Perfect Gift

At school they only give babyshowers for first time moms. I understand that that is the tradition, it still makes me feel a little left out. I'm getting over it. Mainly because several of the teachers have brought me something. I got a really beautiful 12 month outfit in blue and green (def. feminine though) and 2 bibs from one of my fellow Spanish teachers. She is an awesome lady. Makes the best boklava that I can't eat or it makes my blood sugars fly through the roof. Another teacher who is due a week before I have my C-section scheduled gave me a tigger toy blankie (hard to describe), a rattle of sourts, and a cute bib that says "I'm the little sister" They are all things I wanted from my registry. First time I ever got something from my registry. That was cool!!! Today I was surprised and tickled pink. at walmart there is this adorable red white and blue flowery dress that I fell in love with the first time I saw it. I keep asking Scott if we can get it. It isn't that expensive, but he kept saying "Nah" Well, you guessed it, I got it today from a fellow teacher. She was not in cohoots with Scott, she just thought it was cute. She also got a cute skirt and shirt set that is obviously for the 4th of july, but I think is adorable and any time able! I plan on stocking up on stuff if there is anything left after the fourth when everything drops to like a 1.00 each.

Speaking of cool deals! At easter there were these cute dresses for $16.00 each. I kept waiting for them to drop in price. They went down to 10, then 7, and finally at $3.00 I got three of them. I'll have to take some ics of the things we have for her!

Today Donovan graduated from Kindergarten and is now ready to enter the first grade. I'm so proud of him. Last week he told his dad he didn't want to graduate. "But Daddy, I don't even know how to read yet!" Each night we have him before we go to bed I read the boys at least one book (Gavin loves his book time!). Donovan always wants to read it himself. He starts off doing really well, but then he gets frustrated, loses his focus, and I notice he only looks at the first couple of letters and then guesses the rest. He then starts to get more frustrated and say "I can't" which in the past really frustrated me. I'm getting better. He got through half of a book tonight and then we had a complete shut down. I wish his mother read with him more! That is something we will be working on very much over the summer. Learning sight words, and reading! I think I'm going to get him some first grade books, maybe even just kindergarten books to work on. That and go to the library at least once a week.

Finally downloaded some pictures.

My mother made the boys the cutest matching outfits last March. At the end of the summer I cried as I put Gavin's little fishy outfit away, thinking he only got a few months good use out of it. Donovan continued to wear it to church, which is odd because he has outgrown every single other shirt he owns! I pulled Gavins out of storage as I was going through his baby things to decide what I would be willing to put Mia in (mostly sleepers and such). I knew that she would look cute in this particular outfit. I decided to see how much Gavin had grown in the year. Appernetly not much because it fits him perfectly, as you can see. Don't you just love their smiles!!!!

First I'll show pics of myself (I meant for them to be last but couldn't figure out how to do it without giving myself a headache. The picture of me in the purple (okay, its just a belly shot, but you can deal right?) is about 6 weeks ago when I was 24 weeks pregnant. I had a bit of a belly bump starting to show. Today, at almost 30 weeks one of my students said "You look like you are a bout to pop." Thanks, I can't wait to see how much bigger I get. I was about this large when Gavin was born! I decided I wanted to get another belly pic and compare bumps 6 weeks apart. It is amazing how your belly can grow!!!

About 2 weeks ago we took a family trip 10 miles from our house to a lovely spot called Grants Farm. Ulysses S. Grant once owned the land and actually made a log cabin to live in, which still sits there today. Back in the early 1900's the Busch family purchased the land and lived there away from the city. In the 50's they opened it up to the public. There is even a free beer garden (I'm sure as a way to sell more beer). Now that Anheiser-busch has been sold most of its parks are either closing or changing. We wanted to make sure we took the boys (not for the free beer, don't worry) to see the animals. Since Donovan's allergies are horrendous this year and I will be an uncomfortable 8 months pregnant when they settle down we couldn't risk the zoo. The boys had a blast in the goat pen. Donovan loved feeding the goats milk. Gavin liked it at first, then became overwhelmed as the goats began to get agressive and knock him down, and chew on his cute little nemo outfit (once worn by Donovan at 12 months - Yes, my gavin still fits in 12 month two piece summer outfits. NICE!!!!)

