Thankful #5

Today I am grateful for children's ibuprofen. My daughter is either teething or growing (I'm not sure which). She has also been up since 4:45 and my son has been up since 5:15. Advil is the only thing that has cut my daughter's screaming down from a full voiced shriek to a more manageable whimper. And the girl takes after her cheerleader mother, she has a loud voice.


Today I have also prepared a bonus blessing. I am thankful for bedtime. Mine and the kids'.

Thankful #4

I have graded 34 sophomore essays in the last 6 days with another 31 to grade by Friday. I have another 36 junior essays coming in on Friday. For those of you who are like me, not inclined to do math voluntarily, that makes for 101 essays to grade in 3 weeks.

Today I am thankful for a website called turnitin.com. This site is a Godsend to the beleaguered English teacher. It checks for plagiarism and keeps a database of every essay submitted by every student at RHS. I don't have to worry that my students' work is their own. It also helps me check the grammar in the essays so I don't have to mark up all of the students mistakes, I just have to check for accuracy. This one website has made my job so much easier and has saved me countless hours in grading. I am so thankful that I can focus on grading student essays for content instead of mechanics.

I know this isn't a fancy thing to be grateful for, but it is usually the simple things in life that make it so much easier to cope with everything else.

Thankful #3

Today I am thankful for my wonderful daughter, Mia.

She has such an enthusiasm for life.

Mia is almost 20 months old and a little spit fire:

• She is a little ball of energy, the girl seriously never stops moving.
• She is learning how to talk, she is saying about one new word a day.
• Even when she isn't saying anything discernible, her mouth is always going a million miles a minute. I wish I knew what she was trying to say because that little girl has a lot to say. It would be wonderful to get inside her head.
• She loves her naked baby dolls. She refuses to leave clothes on the dolls and only puts them in clothes to have the joy of taking them off. Unfortunately, she thinks every baby she sees is a doll and wants to play with real babies the same way she plays with her dolls.
• She equally loves building towers with Legos, playing with swords, and with any other toy her brother happens to be playing with at the time.
• She loves to ride her scooter around the backyard.
• She loves to show affection for everyone, she loves to give hugs, kisses, high fives, and claps when you do something well.
• She is very stubborn and opinionated and even though she can't yet say the words, she knows how to get her point across (we fondly refer to it as "baby cussing").
• She is very independent. It is a daily battle to keep Mia from running into the classroom and going to school with big brother. She has no problem walking up to a complete stranger and sharing her baby, her food, or just giving them a hug.
• Happiness and joy radiate for her. She is one of the happiest children I have ever met. She brings that joy to the rest of the family as well.

The world became a better, happier place the day she was born.

Thankful #2

Today I am thankful for my wonderful, crazy, active little five year old son.

Matt's kindergarten picture.

This picture pretty much shows Matt's goofy personality.

• At the age of five Matt is in kindergarten.
• He asks a million questions a day. His little mind is so full of curiosity and wonder. He helps me to appreciate the simple things in life every day.
• He is working towards earning his yellow belt in Karate (testing is Tuesday).
• He loves to play baseball. He is a much better batter than catcher, but he's working on learning how to catch without getting hit.
• He loves to play soccer.
• He loves to play in the backyard with his mama, dad, and sister.
• He loves his little sister, that is when he's not frustrated with her taking his toys.
• He tries his hardest in everything he does.
• He is a perfectionist and is learning that it is ok to make mistakes. He always reminds himself that only Jesus was perfect so it is ok when he is not perfect.
• He loves to read new books.
• He excels in math and science at school, but is still working on learning to read. 
• He fills my life with laughter and energy and I love him to the moon and back.  

Thankful #1

It has been a really long time since I have blogged, and an even longer time since I have like a real human being. I have been feeling a lot like Eeyore lately so I decided to jump on the November thankful bandwagon. I am hoping that this list will help lift my spirits this month and help me focus on all of the wonderful blessings I have in my life, because they are many and plentiful.

No more Eeyore!

Thankful #1:
I have been terribly sick ever since I got pregnant with my daughter (who is now 20 months old). I had morning sickness the entire pregnancy and I longed for the day that I would have her and the nausea and vomiting would miraculously disappear. To make a long story short, it didn't go away and I continued to feel terrible on a daily basis. The last two months have been particularly bad so I finally broke down and saw my doctor. She ran a bunch of tests to try to discern what exactly was wrong with me. Many of the tests she ran were to determine if I have cancer. After waiting for almost two weeks, I finally received the biopsy results: I DON'T HAVE CANCER!

Being cancer free is something most people take for granted. But for me, I am celebrating the fact that all of my tests came back normal. While I am still feeling sick, everything seems just a bit more manageable without the threat of cancer hanging over my head. Now, on to to figuring out how to make myself healthy again... It will be a long road, but worth it in the end.