I'm a sucker....

So, this week was true Texas weather.  The shot below was Monday, while I was waiting for Bebe's jazz class to finish...

And this is Tuesday...  It snowed AND we went to school!  It's amazing!  Usually any little flake with cancel our day.  I celebrated by chilling my Dr. Pepper outside my classroom.

 Mamu enjoyed doing his 'homework' which is little practice books we've gotten.  He brought it with him to ballet on Wednesday and enjoyed practicing his letters.  Doesn't he look cute in his little sweater?  He got to wear it to school because it fits in the uniform code.  Moose are optional. :)

 I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am so thankful that my kids play with each other!  I found them playing the castle/batcave/pirate boat this week and it was so cute!  I'm still not sure what was going on, but all the knights, batpeople, villians, etc were playing together.

 One of my students' moms is having a boy in March, so I told her that I would be happy to give her some of Mamu's old clothes.  I braced myself for going through his old baby clothes, and surprisingly it wasn't too bad!  I kept one box, have 3 that I need to see if I can get the stains out, and 6 boxes to give to our friends for their wedding garage sale, and 2 for the student's family.  Now don't think I was stingy with them, she told me that she doesn't need any 0-3 month things.  Also, I tried to sell some to Once Upon a Child, but they didn't buy much.  But, that was more than I had with the clothes sitting in his closet!  Please excuse the mess, I was mid sorting and piling and we've not been forcing Mamu to make his bed.  But you can guess who is favorite superhero is by his sheets...

 Saturday we ran errands and did some general things.  After naps, Bebe put on a show with her Zoobles.  It was Sleeping Beauty complete with props, prop list, cues, and a spotlight.

 And then Mamu got in on the action...

 These are two of Mamu's favorite guys.  Tutu and Ooh Ooh. Somedays Ooh Ooh is Tutu's mom, and some days his dad.  They go on a lot of adventures.

 Mamu decided that he needed a headlamp when he went to bed... We wouldn't let him keep it on, he was up late enough as it was!  He would probably read until he fell asleep ...

 Yesterday we celebrated Aunt Sam's birthday.  She died when Bebe was a baby, but we celebrate her birthday every year.  This year, we went to play mini-golf and ride go-karts.  Bebe decided she still doesn't like go-karts because they go too fast.  I told her I would remind her of that in 6 years...  Mamu loved riding with Jas though.  I believe they rode 3 times.

 Of course there were arcade games (are they still called that?) so we played a few.  I had to get my Skeeball on!  Bebe played a giant touch screen Fruit Ninja and Mamu did the hammer the alligators and sharks.  We got 43 tickets!  Oh my!  The prizes we got!  A bracelet, lollipop, and 2 army men!

We enjoyed Marygail's and Jon's company last night for dinner and games!  Mamu was so excited to get to play his roller coaster game and Bebe got to play Killer Bunnies.   I got to talk wedding with them because they are engaged!  So exciting! Especially with Pinterest!  I made my own board to pin ideas for her there.  :)

 We celebrated with Chips Ahoy! cupcakes for Aunt Sam as well.  They are g.o.o.d!

 This morning we had no school, and I found Batman reading this morning!

 Bebe got some money for Christmas and she needed to get one of her bears from Build a Bear fixed, so we went to the mall today.  Mamu is obsessed with maps.

 At first, only Bebe was going to get an animal since Mamu is super picky about his guys.  However, he saw a wolf (it's actually a Husky, but we're not going into that) and he came to me with his cute little face, very sincerely and said "It's wolfie's dad mom!  Can I get him please?"  Well, since I'm a sucker, Hearty has joined our family.  And wolfie is so excited to have his dad.  Because apparently, he was missing.

 Mamu had brought in MonkeyPup to see if MonkeyPup needed anything...

 It's a shame this is too big to ship to Alaska because it was on super good sale and I wanted my sweet KK to have it!  However, all the savings I would have on it from the store would be eaten up in shipping costs.  Sorry KK.  (Plus her mom said no.)

 We typically go to Chili's to celebrate Aunt Sam's birthday, so we did today since we were too tired yesterday from our puttputt adventure.  Here is Rani, Bebe's newest bear.  It lights up.