Blacke Eye!

Last Sunday after church I laid down to take a nap. Scott decided to see if Gavin would go for a nap with momma. Gavin has this thing about hitting parts of you with his head, and then giggling about it. Yep, you guessed it. Right in the cheek bone. OH MY GOODNESS!!! He hit me so hard that I could FEEL my teeth rattle. Anyways, only redness appeared for about 4 days, then all of a sudden I get this wicked looking black eye. I had hoped that my glasses would cover it up, but apperently not. That afternoon when I got home Scott goes "What happened to your eye?" I said "You know what happened!" He goes "I didn't give it to you." I rolled my eyes, where he came up with that comment I have no idea. I then told him it was from Gavin hitting me the other day. His final comment "Wow, it took this long to show up?" My thoughts exactly!!!!!

Did I forget to mention I signed my Contract for next year? I am soooo excited. I just hope I get a classroom next year so I don't have to deal with the pains of sharing (except for my friend Mauri, I love sharing with her and if I get my own class next year will miss her dearly).

Some people!!!

I've been dealing with a difficult teacher all year long. Within the first month of school she made it perfectly clear I was not to touch her stapler, dry erase markers, paper, NOTHING. Well, I also don't have a desk to use in her room (since she often is in there during my class, it is her prep hour) The only place that I could use was a table set at the front of the class which she puts a whole bunch of art supplies on. I have two other students that sit at that table WITH me, so you can imagine how tight it was with all her crap! I started taking her things off the table and moving them to another table that doesn't get used. I forgot to put them back. The next day there was a sign that said "Don't remove materials from this desk" taped there. It stayed there for MONTHS. I continued to move her stuff, but made sure I put the stuff back at the end. I NEEDED THE FREAKING SPACE!!!!!

Okay, she's not said anything to me about it for almost 7 months. There are two freaking weeks left in school. She is doing more art projects with her students and she had a little thing of bead type things on the desk. I had a student help me clear the desk off and you guessed it. The beads fell on the floor. Itty bitty beads of multiple colors. I freaked inside, had my first anxiety attack since being on meds for anxiety. I gave three students extra credit for picking up those little buggers AND putting them back in color coordinated boxes. When they were placed on her desk it didn't appear that a single bead was lost. The boys did a GREAT job.

At the end of the hour I apologized to her for the mishap (my mistake for trying to be a nice person). Her response. "I spend good money on those for my class and that is why I don't like having my material removed from that desk." I looked at her and said "I need the space for me and my students". Her response "I have students there myself and I do just fine.' I responded "I'm glad you are able to do that, but I can't. It is one of my idiosyncrasies." What I should have said is "I don't have ANY space in your class and this is my way of making a small portion of it mine for the 90 minutes I am there." She is just mean and petty and another teacher has another word for her (which I admit I often call her in my head and when I am really mad out loud - I know bad bad Gen!!!!!)

I'm SOOOOO glad school is out in two weeks, and hopefully I won't have to deal with sharing a room with her next year.

Getting the giggles

Several things have given me the giggles lately. About 3 years ago Donovan got a cabbage patch doll from a sister in our old ward. I wanted him to have a doll, but Scott wasn't keen on the idea. Scott had nothing to worry about. His son wanted NOTHING to do with it. HOWEVER!!!!! Gavin has fallen in love with it. He hugs it, pats it on the back, gives it kisses, and the cutest thing of all - and thus the giggles - yesterday he took the doll and made it walk. He stood it up on the floor and moved its legs in a walking fashion. I know he is going to be such a good helper when Mia gets here!

Second thing gave me a huge case of the giggles today in school. I had class today and as I was passing out papers one of my students looked at my ever burgeoning belly. She looks at me sheepishly and asks. "If I poke you in the tummy will you giggle." I look at her a little weirdly, I'm sure, and respond "Probably." She gets this Cheshire look on her face pokes me in the belly with her index finger and says "poke". Of course I giggle, a little out of embarrassment. I didn't think she would actually do it. She then giggles herself. "I love it when pregnant women giggle when I poke them in the belly." It made me smile!!!!