Our First Pinewood Derby!

And the winner! Luke. Can you believe it? We started Luke in Tiger Cubs and they meet every Wednesday night at the school. It has been really good for him!

Week Two!

Last week, I started doing calendar and story time. It has been a lot of fun.

The things I enjoy:

• Being with the kids!
• Reading their journals!
• Doing calendar!
  

Things I don't enjoy:

• Giving timed math tests!
• No time for fun science projects!
• Basal Readers!
  

Things that break my heart:

• Fatherless children.
• Motherless children.
• Parentless children.
  

What I look forward to:

• Cunningham's Making Word Activity!
  
• Guess the hidden spelling word!
• Reading more journals!
• Creating a cool learning packet on Dr. Seuss!
• St. Patrick's Day!

1 down and 1 to go

Luke lost his first front tooth yesterday while eating pizza. He looks great! It's hard to believe how they grow up so fast. I love seeing it!

My first week went really well! I have a great class, and a great co-op teacher. The kids did their part by getting out of the house with no tears, only smiles. We all thrived! Luke was very brave, strong and true. Anakin walks into the babysitter's house with a chipper voice, "Good morning Everyone!" GG seems to be talking more after just one week of her new school.

I have 15 more weeks to go! I start doing calendar this week, then onto spelling next week. Should be fun.

Am I Ready?

Tomorrow is the big day, yikes. The question is am I ready. We shall see. I am caught up on laundry, the kids are all set up at their various babysitting places. But, am I ready?

The parenting thing is hard--very hard. GG had an appointment last week to have her speech checked out. She is going to start therapy in the near future. She is very independent and really rather play and be by herself. She will even go into the basement by herself to play. That seems odd. She is odd, but I love her for all her oddities. So I am doing the right thing, trying to get her help so she will speak. Yet at the same time asking for help seems like I somehow failed her. Luke is having a tuff time with the entire work thing. Maybe because he is so used to having me home. Last night he was in tears, and that was after a huge temper tantrum. Anakin, well he is all smiles and hugs, maybe it will come after I start. Am I ready for this?

The only thing that helps, is I am doing the right thing. This is what I am supposed to do. This will help my family, and help other children. Even though I know it's right, it still hard the next 17 1/2 weeks will be hard on everyone!

I am going to give myself a little pep talk now---Go, Go, Go!!!! I AM READY! It didn't really work, but maybe thinking about the good things will:

• I am thankful I will be student teaching at a great school with a great teacher!
• I am thankful that when my husband is home from work, he does a great job with the kids.
• I am thankful that he has the boys spring break, and I have a different spring break. That will give the kids two weeks of just being home!
  
• I am thankful I found great and loving places for the children.
• I am thankful I found a master's program, and that my microsoft skills helped pay for this program.
• I am thankful that what I love to do will fit into my children's lives!
• I am thankful for the gospel and the spirit that can give you confidence to press forward!
• I am thankful for the scriptures and words of Latter-day prophets and apostles.
• I am thankful for this talk Remember Lot's Wife
• I am thankful for my calling!
• I am thankful for my blog, that I can write out my feelings and gain courage from them.

I might not be ready, but I think I'll keep going anyways!

Sugar Cookie Crazy!

I love sugar cookies. Over vacation I tried out three different recipes for sugar cookies. Each with their own good points.

Sugar Cookie recipe #1
Tammy posted this recipe:

This was a great recipe for kids to be able to roll out their own dough. It rolled so easily. They were almost too soft for me. I think I like sugar cookies to be shortbreadish like. Meaning you can see layers of goodness, and these were so, so very soft and moist, no layers. Next time I want the kids to roll out their own dough, I will definitely use this recipe.

Sugar Cookie recipe #2
Courtesy of the Splendid Table

The first time they came out too buttery. So I cut out the 2 Tablespoons of butter and doubled the baking powder. I also just rolled the entire recipe into a log, and cut out circles. I wanted the kids to decorate balls on New Year's Eve to represent the ball that is dropped in Times Square. My husband thought these were the best tasting. It was really easy to make the balls and the kids had a great time decorating them on New Year's Eve.

