out again tomorrow before the next batch of snow arrives on Sunday!

Family pics

So, we're on snow day #4 and it's snowing again. I just turned to look out the window and it's beautiful outside. The snow flakes are huge. The ground is a blanket of white. There are birds fluttering around in the tree across the street. Beautiful. And what's that I hear? Is that silence? Yes! Liam is finally napping! Life is pretty good right now!

As I was making my new header I realized that I never shared our family pictures that were taken in November. I didn't want to share before our Christmas cards were out and then I forgot to make a post with these pics! Here are some of our favorites....

My eyes are so squinty in all of the pictures from this day because my smile was so big! Liam was being funny and was making us all laugh so hard! I couldn't help but to smile HUGE!


I love these little shoes!

I think this is my favorite from the day........



Thank you, Chris and Tif, for taking such amazing pictures of my family!!!

Snow Day #2

I'm officially going stir crazy! And I need a Dr. Pepper. Real. Bad. I'm hoping that some of this snow will melt so we can get out for a little bit tomorrow. (Although, I hope it's not enough that we have school Friday! Ha!!!)

We suited up and headed outside for about 10 minutes this afternoon. It was so cold. Ross only lasted outside with us for about 2 minutes before sinking into the yard, so I put him back inside the house.

I had to show Liam how to make a snow angel, but he would NOT get down in the snow to make one.
We walked down to the corner of our street to see how the roads in our neighborhood look. There aren't any snow drifts left in the middle of the street, but they're still completely covered with snow and a layer of ice under the snow.
Liam wanted to give the "balance beam" a try!
There is a huge snow drift on the side of our house, so the boys decided to go play in it.
I asked them to sit on top of the drift. Liam wasn't having it!
When we came back in, it was time to read. We have read so many books the last two days! I'm thankful that Liam loves books!
David decided to baby proof the cabinets in our bathroom. Liam was so excited when he saw Daddy's tools come out! He ran straight into the living room to get his very own screw driver and drill. He loves to do everything Daddy does!
He's taking his job pretty seriously, don't ya think?
As I type this, we're watching American Idol. (Off topic, but I love Steven Tyler!) Liam is dancing and "singing" with all of the contestants. He's seriously cracking us up!!!

Oklahoma Blizzard 2011

Have I mentioned lately that I love snow days? In case I haven't, I LOVE SNOW DAYS! I'm definitely not one of those teachers that hopes for the roads to be clear so we can have school and not have to make up days at the end of the year. I'm all about right now! Snow days are even better since David started his new job today. He now works in academia, so he gets snow days off too!!! You read that right....David's first day on the job was a snow day. How lucky is that?!?!

Liam wanted to go outside from the moment he saw the snow on the ground. We finally gave in around 2:00. We all got bundled up and headed outback.

At first he didn't know what to think. The last bit of snow we had was nothing compared to this.
And he definitely wasn't very happy when he fell for the first time.
But, after Daddy threw one snowball in Liam's direction, Liam quickly got over his fear and threw a snowball right back!
David thought it would be fun to walk behind one of the big snow drifts. Liam just had to join him!
They thought it was funny to "hide" from mommy.
Liam did not think it was funny when Daddy put him on top of the snow drift!
Look at that pouty face! He was not happy to be back inside the house!
After we got out of our layers, we decided to make chocolate chip cookies.
Liam snuck away after helping me stir the cookie dough and this is how I found him....
Yep....he's desperately trying to get the door unlocked so he can get out of the house and into the snow!!! Silly boy!!!!

Liam's hat

Nana and Papa picked up this hat for Liam and it is the cutest thing! He absolutely loves to wear it. It's the only hat that he hasn't torn off of his head as soon as I put it on him.

He loves it so much that he tried to put it on himself. Who cares if it's on backwards? It's still cute!!!