Half-Way Through First Grade!

Today marks the last day of the first half of the school year. It seems like yesterday when we were clothes shopping, shoe shopping, when the blissful days of summer were ending, when I was nervously contemplating Grace and Sarah being separated with their own teachers in their own classes. Now they are half-way to the end, and they are doing phenomenally well! They love having their own space and their own teachers, and they have made a lot of great friends. Their reading ability has soared this year, and their math and writing skills are great, too. I couldn't be happier with their success in school, especially given their rough start to life, and I have so much hope for their future. They are two sweet, loving, caring, smart, wonderful girls and we are so amazingly blessed!

Inauguration Day 2008

Today marks a historic day in our country. Barack Obama is our new president! WOW! I am hopeful for our nation's future, and although I think it will take a long time for our economy to recover, I have much faith. We are a great nation, and I pray that great things will happen in the next four years.

I got that from GJ

Yesterday, Mia was feeling under the weather, so we stayed home all day. In the mid-morning, I asked her if she wanted to paint, to which she quickly replied "Yes!" I went into her closet to get out the new painting pad that my mom got her for Christmas and brought it out to the kitchen. She looked at the painting kit, and said "I got that from GJ for Christmas!" I was a very surprised that she knew that, because on Christmas, she was bombarded with about 10,000 gifts from many people. How does a little three-year-old girl remember who she got what from? Every day she surprises us with what she knows, the vocabulary she uses, and the things she remembers. We think she's very smart and are continually amazed by our three-going-on-six year old little girl.

A baby?

So tonight, I picked up the girls from my mom's house, and on our drive home this is how our conversation went:

Sarah: Mom, how do you decide to have a baby when you grow up?

Me: Well, you grow up, get married, and you decide with your husband whether you want to have a baby or not. Then you pray to God about it, and if God wants you to have a baby, He will bless you with one."

(silence...thinking...)

Sarah: "What happens if you decide you don't want to have a baby, but then you get a baby anyway."

Me: Ummmmm.......Wellll.........Ummmm........

Change of subject.

Born in the 1800's???

Funny story from work today, my first day back after Christmas vacation. Today was a student's birthday, we all happily sang happy birthday to him, then I proceeded to ask him how old he is now. He quickly replied with "eight." Then another student, a smart, funny boy, said "How old are you, Mrs. Anderson?" I replied, "Old. Really old." He piped back, "Were you born in the 1900's or the 1800's?" I couldn't help but have a good chuckle right then and there. Some days I feel old, but not THAT old!!

Vacation over, going back to work!

Today marks the end of our Christmas vacation. It's been fantastic sleeping in and hanging around the house with Carey and the girls. We spent a lot of hours cleaning out the girls' toys and other meaningless crap (like those dumb toys that come with kids' meals) and it feels great! We did a great job organizing the toys into bins and labeled them with my handy dandy label maker. The job is not done, for sure, but we put a big dent into my quest to get more organized. Next up: cleaning out and organizing the garage (once that *#&$*# sailboat gets outta there!)

I have a very positive attitude about going back to work. I am very blessed and lucky to have the job I have. So many people in America lost their jobs due to the downturn in the economy and are really hurting for work and suffering financially. I have a great job teaching second graders, working part-time, have an awesome job-share partner, and have my mom to watch my kids while I'm working. I still have time to volunteer at the girls' school and do errands, go to Disneyland and the park. I am so thankful! So that's why I am going to have a smile on my face tomorrow when I return to work after a great, restful vacation!

One more resolution

Here's #5:
Live each day to its fullest and don't put off what I can do today. As Gene Appel said in church today: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift...that's why it's called the present."

Happy New Year!

My resolutions this year:

1) Get in shape
2) Organize the house and garage.
3) Get Carey to get that *#$#!@*& sailboat out of our garage by the end of summer.
4) Read more novels.

I think that's a good start to the year!