 Our requiste silly pictures... Never to disappoint!

It was a good week.  A weird weather week, a celebratory week, and a fun week.  I completely enjoyed my last Monday off until March.  And I'm a sucker for a cute little boy...

Sock Man, Homework land, and Bob

So, I accidentally clicked these in the wrong order, so we'll work from today backwards. 

I don't know if this is a normal occurance in other families, but Mamu regularly puts socks on his hands.  Typically right before bed, or sometimes if he has an owie.  Not sure why we got Sock Hand Man today, but he was here.  Don'tcha worry now.  He takes them off before bed so he can suck his fingers.  Bebe used to sleep with gloves on her hands when she was about 2 or so.  I promise we turn the heat on in our house!

Mr. Men bedtime story today.

This.is.Mamu.  He is a blur.

 Last night, we got some hail briefly.  Jas and I were watching a movie and all of a sudden, I said "Is that hail?"  Yup.  Just like Sonic ice... I did mention that we should grab a cup!  (Please excuse the random yellow bucket in my backyard.  I'm not even sure why it's even there.)

 I have been wanting rainboots for awhile... Mostly because when I do bus duty in the rain, my feet get soaked (unless I borrow some from one of my fabulous coworkers who does car duty) and I've not wanted to pay outrageous amounts for them to only wear the few times we stand in the rain.  I found my heart ones at Walmart on clearance yesterday!  I also got the kids' their's at Once Upon a Child yesterday when we went for their clearance sale.  (Side note:  I typically go to their clearance sales and find a lot of clothes for the fall.  They had next to nothing for Mamu - sigh.  But, got Bebe some great pants for a steal!  Also, I got Mamu some cleats for Baseball for $5.00. He is super excited about having 'real baseball shoes'.  -He used to just wear a pair of old velcro shoes.)  Now, back on topic.

True story: We took this in the Kroger parking lot in the space next to ours.  I look up after taking it and see that a car has been waiting for that spot.  Oops!

 Our errands took us all over yesterday and Mamu saw this set-up at Walmart.  He negotiated with me to let him get in and 'pretend to be a football man'.  This involved a lot of falling down. 

 Friday, Bebe had a friend over to play, so I made cookies for them to munch on after school.  Mamu was saying that his throat hurt and he couldn't eat because he had to hold it with his hands.  I wrapped his scarf around and poof!  It was fixed.  And yes, he's wearing short sleeves in January.  It was 70 degrees Friday.  Dontcha worry...as I write this, it's 32. 

 Bebe and her friend choreographed a dance that they think they are going to enter into the school talent show.  We'll see if they remember that in March.  It was pretty cute.

 Thursday, Bebe helped Mamu read his Bob books (which he loves).  This was an especially big undertaking because Mamu skipped his nap at school and was quite tired.  When he's tired, he's constantly moving.  Now before you think that I'm an evil witch that makes her 4 year old read when he's tired, back it up friend.  He was insistent that he read it.  In fact, I believe he read two that night. 

 There are comprehension questions on the back of this set and Bebe was asking him the questions for me.  Now, you can see the constant motion.  Lord, please help his kindergarten teacher and please keep blessing his preschool teachers with a lot of patience.

 Wednesday, Bebe was at dance and they had posted their costumes for recital.  She took pictures to show Jas, and I figured let's share them with you!  Also, you'll probably forget them by May, but if not, act surprised.

Jazz - with black leggings and possibly the headband.

Ballet.  Isn't it beautiful?  The sash will either be teal or purple.  And apparently there is a doll involved.  I'm about to warn MG that I might (I haven't yet) offer to make the dolls matching dresses.  Why warn MG?  Because I'll need help.  Doesn't it remind you of Gone with the Wind?  Hands down, my favorite ballet costume in 6 years.

 Also, on Wednesday it rained buckets and Mamu was thrilled to get to have his own umbrella.  Sadly, later that night it broke with the wind (it was already on it's last legs from when Bebe used it).  We're in the market for a new one for him, but he hasn't found the one he wants yet.

