Happy Birthday, Oren!

Today our spunky, sassy, rambunctious youngest turns 3.

After I had Tovi, we thought I wouldn't be able to have more kids.  My body was in pretty bad shape after carrying him, but our doc encouraged us to try for another before having surgery to repair the damage (but end my child-bearing years).  Doc held me together with elastic and velcro (literally!), but we made it.  And on Sept. 10, 2009, Oren raced into the world after one of the easiest labors and deliveries in the history of womanhood.  And he's been racing through life ever since!

We celebrated with Lightening McQueen, Mater, Mickey Mouse, Batman, and one very interactive Superman book.

For a birthday treat, I made jello cookies (see this recipe, courtesy of Jamielyn at I heart nap time) and shaped them into long snakes, one thick for two thin, and sliced to make Mickey Mouse shapes.  They baked up in super vibrant colors and taste tangy and sweet.  I let the boys ice and sprinkle theirs, and then we served them with birthday cake flavored ice cream.  Yum!

Oren fell asleep with a bed full of Cars characters and a new turtle night light stuffed animal that plays very LOUD music (what a lullaby, right?!) and projects stars onto his ceiling after wiggling the starts around this room to make Grayson, the kitten, pounce and chase.  He smiled and giggled all evening.

And Tovi was a fantastic big brother.  It's hard to let someone else have all the fun, and we did have to negotiate some sharing, but Tovi wanted to make sure Oren had all the trappings of a happy birthday, from opening presents to ice cream.  Tovi was very worried we'd leave something out!

 I'll leave you with some of my favorite Oren moments from the past year:

Sept. 11, 2011 "At the ER with Oren since he drank a bottle of benedryl. It was very scary, but he's doing fine now and resting well. Waiting for labs to clear him, and then he should be released by 1."Sept. 13 "In our house, Batman and Thomas coexist peacefully in the Batcave on the Island of Sodor."Oct. 16 "I just found a dart gun under my pillow. Yep, I'm raising boys. :)"Feb. 18 "Oren's been Captain Goober Pants lately. Last night he stripped bare and said, "I'm going to the beach!" and pretended to swim on the floor. Tonight he put a bucket on his head and said, "Look, I'm a chicken!" Silly, silly boy!"Feb. 25 "Oren is walking around with no pants, one shoe (Tovi's) on the wrong foot, and half a plastic golf club."Feb. 26 "First thing Oren said to me this morning: "Hey Mom, cool ears!""

 March 10  Oren loves for me to rub his belly. He even sings me songs about it. He pronounces belly like "betty". And snuggles are "suh-nuggles". I live bedtime rituals :)
March 21  Oren (playing with 2 Power Rangers)... Green Ranger: Hi Power Ranger. My name Mike. What's your name? Red Ranger: Name...um...Power Ranger! :)April 7  Oren was trying to tell Tovi something, and it was taking him a little long to get to the point. Tovi said, "Uh huh. Uh huh. UH HUH!" I hid in the kitchen to laugh :)April 8 Oren recited John 3:16 for me tonight.April 9 Oren doesn't seem to really understand the whole hunting for eggs thing. He went to the fridge, opened it, and said, "There they are! I found them!"April 16  Oren is snuggling Megatron. Every time Oren rolls over, Megatron spews threats.April 19 Oren just brought Nathan Worcestershire sauce and said, "Here Dad! Here you go!"

 April 21 Oren (with his shirt sleeve down under his armpit)... Me: What happened to your shirt? Oren: It fell.
April 29 Waking Oren up from a nap is fun. He gives me random answers to any questions I ask. Me: Do you want to watch Teen Titans with Tovi? Oren: No, I want...ducks.May 27 Wait, what? We are ready for church 24 minutes early? That can't be. Oren will poop his pants or dump yogurt on himself and his brother in 3...2...1...May 31 Oren loves to be with me. He follows me around. Like into the bathroom. And he tries to help me with the toilet paper. Oh, life with toddlers! :)

 June 4 Tomorrow, Tovi and Oren will spend their last official day with the sitter they've had since they were each 6 weeks old. We have some special gifts prepared for her :) We have been so very blessed to have her!!!
June 5  When I snuggled Oren to bed a minute ago, he ripped a big one. I said, "Oren, you tooted!" He replied, with all seriousness, "No, I'm blowing bubbles."June 7 Oren has action figure Thor's hammer, and Tovi has action figure Power Ranger's sword, and they are engaged in an epic (miniature) battle.June 24 Oren pulled a knife on his Aunt Heather on her birthday and thinks swim suits are called swim soups. 

