Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanks for giving me...

the most kind, thoughtful, loving, helpful, hardworking, sexy, and service oriented husband.

the sweetest, super creative, thoughtful, smart, independent soon to be 6 year old.

the hugging, superhero powerful, musical, hilarious, lovable 4 year old.

the adventurous, chocolate loving, helpful, crazy, kissable almost 2 year old.

And, God, thank you for blessing us to all be together.  We like it that way...a lot.

Please, when it's thy will and the best time for our family, bless us with another spirit who'll be a champion for Christ and who will mesh well with our family.

I'm eternally grateful for all you've given me.

(my 2011 Thanksgiving prayer)



Thanksgiving dinner plates:

Jaxon's
 Talon's

Doug's

Amber's

Colt's was just a roll and he was off to bed.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Did I mention I'm teaching preschool?

Talon's preschool teacher moved the end of Sept. and I looked into other options but they were either too expensive, too many kids, or too many hours/days.  So I said to my self, "I can do this."


Within my major of Family and Consumer Science Education (a.k.a. Home Economics Education), we learned a great deal about child development and I worked at Brigham Young University’s preschool. We were required to know the in’s and out’s of a preschool in order to teach the high schoolers how to run a “preschool” program within their school. During my student teaching at Pleasant Grove High School, I taught the Child Care class and taught the secondary ed. students how to engage preschoolers in age appropriate activities, as well as organize their preschool to run efficiently and joyfully. This past year, I taught within a “mommy co-op” preschool gaining valuable experience as I was the lead teacher for 12 weeks.


So I did start my very own preschool so my social 4 year old could have the opportunity to learn with others in a fun, structured environment.  I've enjoyed it so far and like using my creative juices in this venue.

I teach 2 days a week from 9am-12, have a total of 5 students plus Colton who joins us when he's not napping and I earn a little extra cash to pay for utilities.

Talon wakes up every morning asking if it's a preschool day and when it is he's super excited and when it's not, he's begging for it.  Here are some pics of him at preschool.

Remember that mirror that Colton pulled on top of himself...with the help of Doug, I turned it into my magnetic chalk board for preschool.  I love it!

 We love reading in our class.  This month we've been discussing the different food groups.  Color identification, nutrition benefits, textures, and some taste testing have occurred. We even made whole wheat bread from scratch where they helped grind the wheat and knead the dough to make their own mini loaf for our Thanksgiving feast.

We got festive for Halloween and made square monster masks and Frankenstein pudding cups and played the ghost game after stringing their scary necklaces.
 Thanksgiving we made "Thankful" banners with pears, pumpkins, leafs, and squares (the shapes we've been discussing) and they wrote the things they are thankful for on the back of it.  Here's the one Talon made.  Also, turkey apples and of course a sampling of the "First Thanksgiving" with berries, corn, seeds, squash, jerky, turkey, and the mini wheat bread they made.  We invited their moms for the feast.

Talon, I do this for you and "For the Love of Learning" as I want you to develop/maintain a desire to learn and that great joy is found as we expand our minds, our character, and skills.  I love you sweet boy!