Say cheese.

Best wishes

to you and yours

for snapping the perfect

holiday photo.

a candle, a frog ride, a turkey, vintage Leslie, and a victory.

These days I'm burning this White Tea Ginger candle and loving it.

It's not too strong, not too subtle.  It's just right.

What did people do before soy candles?  They are about a million times better than wax candles.

But, as a Spanish speaker with a dry sense of humor, when I hear someone say 'soy candle' I can't help but say 'Eres un candle?!?'  Same with soy sauce.  And soy milk. 

But not soy beans.  Odd.

What do Carolyn and her sweet daddy do for fun when I'm not home?  One of them enjoys being pulled around on a frog who is sitting a crib bumper with a rolling musical cow trailing behind.

What could be more fun than a frog ride?

 

 

The aforementioned frog puller loves nothing more than cooking a big bird. 

And then photographing it.

His most recent masterpiece, a 21 pound turkey.

My bestie recently passed some of her childhood duds on to C. 

She wore one of them the other day and looked like the cutest little biracial Laura Ingalls you ever did see.

And finally, a victory.  I know I've mentioned several times that we are reluctant/confirmed cosleepers. 

My sweet baby spent every night of her first 13 months cuddled next to me in bed.  I loved the closeness, especially since I have to be away from her during the day while I work.  But, it was time for the party to end.  She's bigger now, flops around more, and doesn't really need to nurse at night any more but wanted to anyway.  So we decided to bite the bullet and put her in her crib.  *Gasp*. 

We were prepared for the worst, and we had a plan of how to deal with the crying (which my oh-so-loving hubby researched himself).  We prayed for a smooth transition before the big night, and before we put her in the crib the first time.  And God answered our prayer!  She fussed for a few minutes the first night, but fell asleep quickly and slept ALL NIGHT LONG.  Which she has NEVER done before.  Not once.  And every night since then she's done equally well.  Thank you God!

And thank you readers, for sticking with me through this all over the place post! 

And double thank you for your sweet comments on fb and the other blog regarding our missionary dreams!

Love, joy



 

I have a secret blog.

Well, not exactly secret.  Just unannounced until now.  My husband and I decided a few months ago to serve God full time in Uganda.  This other blog is my journal of the process of making our dream a reality.  I hope you'll go read it. 

http://www.ugandaschool.wordpress.com/


In other (old) news, my sweet baby turned one!  She is walking and starting to talk a little bit.  She says mama, baby, juice, and shoes.  'Juice' and 'shoes' sound just the same, but you can tell what she means by the context ;)

I started a new job this school year.  I'm in a different school district and I'm teaching bilingual special ed resource rather than being a classroom teacher like I was before.  I love it.  It's great to be able to work with small groups and really get to focus on what they need to learn.  I have an awesome group of students and I look forward to seeing them (almost) every day.  Also, it's just easier.  There, I said it.  You non-teacher peeps wouldn't believe HOW MUCH NON-EDUCATIONAL WORK falls onto classroom teachers to take care of.  Special ed does involve it's fair share of paperwork.  But it's nothing compared to the constant flow of picture money collecting, fundraiser promoting, identakid safety card selling, field trip organizing, t-shirt pushing that goes with being a classroom teacher.  And don't even get me started on Dubya and No Child Left Behind...

Okay, now go read my other blog.