good things

It has been a busy and tiring week. But as I sat here, enjoying a few moments of relaxation, I began thinking about the good things in my life.

Here are a few:

I'm done with report cards! I know you may be thinking "how hard can 1st grade report cards be?" but trust me...they are a pain and take way too long to fill out. So, it is good to be done with report cards.

It is good to be married to someone who makes you laugh and you can be silly around. It is also good to be loved as "mama."

It is always good to enjoy yummy food. This is from Thanksgiving dinner at my family's house. Nathan was ready to sample daddy's food.

It is good to see a smiling face. It is also good to get a break from a busy boy who happens to be napping right now. (Nathan is enjoying his play center for the first time here.)

It is especially good to be home right now on this rainy day. I took a half day off work since Kevin is leaving for Tennessee for the weekend. I wanted to be home with Nathan. It worked out well. Not only do I get to enjoy time with Nathan but I avoided being inside the classroom with 20 first graders for a whole work day. (Actually, they were very good this morning.)

Oh, the good things in life!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone enjoys this day with family, friends and good food.

Gobble, gobble, gobble.

Zoo Field Trip

Yesterday all the first grade classes went on a field trip to the L.A. Zoo. Kevin, Nathan and Sandi met us there. This was Nathan's 1st trip to the zoo.

As we walked in we found Reggie the Alligator...he's pretty famous around here. He was captured and taken to the zoo the day Nathan was born.
Nathan: Hello Reggie!
Nathan was more interested in his pacifier holder than the Komodo Dragon staring at him.
I was so excited to learn that the Gorilla exhibit is finally finished! (We go to the L.A. Zoo every year with our first graders and it's always been a work in progress.) The gorillas were amazing...they didn't even seem real.
This one was roaming around making for some great photo opportunities. I thought this was a cool shot.
Someone's getting sleepy...
My favorite zoo animal is the giraffe. The baby giraffe was adorable and only 3 days old. We even saw him run around which was cute because he was a little wibbly-wobbly on his legs.
Unfortunately Nathan fell asleep right before we came to the giraffes. I thought he would like them since they are so tall and big.

He woke up in time to see the elephant pooping though...whoo hoo! He seemed to like the elephant.

There was all this beautiful bamboo by the elephant so Sandi took some family pictures.

Just look at that sweet face!

The mama and baby orangutan were a crack up. At this point the baby was in trouble and being taken away by its mama. But then they cuddled up together and the baby started nursing. It was very cute.

One last picture near the pretty (but very smelly) pink flamingos! Next we found a spot for me to feed Nathan while Kevin and Sandi ate lunch. It was a very fun day.

If you're wondering where my students were all this time, they were with parent chaperones in small groups. I had so many parents come that I didn't need to be in charge of a group which left me free to be with my family. I just wish I could have drove home with my family. I could do without the bus ride.

Good bye zoo!

Shirt and Tie

A few pictures from Sunday evening:

Nathan in his "white shirt and tie"

and sweat pants.

(It's all about the comfort!)

He's been chomping on his hands a lot lately.

(Is it teething or just hunger?)

What a Sunday!

All Aboard!

Hop aboard the animal train
Come on everyone.
Learning about animals is really lots of fun!
Colors, sizes, what they say, if they're fast or slow
Learning about animals there's so much to know!
Kevin and Nathan went to Babies R Us and came home with this new toy. Nathan loves it! Kevin and I have all the songs pretty much memorized by now. The words above are from one of the amazingly catchy songs. Choo-choo!

On my mind

"What?!"
"I am completely aware that my paci is on my head."
I was changing Nathan's diaper and his pacifier popped out of his mouth and landed on his forehead. It balanced there for quite awhile. Of course I had to get some pictures.

Halloween

Here I am leading my first graders in the costume parade at school. Kevin brought Nathan so that he could join me for the parade. He stole the show!
You can see one of the moms taking our picture. I was so happy to see Kevin and Nathan...it made the costume parade fun for me. (Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the Minnie Mouse costume.) My students were so excited to see Nathan too. In the evening, we stopped by my family's house for a Halloween hello. I told Nathan to get some Swedish Fish for me. It was a little tricky with the gloves.
Then we stopped by Kevin's family's house. J-Lynn and Benjamin were there too so we got all the kids together for pictures. Here's Princess J-Lynn holding Nathan, Ben the Monkey and Taylor with his beads. This was quite the photo shoot!
And of course we had to get a family picture. Just look at Nathan's silly smile. We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Just a little off the top please

Kevin made a haircut appointment with Sylvia on Tuesday. She's been wanting to see Nathan and offered to give him his first haircut so all three of us went. Sylvia just loved Nathan and wanted to hold him rather than cut Kevin's hair.
Here's Nathan before the trim.
Goodbye, cinnamon swirl! (That's my name for his little wispies on the top of his head.) Look at him smiling...I think he enjoyed the haircut.
Dad, how do I look so far?

What a good-looking haircut! I know, it's a big change. :) He looks bald but he does have short peach fuzz all over...it's very cute.