Are you addicted to anything?

I would admit there have been times in my life I've been addicted to certain things.  Take for instance Diet Pepsi.  I was never the type of person who would wake up and crack open a can (that would make my stomach churn), but there was a point in my life where I would need to have a DP everyday.  Then there was the time right before I got married I was addicted to exercising.  Quite frankly I think I was so stressed out with my current job and planning a wedding it was a great release.  Okay, I still have a little bit of denial about the whole exercising thing because back then the wind could blow and I would almost fall over.  14 years and 2 kids later I think it would take a tornado to make me even budge!  Then there was the time I was "86%" addicted to blogging.  I'm sure that percentage is down to about 10%.  Well, now I have a new addiction...PINTEREST.  I know that it became a craze awhile ago and I've been wanting to join.  However, I couldn't create an account because I'm not on FaceBook.  Just recently my principal encouraged his teaching staff to get a Twitter account to post all the good things happening in our classrooms.  Once I had a Twitter account I could join Pinterest and now I'm addicted.  I have spent way too much time lately just browsing all of the pins.  There is definitely a learning curve, but I'm learning and it is way too fun!

Do you know who Tim Hawkins is?

Yesterday Tim and I went on a date to see Tim Hawkins at Sunshine Community Church.  There were times that I was laughing so hard I was crying.  He is quite the entertainer telling jokes and performing popular songs that he has rewritten. I would definitely pay to see another one of his shows.    

Did you see that butterfly?

On Monday I went with Elizabeth's class to Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies.  I was in charge of 5 students (2 boys and 3 girls) who enthusiastically pointed out all the butterflies inside the pavilion.  As a teacher my least favorite days are the field trips, however I know that the students LOVE the chance to escape the classroom and learn in a different environment.  Aside from the over 60 minutes spent on the bus, the trip was quite fun.  I know that Elizabeth enjoyed having me with her and it allowed me an opportunity to get to work with some of my future 2nd grade students!

What did you do for Easter?

Yesterday was a wonderful day.  We woke up, the girls had a scavenger hunt to find their Easter baskets inside our house, and then we attended our church for an Easter Sunday service.  After that we hit the road for the first leg of a 6 hour round trip.  While we spent more time in the car than actually at my parents' house we still had a fun time.  The kids did an egg hunt outside with my brother's kids and then we celebrated Tim's recent milestone with a special pound cake recipe!

So what is new with you?

WOW, it has been over 3 months since my last post!  I honestly thought I might just be done with this blog, but I couldn't get myself to stop.  A lot has been going on with my family since the beginning of 2012. 

Tim continues to get accustomed to working for Serv-U-Success while Leah, Elizabeth, and I continue the normal school grind.  We had the strangest winter that I have ever experienced in West Michigan.  I was so proud of the fact that I had all of the girls' snow gear ready before the first snow fell.  That is a first since I am usually scrambling to get something that they needed.  Nope, not this year.  By the middle of December they were ready and then it hardly snowed!  In fact, I took a total of zero pictures of them in their snow gear that they will no doubt outgrow by next winter.  Thankfully we did have our annual sledding event which doubled as my niece's birthday.  We all bundled up and had a blast and my dad was there to take some photos! 

I thought for sure we were going to go the whole winter without a snow day, but we managed to squeak one in toward the end of February.  I think we probably could have made it to school, but no one complained when we had a surprise 3 day weekend!

Here are a few other highlights from the winter:

Our family managed to spend some time creating our annual February Love bugs. 

Leah  had her 3rd piece of artwork on display at the Holland Arts Council.  

She also competed in 2 gymnastics meets. 

We were no means prepared for the week of 80 degree weather that arrived in the middle of March.  The girls were in their suits playing with the neighbor's hose...so strange.  It was also 70 plus degrees when we celebrated Beach Day at our school.  I thought the committee members for March is Reading month were crazy to put that on the calendar, but it was so beautiful!  Now all the buds are in full bloom for tulips and the local crops are in jeopardy.  The early summer weather put all of the kids in spring fever and became prepared for summer break, not spring break.

This year for spring break we decided to stay in town for the week.  It has been totally relaxing.  There were a couple of days when the girls and I never left home.  The weather has been a bit chilly, but overall sunny.  I even took the opportunity to bask in the sun and got a little bit too much color on my face.  The freckles that were hiding all fall and winter jumped out.  The girls and I did manage to hit the local ice rink, well actually Elizabeth is the only one who did indeed hit the ice rink, and they both enjoyed open gym with their neighbor girls just this afternoon.  I also managed to put in some leisure time at school with a couple hours on a few days.  It was quite enjoyable being in the building alone and I got a lot done. 

Yesterday marked a milestone for Tim.  He is now the big 4-0!  We didn't create any major plans per his wishes, but the girls spent the night at  his parents' house while we were "living it up" downtown with some friends.

We are all looking forward to an eventful spring!

What will our Christmas card look like this year?

This is a version of the one sent out to our family and friends.

I love to make our holiday cards digitally, but this year my creative juices weren't quite flowing. After a LOT of procrastinating I finally came up with our Christmas card 2 days ago.  Copies were made today and are ready to be mailed next week.  Better late than never!

What were you for Halloween?

This post is weeks old, but still worth posting.  We did our traditional patience pinata this October and attempted a trendy fall owl.  While the owl was in construction Tim and I wondered if our design would turn out.  Thankfully when we put the final touches on it actually looked alright.  The girls had a blast hitting the owl and discoving the "goods" inside.  This year both of them got slipper socks, Leah got a Halloween shirt, and Elizabeth got a soft sweatshirt (just because I didn't like any of the Halloween shirts in her size). 

On Halloween they had a 1/2 day of school while I held parent-teacher conferences.  Tim made the trip to pick them up and get them ready for trick-or-treating.  Leah dressed up as Minnie Mouse and Elizabeth was a red crayon.  After a few photos we all drove downtown to Grand Haven.  The girls had a fun time seeing all the different costumes and collecting candy from the local stores.  After our time downtown the girls were able to hit a few neighborhood houses.  All in all it was a fun night!