Sugar Cookie recipe #3
Courtesy of Ginger Marshall

1 cup powdered sugar
1cup regular sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup oil
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla

Mix dry
4 1/3 cup flour
1/2-1 tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
1tsp cream of tarter
Mix wet & dry--refrigerate. Will be sticky so roll out on floured surface a little at a time. Leave the rest in the fridge. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

My personal favorite. The dough is difficult to work with, but they are soft and have the layered butter, flour, sugar that I adore in sugar cookies.

Now with Valentine's Day approaching, I would like to make some more sugar cookies, so I need more recipes! I will be giving away the newest Emma movie for those that enter the contest.

The recipes are due by February 14, 2010. The winner will be announced on February 15. As I get recipes, I will post the recipes and my personal review and rating system. You only need to send in a recipe to enter.

Email your recipes to

kaylynntje@gmail.com

To Thrive is bettern than survive

I loved my word last year! So much that I am going to make it the word of the decade and my life. But, then I wouldn't have a word for this year. I fear student teaching. Not so much the classroom. I'm comfortable with kids, and I have lots of talent teaching children. No, it's more getting out of the house every morning and all the additional assignments. I just wanted to survive this next year--no kidding.

My word for the year was really going to be survive. My husband said, you ought to change it to thrive. So much better. I am going to thrive this year: grow and develop, not just make it through. I am sure that some days I will just be in the survival mode, but other days I will be thriving--that's what I will be aiming for.

I recently saw the movie Invictus, which brought the point home. Mandela could have survived in prison. That would have left him bitter and angry. Rather he learned how to thrive. When he emerged from prison he was able to forgive those who placed him in prison, and lead others in forgiveness. It is much better to thrive than survive. I am sure there were some days where he was in survival mode, but overall he thrived.

Thrive.

Will be better than survive.

Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas. Mike had off, which was a miracle. We opened presents when the boys woke up, and enjoyed the day in our pajamas. For Christmas Eve, the boys and their two cousins put on the Christmas pageant it was quite a treat! We enjoyed having the spirit of Christ in our home during this time of year.

Mike: is still flying for Air Wisconsin. He flies out of LGA for now. He is always changing bases: five different bases in the past five years. So who knows what will happen next. He continues to serve as the Elder's Quorum President. He is a great dad who often is building amazing ships out of legos for the boys.

Luke: is 6 and in first grade. He is a great reader and enjoys math. He was student of the week because he always tries his best. He has a great imagination, and is constantly writing books both fiction and nonfiction. His recent books included, That is not my Sled, and That is not my Hat. He created a planet called A N W, and has battles and stories that go along with his planet. He decided he wants to create movies when he is older. With his imagination, who knows. He is a joy to have in the home (most of the time). We really can't complain because he is smart, handsome, and a great big brother.

Anakin: is 5 and in preschool. He amazes all of us with his great math skills (adding numbers in his head all the time.) He also likes to write and created his very own character: Joshua the Robot. He even dressed up as Joshua the Robot for Halloween. He loves to play with his brother. Recently during a church program he said this, "My daddy plays legos with me, my mommy reads to me, my brother is a great big brother, and my little sister dances. I help my family by taking out the recycling." He stopped taking out the recycling, but his smile, hugs, and blue eyes make up for his not wanting to go out in the snow.

GG: is 2 1/2 and loves to sing and dance. She hasn't been talking as much as other 2 year olds, possibly because of her obsession with dancing. She is always happy and a joy to have in our home. She loves Backyardigans, Wonderpets, her mommy and milk. She loves to play by herself which makes her brothers very, very happy.

That leaves me: I am still in graduate school. I took 5 classes last year, and will start student teaching on January 13. Hopefully, we will all survive! I am already counting the weeks until I am finished. Luckily, I have great kids who can entertain themselves, and a supportive husband (when home). I love snow days because it gives me a wonderful chance to play with my kids. May we have many more! I have enjoyed school and love the opportunity I have to learn and grow.