Pinterest Obsessed!

And let me tell you why!
Pinterest is all about organizing your ideas! And for an organizing obsessed wierdo (thought not at all organized as much as I should be) like myself, Pinterest is a small piece of heaven for me.
And you know what else? I use pinterest for research. As a new third grade teacher, I have found amazing resources from seasoned teachers who just have it all figured out.
And another thing, dinner ideas abound on pinterest. So all I have to do is check out my pinboard every other week or once a month and choose the meals I want to try out and make my grocery list.
And one more thing I love about Pinterest, Creativity at its finest! And I get to steal all the fun ideas and make them my own!
All right, and honestly, it's fun!
So, do you Pinterest? If so, are you in love, or what? If not, leave a comment and I'll send an invite!

Grace at Three!

I can hardly believe how fast Grace is growing up! We took her out for her annual birthday pictures and I am a little saddened by how old she looks in them!

She has so much personality!

Grace never stops talking, you will notice that
 in half of the pictures her mouth is hanging open.
She is usually in the middle of a sentence.
She just won't stop talking long enough
 to look and smile at the camera.

ATTITUDE! She has definitely got one!

I always have to add one of these tantrum throwing pictures.
She is getting so hard to photograph. She will not hold still or smile for anything!

This one is just funny to me, she was telling me a story.

I need to doctor this one up, and take the red eye out, but I love the pic.

I wish she would have smiled, but I sure do love this picture.

My favorite thing about looking through these pictures, is seeing Gracie's personality shine. Her fun and silly side, her spunk, and her temper all shine! She is such a little girl with huge personality. I love that about her!

Tea with Grandma

We don't really do birthday parties in our home, we like to have a nice dinner with the grandparents, but that's really all we do. But this year we did something a little unusual for Gracie's birthday. She loves having tea parties, so we had tea with her grandmas and a few of her cousins and aunts. She shared her tea party with her favorite person in the whole wide world...Eva (her cousin). She LOVED it, and is still talking about it and asking for another tea party. Check out the fun we had!

My sister, Miriam, putting the candles in the birthday cake.
Grace made a special request to have strawberry shortcake.

These girls are too cute, and so fun!

Seth's First Hair Cut!

I have to say, this was a little emotional for me. I could not stand to see Seth's beautiful curls be cut off. I saved them...but I sure do miss seeing my baby boy, curly locks and all!

Before the haircut. Look at those sweet curls!

During the haircut. He seems to be enjoying it.

Almost Done!

And after the haircut. He looks all grown up! I dislike it very much!

Sneaky Photographer

Can you tell who climbed up on the counter and took this picture?

Those are Gracie's cute little toes you see! She's our sneaky photographer!

A New School Year and a New Job

The new School year began on Wednesday, August 22nd for me. I have a new job this school year, I am teaching 3rd grade at Oakwood Elementary in Preston! Two days into this year and I am loving it! The faculty and staff are great, and so friendly! I feel so accepted and supported by them.
 I admit, I had a small panic attack the day before school began and I wasn't even finished prepping my room and lesson plans. But I reminded myself that I had help, that I wouldn't be alone, I have a supportive husband and family, my mentor (SOOO grateful for the mentor program), friends, co-workers, and a lot of faith, to get me through whatever this year may bring.  So here's to a new school year. I am looking forward to having structure and a schedule in my home again. It is going to be a busy year, but I have come up with some things that I think will get us through the busy and hectic days with a little less pain and frustration. I think I will share them in another post...if I have time.

The entrance to my classroom. 

Have a great school year to all students and parents of students!

Grace is Three Years Old!

Grace's birthday was a little different this year, we were out of town at a reunion and forgot to bring her presents, so we celebrated it twice. Lucky girl. We did cake and balloons on her actual birthday, and presents and cake (again) Sunday after her birthday. She loved spending the whole day with her cousins for her birthday and the present thing didn't even seem to faze her, so I think she had a great birthday celebration.

Cake On her birthday (Aug 18th)

Gracie at Three:
Gracie is such a fun girl! She loves all things "girl:" fingernail polish, dresses, bows, baby dolls, EVERYTHING! She has the cutest little lisp when she talks, and she talks with such animation and expression that even the dullest of sentences is a performance. She is so outgoing and accepting of all people, she will make friends with anyone and anything! (Just ask the homeless guy she made friends with at our garage sale a month ago...seriously) But her favorite people are her cousins (and second cousins, Carly and Makenzi) she loves, loves, loves being near them. Grace knows what she wants, and she thinks she can get what she wants. Temper tantrums are just a part of who Gracie is, and we are learning to cope with them. Gracie is a helper: she loves to help mommy cook and clean, she loves to help daddy fix and tinker, she loves to help Seth do everything. Above all, Gracie has a joyful spirit! She can whine and tantrum, but she easily forgives and moves on. She has the brightest eyes and the happiest smile, and at the end of a long day, they can make everything just fade away into non-importance. I adore her. I am so grateful she is mine!

By Way of Comparison

I know you shouldn't compare your children to each other, but I can't help but compare how Seth and Grace looked (or now look) at their major mile stones. These are pictures of them at the same ages. They definitely have some similarities, and a lot of differences.

Grace a few weeks old

Seth a few weeks old

Check out their noses. They totally have the same thing going on there until you look at their one year old pictures...

Grace, first birthday

Seth, First Birthday

Doens't Seth have such an older look than Grace did at a year old? 

They look more like each other now than at their same ages.

Kind of fun to compare how their looks have changed and evolved.