 July 2 So far for my birthday, Oren gave me Tovi's blankie :)
July 21  Oren got to start his very own memory verse chain tonight. Our 2-year-old has memorized John 3:16!Aug. 20 Boys' stats from their check ups today... Tovi: 5 years 0 months, 38lbs, 44 in (above avg height, below avg weight) Oren: 2 years 11 months, 38 lbs, 42 in (ummm...huge)Aug. 25  One of the greatest things ever: hearing my boys quote scripture to each other in the bathtub :)

Happy Birthday, Oren Kole!

Back to School!

Today was the first student day of the 2012-2013 school year at my school.  I teach 6th grade resource, reading, English, and math.  Although I never, EVER imagined myself as a teacher, I LOVE it!!

I have a bit of a reputation (hopefully in a good way!) among the students as being a bit...quirky.  Maybe weird.  But I teach with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and creativity.  We do a ton of active learning, and we do some impressive projects.  My students work hard and produce quality work, and I'm always so proud of their growth.  We have one-to-one technology (iPads), and I love what we get to do with them.

That said, I also know there are areas I need to improve.  Here are my professional goals for this school year:

• Improve my classroom management

• Manage paperwork responsibilities more efficiently and effectively

• Improve communication with parents

• Improve daily routines

• Consistently include active and technological learning opportunities and approach learning as student discovery rather than teacher directed

• Maintain healthier work/home balance

·      I'm excited about the plans I have in place to improve these areas.  I really think I've got things moving in the right direction.

The first day was a whirlwind, as expected, but I think this will be a neat group of kids to work with.  I' sure miss the ones that have moved on, though!  I saw a ton of former students in the halls today, and they all seem so old!  They simply aren't allowed to grow up.  But, on second thought, maybe it's rewarding to see them so mature and well-adjusted.

Now I'm home with my feet up, watching an episode of Dance Moms and relaxing for a brief moment before I get supper ready for my family.  I'll leave you with some pictures of my room!

 This view shows my reading and writing center, our resource shelves, and the doorway to the work room.

 This is one of the lap-height counters I made!  I used old shelves from home and stacked old textbooks for the supports.  I duct-taped them together and then covered them with beach-scene plastic.

 The bulletin board includes our assignment list, calendar, classroom jobs, student personal-best board, and tech procedures.

 My small group table is at the back in front of my office.  Our IA's small group table is off to the left of this picture against the side cabinets.

 After a long day of working in the room, I took a moment to try out the new counter :)

This is our time-out desk, an idea borrowed from a friend from college.  I now have a "Fair vs. Equal" poster from this great blog loaded with freebies!

 I've read that kids like to see what their teacher was like at their age...oh my!

 Writing wall

 Keys to Learning, from this I found on Pinterest...

·      And finally the giant pencil I made out of a pool noodle, based on an idea featured in Family Fun magazine.

Isn't my room fun?! :D

I'm in love with a 5-year-old

I'm in love with a 5-year-old, and his name is Tovi.

Tovi is my first-born, my introduction to parenthood, my proving grounds.  And he's fantastic.

He's creative, living in his imagination, acting out super-hero adventures in every day life.

He's compassionate, quick to sense emotion and eager to respond.

He's particular and quirky, keeping life interesting and amusing.

He's learning to be a good big brother, genuinely enjoying his little brother and inviting him into his daily adventures.

He's a fan of slides.

He's got a heart for God and desires to be good for Him.  He commits God's word to heart and strives to live by it.

And he's down-right good!

