Day 248

This morning I have to give a shout out to my kids' teachers.

Not only are they helping my kids grow and learn every day, they are brightening up our world at home as well!

An extra special thank you to our art teacher, Ms. Meyer for allowing our kids to create and discover their amazing artistic abilities!

I love this door in our kitchen!

Day 247

This is a story about a little boy and his monkey.

Monkey is one of my favorite friends.

He is always helping me.

Tonight, he helped me hide from mean mommy who was making me go to bed when I 'wasn't tired!'

He cheers me up when I am sad because mommy found me and said I had to go bed even if I wasn't a little bit tired.

Monkey listens to everything I have to say, even when mommy doesn't.

He understands that I am never tired!

He really like bed time hugs and snuggles just like I do.

I love my monkey.

Monkey was really good at helping me convince mommy that it was really him that was sleepy, not me.

Doesn't he do a good job of going night night?


I don't know what I would do without my monkey.

Day 246

I love this family! This is the fourth time that I have taken their photos and this time around they had new baby Adlee with!

What a little sweetheart!

She braved the chilly fall weather like a trooper and didn't really protest until the very end of our session.



I love this shot of brother and sister, they already share a pretty tight bond!

Trying to cheer Adlee up...

Day 245

GO BISON!

My mom won two tickets to the game this weekend and gave them to us.

Tanner and I had a blast!

Going into it, I really didn't want to go, I was tired (and a little salty...er, I mean crabby!) and watching football for three hours just didn't seem like a great time to me!

Luckily, I got over my attitude and we ended up cheering for 'our team' and learning all the cheers and chants that the fans do.

I loved all the hype and entertainment as much as Tanner did, it was an awesome thing to experience to together (a first for us both!)

After figuring out that we were sitting in the student section (I know, right... great parenting...letting my seven year old witness all the drunk college kids up close and personal) we found some great seats in the very top row.

He had so much fun, look at that BIG smile!

And he learned those cheers so fast, he was an 'old pro' by the time we left!

Day 244

I love that fall is here and there is a slight crisp-ness to the air!

We had a busy, fun, fall afternoon on Saturday and got to experience a couple of 'first's' for our family.

The afternoon started with a trip to Dakota Carriage Pumpkin Patch just outside of Fargo.

It was the first time we had visited a pumpkin patch and although it was a lot of fun, I think that we will stick to hanging out on our own farm.

There were a TON of people there and we had to wait a lot...which isn't a bad thing, but is hard to deal with when it is a certain little three year old's nap time ...(note to self, wait until after a nap to go something like this!)

Anyway, here are the photos from our fall afternoon...


I know it, you are totally thinking, what in the world is she talking about? He doesn't look crabby from lack of nap...well, believe me, this was one of only a handful of smiles that he flashed!



and here is the start of a crabby face...

Walking through the corn maze...they had fun but the whole time I was thinking how we could totally do this at our house!

and miracle of miracles, they do get along...sometimes!

this photo makes me smile...none of them wanted me to take their photo...you can't tell, can you?!

"man! these pumpkins are HEAVY!"

We tried to get a photo of me and all the kids..this was the best we could do!

I am so thankful for these three, even if they drive me a little bonkers some days!

Day 245

Welcome to my corner of the world, my classroom.

I have wanted to share these photos for awhile, but I am not quite done in my room and was kind of waiting until I could take photos of the whole space.

I am beginning to realize that I may not ever be 'all done' in the room, I think there will always be projects to create and new things to add.

First off, the 'twitter' board.

My students love it! So far, we have only 'tweeted' about books we have read, but I am looking forward to coming up with new ideas on what to 'tweet' about.

The new 'Boggle' board.

It is amazing to me that none of my students have heard of this game, and so far its been a hit with them!

It's been a great warm up activity to our small group time and gets them working with building words, which can be a challenge and a lot of fun!

I already showed a photo of this a couple of months ago...

and I had to add it to this blog post because this has been one of my students favorite things.

Everyday, they come into the room wondering which of them will be the student 'who rocked' the day before.

I love it because it has been a great motivator for good behavior!

The next few photos were taken in the reading corner, which is still a work in progress..(there will be more 'cool' pillows, another chair, and a better bookshelf soon!)




It makes me happy and excited to come to work everyday, and hopefully keeps my students excited and happy to be there as well!

Day 244

I know, I know.

You are thinking ..what's up with all of these posts about reading?!

Well, I am a reading and math teacher and it makes me super excited when my own children are excited about it!

It makes me think that I must have done something right when I was reading those thousands (and I am serious) books to them over the past seven and a half years.

We stopped at the library last night after school and I let them choose some books (along with myself!).

Ty was the most excited about his choice, he even 'read' it to me this morning!

Day 243

Reading is one of my all time favorite things to do and I am hard pressed to find an activity that takes me away to another time and place quite like it.

I can't imagine a better way to spend a cold, wintery evening than curled up on the couch with a blanket and a 'can't put me down' book.

When I came into Madi's room tonight to tuck her into bed, this is what I found her doing...


She is bound and determined to learn how to read.

I couldn't be more thrilled.

I didn't ask her to pick this book up, she chose it.

I love listening to her little girl voice forming the sounds that the letters make.

For me, there is no greater joy than watching her little eyes light up when she is able to sound a word out all by herself and say with complete confidence, 'Mom! I can READ!'

Reach for the stars my sweet girl, I know you can do it!

Day 242

Twins!!

Aren't these two of the sweetest babies you've ever seen?!


Willa and Riah are only 2 weeks old and gave their mom and I a run for our money.

It seemed like as soon as we got one little one all posed and ready for the shot, her sister would wake up and cry or move around.

But it was definitely worth the hard work...

(along with all the snuggles!)


Don't you think?

Day 241

I love getting together with family!

Yesterday we met at Mexican Village for my cousin Amberly's 30th birthday.

It was a fun afternoon full of lots of stories and laughter.

Hope you enjoyed it Amberly! It was great to see you again!

Day 240

It was another beautiful fall day yesterday for a wedding!

Thankfully, it wasn't a repeat of the day before (those wind gusts were strong!).

Congratulations Aaron & Jenny!

Thank you for asking me to capture your day!

Day 239

I think I have a 'future' farmer on my hands.

He is only 3, and already engrossed in the Titan Trader catalog!

Oh, and did I mention that he spent 14 hours the other day in the combine with his dad (and before you start thinking, what kind of parent is she for letting him?! It was his choice!).