Harsh Words, but a Good Article

Disney Princesses

K loves princesses more than life itself. I think it's just something to do with being a three-year-old girl. A switch is flipped, and they are programmed to instantly eat, sleep, and breathe princesses. While this is not inherently bad, a lot of "woe-is-me" damsel-in-distress scenarios are common themes. I know it's just pretend play, but I hope we are out of the princess stage soon, so K can realize what real women do every day. They don't wait for Prince Charming to arrive on his white horse and give them a magic kiss.

Although, I still think Prince Eric is hot.

Two Stories

K has been using her Cinderella alarm clock to get up during the week. I set it for 6:50, and then she come into our room crying that Cinderella scared her, but at least she's awake. Well, this week she hadn't been getting up. Tuesday I thought maybe I had forgotten to set her alarm, so I double-checked it the next night. Same thing. When I went in there yesterday to wake her up, I asked what happened to her alarm. She just said, "I turned it off!" and rolled over! Ugh -- stinker! I can't believe she figured that out! I'll have to put it up high so she can't turn it off.

In her bathroom, I had a Bath and Body Works snowman soap. Last night, she was in the bathroom, and I heard her yell out, "It's not Christmas!" I didn't think anything of it until I went in there, and she had put the snowman soap in the bathroom cabinet, and got out the regular pump of Dial that I keep in there!

There are your two K stories for the day.

Happy Day!

I was so fortunate today in that I was able to take my classes into a classroom with a TV, and we watched the inauguration live. No matter your political affiliation, you can't help but get swept up in the emotion of it all. It is such a moving, touching experience, to watch a man that was not born under ideal circumstances, become leader of the free world. He is truly a story of "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" and doing what you put your mind to do.

I am glad that the media is finally going to have a president that they approve of. I got so sick of the Bush-bashing over the last several years. Yes, he made mistakes, but you never got to hear of the good things that he did while he was in office. I am hoping that with Obama starting off on such a positive note, he will continue to shine in the media's eyes. It gets old hearing negativity non-stop. I'm eager to hear some good news for a while.

Even my 3-year-old talked about President Obama in school today. When I turned on the news tonight, she said "That's our president!" I know she won't remember this day, but I will.





I will leave you with this. I still have chills from hearing it.

Gymnastics Party

K's friend Cassidy turned 5, and she had a party at a local gymnastics place yesterday. We had more fun! The kids got to jump on the trampoline, climb in the foam pit, hang on to a zipline, swing on a trapeze, climb a rope net, go through an inflatable whale, and then eat pizza and cake. It was great!









Happy birthday, Cassidy!!

Great Site for Books

I came across this site and thought it was absolutely brilliant! I plan to use it often.

What Should I Read Next

Of course, it'll be funny seeing if it comes up with really bizarre suggestions sometimes. I'll test it and see if I like its choices.

2008 Explained

I thought this was really cute. It's fairly impartial, and pretty much sums up the year!

A Few More Christmas Pics

Jean just sent me this photoshow. Since I can't figure how to pull pictures from it, I'll just post the whole thing. This is us with Dad and Jean in Lubbock.

Photoshow Link

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009!

For us, 2008 was a year of ups and downs. It's been so much fun watching K get another year older, and her vocabulary and imagination have increased exponentially. So has the arguing and stubbornness, unfortunately, but that comes with the territory!

I lost my last grandmother in May. G still has once grandmother left, so it's good K will know at least one great-grandmother. It's just hard to see your parents and grandparents age, and it's sad knowing they won't be around forever.

2008 brought us two more miscarriages, but also a diagnosis, so that's good news. With any luck, we can keep trying and intervene soon enough that we can have one more baby. But we've come to terms with the fact that K may be an only child, and that's OK too. But we don't want to give up hope yet.

Career-wise, things are flowing smoothly. 2008 didn't bring any major changes, so that's a good thing, especially in these times of recession and downsizing. We are grateful to be teachers. There will always be kids to teach!

2009 is looking good. We have a trip planned in April to New York for my sister's wedding, and all three of us are in the wedding party. We will spend our usual 2 weeks in Durango, Colorado in mid-summer, which is always a lot of fun. I also want to plan small trips for K, such as Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor, and camping.

I wish each and every one of you a very safe and happy 2009!