Tovi's name means good in Hebrew.  Like in Genesis, when God created and saw that it was good.  He is literally our good boy.

4 has been a fantastic year.  We've lived in capes and masks, even to the grocery store.  Tovi fell in love with Robin, the Boy Wonder, the side-kick extraordinaire.  We've giggled until we've got the hiccups.  We've been to Florida twice.  We've made major changes in our lives.  We've learned to write our name, phonics, right from left, and how to get to our favorite places around town.  We've snuggled.  And snuggled.  And snuggled.  I've loved every age, but I must say, this has been my favorite so far.  I'm a little sad to leave it behind, but I know more adventure is yet to come.

Tovi turned 5 today.  It's a big deal.

So tonight, I'm not imparting wisdom or mulling over life's lessons.  I'm just bragging on my precious Tovi.  So here are a few of my favorite Tovi-isms from this last year!

"Last night as I put Tovi to bed, we heard sirens. He said, "Oh no, someone's in trouble!" He thought for a minute and then said, "They need a transformer! That would keep them safe!" :)" (August 29, 2011)

"Tovi got a Captain America shield for his birthday. This has necessitated teaching him how to say "disks." His pronunciation leads to embarrassment." (Sept 6, 2011)

"Tonight Tovi told me a story:

"Hey Mom, I got to tell you sumfing. You know the black Power Ranger became bad guy? Yeah! He was a monster. Awkward!!"Then he laughed hysterically :)" (Oct 12, 2011)

"Tonight in the bathtub, this is what transpired...
Tovi: (tooting) Hahaha...ha...ha. I fink that's funny!
Me: Why is that funny?
Tovi: Ummm...I don't know...dogs pee outside.
Me: ...yes. Yes they do." (Nov. 16, 2011)

Nathan threw a toy, and Tovi said, "Daddy! That's not bery nice. You shouwd go to your woom." Then tonight when we were talking about Christmas, Tovi said, "What about Baby Jesus in the nest?" When I could stop laughing, I explained about the manger. (Nov 29, 2011)

"Today Tovi did maybe a dozen little things he knows he's not supposed to do, so I told him there'd be no snuggles at bedtime. As I settled Oren into bed, Oren asked for snuggles, and Tovi called from down the hall, "She won't give you any!" Ha!" (Feb 5, 2012)

"Me: Tovi, do you have pants on?
Tovi: I need pants?" (Feb 16, 2012)

"Tovi was reading his new Batman book to me, and he was struggling with the name "Two-Face." He said, "Batman's going to get Toothpaste!"" (Feb 16, 2012)

Tovi: Mom, I have a plan.
Me: Oh yeah? What's that?
Tovi: We can get more chips. 
Me: Oh? Where would we do that?
Tovi: We can get them at the store. We can go tomorrow. I WANT more chips." (March 4, 2012)

"Tovi keeps adding extra syllables into the word "snuggles.". We are up to suh-nuhg-uhd-uhls." (April 1, 2012)

"Tovi asked for 20 snuggles tonight. I asked how we measure 20 snuggles, and he said, "Snuggles go round and round in a circle until they come back to snuggles again."" (April 16, 2012)

"Me: "It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, and water covered the land for 150 days."
Tovi: "...it was wet."" (April 23, 2012)

"On the way home, Tovi said, "Mom, I'm thirsty. How about we stop here for a nice, cold juice?" Sweet-talking little boy!"  (May 10, 2012)

Tovi explained to me why elephants aren't available in pet shops and calls sun screen skun screen. :)" (June 24, 2012)

"Oren has action figure Thor's hammer, and Tovi has action figure Power Ranger's sword, and they are engaged in an epic (miniature) battle." (June 7, 2012)

1) Mom, can we vacuum? This floor's a mess!
2) (while watching me swish the toilet) I sure wish I could do that!" (July 23, 2012)

"‎5 years ago tonight, my mom was sneaking us to the hospital to have Tovi. He was born at 8:11 the following morning. We've been having fun ever since!" (Aug 10, 2012)

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That's my Tovi James, and I love him!