I love teachers

I got to go visit my friend Jenna teach yesterday.  I taught with her for two years before I quit to stay at home.  I had so much fun watching her and her roommate (yes, roommate) teach.  They made bubble maps for reindeer and created a reindeer out of their thumb prints and pretzels for antlers.  Then I got to help their 3rd graders make "cootie catchers" using the future tense.  But how do you teach these students who are learning English as a Second Language about the future tense when the English language doesn't really have one?  We just say going to, will, and about to.  Well, Tara dressed as a fortune teller and transformed herself into Madame McCamey and told the children their future...

You will take a bath tonight.
You are going to eat chicken nuggets for dinner.
You will miss the bus next week.
You will become a fire fighter. 

The kids were into it.  They were giggling, they all wanted their future told and then what do you know?  They all understood the future tense.

I'm so proud of my ESL teachers.  These women are working in tight quarters with high expectations.  Take a normal classroom and divide it in half.  Then take that one half and divide it in half again, giving two teachers a half of a half.  You have two teachers working in ONE HALF of a classroom and they have as many as 22 kids in there at the same time!!!  I miss it so much and it was good to be back.  Thank you for letting me help, read a story, and watch you both do amazing, life changing work.

Today the girls and I went to the library where we met up with Katie and little Higgs.  We enjoyed story hour and got to see Tia.  Then we came home and enjoyed some lunch and played outside.  It was in the sixties here and we had a good time.  :)

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long day

It was a long day in our house.  We were trying to get out the door and Emilie had a dirty diaper, so while I was changing it, Aubrie decided to pack the diaper bag and put my mug of coffee in the diaper bag.  Coffee was everywhere...even on my phone.  Phone is ok, but it definitely helped delay our departure time.  Then this afternoon, I catch Emilie dipping my high heel from Sunday in the toilet. 

Sigh. 

But as I was leaving Aubrie's room and kissing her goodnight, she said, "See you at 7!  Hey mom?  Merry Christmas." 

So sweet.  Makes it worth it.

Almost.  Hahahaha.

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Orange Glo and Christmas dresses

I've been wanting to bash Orange Glo on my blog this whole week, but haven't had the chance.  First of all, I like to leave things humorous or positive on here.  We have bad moments in my house.  I would love to bash things and complain, but who wants to read that?  Well, today is an exception...sort of.  Maybe more like a public announcement.  It goes like this:

I hope Santa feeds Rudolph a bean burrito and he digests it right as he flies over the CEO of Orange Glo's house. 

THAT is how much I hate Orange Glo.  It says on the bottle, "It leaves behind a clear, non-slip shine without leaving buildup or sticky residue."  LIES!!!! 

Google "Orange Glo ruined my hardwood floors".  It's amazing.  There are millions of poor helpless souls like me that used Orange Glo to clean their floors and ended up with floors that had a grimy, gray, foggy, dirty texture to it afterwards.  It was horrible.  I tried the Shark steam mop.  Nothing.  I tried diluted vinegar.  Nothing.  I spent hours researching online about how to get rid of this nasty, filmy,  gray stuff on my floors.  I was so nervous.  People would post "Don't use vinegar."  "Don't use ammonia."  "Don't do anything, call a professional."  I just didn't know what to do.  There is even a website that charges you 9.99 to give you the "Solution" to getting rid of the Orange Glo on your floors!! 

Finally I decided to do the method that everybody seemed to be doing.  I tested it on a small area first and luckily it worked like a charm.  The magic weapon against Orange Glo is Windex.  I had to spray windex on, wait about 20 seconds, then using paper towels, wipe it off.  The paper towel would be a grayish brown.  You had to keep getting a new paper towel because you didn't want to keep spreading the Orange Glo.  When I realized it would work and not damage my floor, I rolled up my sleeves, and spent two days, on my knees, scrubbing my floors...all 1700 square feet of wood floors downstairs.  Here is what the Orange Glo company owes me:

1.  apology for lying
2.  3 rolls of paper towels
3.  2 bottles of windex
4.  2 aleve (I woke up with the sorest shoulder EVER.  And I played volleyball FOREVER.)
5.  8 hours of my life back.

I would make them owe me knee pads, but my volleyball team that I coached a couple of years ago just couldn't stop winning tournaments and one tournament we won gave us the option of new socks or knee pads as a prize.  I was disgusted at the time, but now I'm thankful.  Thanks girls for winning!  :)

So there it was.  I hate Orange Glo.  Don't use it.  Don't use any cleaner.  I'm only using my steam mop from now on.  Just good old water. 

Now to brighten the mood...Christmas dresses!!!



Aubrie putting the bridle on for Emilie




Emilie's dress was Aubrie's 18 month dress.  A little short.  Aubrie picked her dress out during my famous Kohls shopping trip.  They matched pretty well!  And here is a better view of Aubrie's hair from the back.  I think the lady did a really good job for all the jerking around that was happening. 

 Tia had her Christmas concert at church tonight.  As always, it was wonderful.  She works so hard and does so well.  She's a very talented pianist and we look forward to her teaching our girls how to play.  Another fun event was Josie stopping by!  She was in the neighborhood and dropped by.  She got to be a part of our rock band.  I forgot what she got to play, but she did pretty well.  Dad even got into this time. 

All the excitement got Petey fired up and sometimes he doesn't have a healthy outlet for his excitement or other emotions so this happened...

Oh well, I wanted new throw pillows anyways. 

Love to all!!

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1st haircut!

Somebody got her first haircut today!!!  I know, she's almost 3.  But she really doesn't have any hair.  What little hair she does have is wild and unruly.  So we went with a cut that is short and layered on the back and it looks really cute on her.  I'll try and get a picture of the back later. 

We went to a kids place to get it cut.  I didn't tell her where we were going or anything.  It was just me and her.  She walked right in, liked what she saw.  The lady asked her to sit in the chair and she hopped right up there.  She liked the cape that they put on her.  Was watching the little t.v. while they lady sprayed her hair with a spray bottled but then she saw her reach for the scissors and went NUTS!!  I mean, she was screaming, covering her ears and ducking her head.  She kept saying "get out of there!" to the lady.  We tried a lollipop.  We tried a juice box.  I sat on the floor and let her comb my hair.  I even showed her that the scissors were ok and cut off a lock of my hair!

Luckily the lady was very nice and patient and we got the job done.  She said it was normal for the kids to freak out.  We teach them that scissors are dangerous and to not talk to strangers and then expect them to sit in a chair and let a stranger touch them with scissors! 

Adam's parents are in town.  Amanda is having her annual Christmas piano concert at the church tomorrow (details below).  They watched the girls while Adam and I went to a company Christmas party last night and then tonight he and I went out on a date.  We watched Arthur Christmas in the movie theatre and it was wonderful.  We had a great time.  I hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend.  Please join us at Amanda's concert tomorrow.  It's refreshing to sit still during this busy season and relax while listening to Christmas music.

Love to all!

Amanda's concert
at Belmont United Methodist Church
21st and Acklen
at 4 pm

children welcome!  (at least ours will be there...)  :) Pin It Now!