 Here's the homework station I told you about last time.    It's been working quite well.  I hope we can keep it up!  The white bin holds pencils, tape, stapler, crayons, markers, and stickers.  The first drawer in the black one is Mamu's current choices for work and the second is Bebe's.  I plan on switching out their choices. It's been really good because Bebe can just pull out her drawer and anything she picks will be something she needs extra practice in or a challenge.   The bottom two drawers hold extra workbooks and flashcards, with graph paper, a dictionary, and coloring books.

 The kids are hard at work!

 Monday, Mamu was a  bundle of energy before bed (as usual) but he did stop to tell me that he loved me.... Ok, ok.  Actually, he was pretending to be Spiderman and do the whole web shooting thing, but since he knows that I don't love me some Spiderman, he quickly changed to love.  :)

 See?  Wild man.

 On Sunday, I made bread.  Mmmm.... carbs.  It was hard to save some for the rest of the family and for dinner!

 Saturday, we took advantage of a gift card one of my students gave me and went to have frozen yogurt at the new Sweet Frog that just opened up.  Bebe had earned a yogurt trip with her chores and we enjoyed it!  I love me some cake batter yogurt with gummi bears. 

Mamu was imitating one of the frog pictures there.

Well, that about wraps it up!  This was our first week back after the break and it was a doozy!  The kids were great, we got right back into the swing of things, but man, it was long.  Luckily, this week we have early release on Friday for the kids, so I should be able to get some work caught up on Friday.  Now I'm hungry for yogurt.

It's a New Year!

We started off the year with a bang!  Literally.

We had some termite damage a few years ago (and luckily, a student's dad is a pest control guy and gave us a discount on the treatment!) that damaged our back door.  It finally got bad enough that we needed to replace it.  For the first time (that I can remember) we hired a handyman to replace the door and some siding that was damaged as well.   It was honestly quite weird to have people working on my house and me just carrying on my life (cooking lunch, playing with the kids, cleaning...).  I don't think I'm hanging up my tool bag by any means, but it sure was nice not having to do it.  Dontcha worry though...I just got a new headlamp and utility knife, so I'm sure I'll put them to use soon.

Bebe and Mamu sported their matching shirts from Grandaddy.  They get a kick out of them!
Mamu kept saying "Lego!  No!"

Duncan supervised the removal and installation of the new back door.

 Mamu has been on a 'silly picture' kick lately, so after all his serious pictures, he poses for a silly one.  It almost always involves his legs all over everywhere, weird hand signals, and his tongue.  We all played along.  He took pictures of Jas and I, and MG and Grandaddy and told us to be silly.  Sadly (?), ours do not involve weird leg kicking, odd alien hand signals, and ... well, they did involve some tongue sticking.

Since I ran out of time on Christmas to make pumpkin pie, I made sure to make some for New Year's lunch.  I made our traditional homemade whipped cream for the topping, which didn't last long. :)

 Before we start back to school, I wanted to organize our 'homework area' which is the other side of our bar in the kitchen.  Bebe sorted their extra work and we put it into a new drawer system, with one drawer for each kid. Now they can pick out something from it, get some extra practice, and easily put it away.  Everybody's happy and I'm working on my goal of challenging the kids.  I need to take a picture of the final area, maybe tomorrow I will, and show it to you.  The kids did a great job tonight.  Mamu practiced his cutting and number writing (and stumped Jas with the rhymes he sings while writing) and Bebe worked on her addition speed and her division flashcards.

 It was the nicest day of our break (so far) so we seized the day and went to the park for lunch.  Don't let the kids fool you - they were warm from the walk / scootering there, but once they sat down and ate, they both put on their coats.

 Our requsite silly picture (notice the leg, tongue, hand signs - I think he's sending some signals to someone).

 Mamu and Bebe were playing in the backyard before we went to the park, and Mamu found his golf set. He insisted on taking the club and ball to the park as well.  Then, after lunch, Bebe helped Mamu putt.  It was quite cute, if I do say so myself!

That's our January so far!  We've got one weekday left of our nice 2 week break, and then back to school on Monday.  It stinks that I finally hit my stride about today and getting into a routine of being at home, and I go back to work.  But hey, I've got a job that I love and I can't complain about that.  Until I can find someone to pay me (the current amount I make now) to stay at home, I've got the best thing going!  (**And if you know someone who is willing to pay me that amount for me to stay at home, please let me know.)