Evening Stroll

This evening the girls and i took a little stroll around while 'daddy' was mowing. We picked some flowers for thier friend Bunny to leave on her doorstep and a few more just for us. We saw bees, and we even found where daddy disposed of last year's Christmas Tree. Right now Sophia is polishing off a carton of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia after her shower, and Bella already fell asleep after hers.

Flower Power

We did make it out to plant a few flowers today. It was just as messy as it was fun ... Of course, Bella ended up with more dirt on her than in the flower pot... :) Now we wait for these flowers to grow! Looking forward to a great week, and hope you have one too!

Beginning to look a lot like... SUMMER!

A few pics from this weekend. Our family has been enjoying a lot of outside time lately, so thankful for this beautiful weather. This coming week... we are going to tackle the public pool. Today, we are planting flowers. By that I mean Sophia and I plant flowers while we just try to keep Bella from drowning them or uprooting them or picking the becuase they are pretty. ;)
SUMMER!!!!!!!!
We went to my parents house this weekend, and i brought some stuff so we could all paint our own birdhouse. It was so much fun...and although the mess was significant, they turned out so cute! I am still finding glitter on Bella!

We also got to take a dip in the pool and have a wiener roast! This girls LOOOVE the pool!

My mom took this and she kinda missed part of Bella's face (thats okay tho, mom!)

Easter 2011

Just a few pics of the Easter weekend festivities... coloring eggs, ester egg hunt, planting some flowers. :) GREAT weekend!

Pics From the Daddy-Daughter Dance Feb 2011

So, since i was on a long posting hiatus.. i did miss writing about a really precious 'first' for one of my girls ... and my guy, too ;) This year, around Valentine's Day, Brandon took Sophia to her first Daddy-Daughter Dance. It was SO adorable. It makes my heart swell to think about the special bond between a little girl and her daddy. I have a daddy of my own, so of course I know all about that special 'my dad is my hero he is better than your dad' thing that goes on.

Without further ado...

long overdue

You know when life is going so fast you can barely remember the last 3 months? Thats how 2011 has started for us. We have moved, we have re-arranged EVERYTHING about my husband's business, we have had birthdays and parties and anniversaries and ... okay you get the picture, we've been on the go! I haven't taken the time to blog or post pictures in a very long time, and that makes me sad because i really like to keep up with this. It makes ME feel good to do this.

The girls are outside right now as i watch them through the open patio doors. They are getting their fill of SPRINGTIME! They are prancing around in rain boots picking up bugs and getting filthy and taking a long-desired respite from the winter that has dragged on bitterly.

Last Saturday we celebrated Bella's 3rd birthday! CAN NOT BELIEVE my baby is 3 now!! I still call her 'the baby' too, like i am in denial that she isn't a full blown toddler, nearly a pre-schooler.

Example:

"Honey, will you get the baby?" or when she is in trouble "She doesn't understand what you are saying, she's just a baby!!" So... trying to get over that, but its hard to swallow, ya know. Your kids growing up too quickly right before your eyes is a large, bitter pill.... its slowly going down, but im really struggling with it. *sigh. Bittersweet i should say, because there are lots of perks of children that are a little more independent. Like, on a positive note, we can all go to the movie theater and sit through a movie together, and even the baby is good! ;)

On the tech-side of things... i jumped off the BlackBerry train and hopped on the iPhone bandwagon. Only had it for a few days, I really LOVE it so far, but to be fair I will write my full review after 30 days.

Teacher, Teacher...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110216/ap_on_hi_te/us_teacher_suspended_blog

This is the link to the popular news story that came out today about the PA High School teacher who was suspended (which is a nice way of saying 'we plan on firing you') for making some school related criticisms on her personal blog. I thought this was such a great, controversial topic so I really wanted to put my two cents in! ;)

As a mother, a former student, a fellow blogger and PERSON... I relate to many sides of this story. I can see both sides have a very strong case.

I think most people could agree with this teacher, there are SO many teenagers now who are disrespectful and refuse to even resemble a responsible young adult. That must be very hard for a teacher to see day in and day out. Kids coming in, being disrespectful to the teachers and fellow students. She mentioned some talking loudly about drugs and alcohol, all the while refusing to take school seriously.

The most excellent point I think she made was that so many parents today are too busy trying to be friends with their kids, that they aren't being good parents. My mother has told me my whole life, "We will never be friends. I am your MOM." While that may sound harsh to some people, I feel 100% like that is the way the parent-child relationship should work. Parents tip-toe around their child's feelings so often nowadays, not wanting to push them away or be viewed as not being as cool as 'so and so's' mom or dad. Get over yourself and your pride and be a parent! Your kid is mad or thinks your are 'uncool'? WHO CARES. Parents rely way too heavily on school to teach their kids values, respect, discipline and responsibility. Guess what, my fellow parents... thats OUR job. School is for educating them, for helping prepare them for life by arming them with knowledge, for preparing them for college or work by helping them refine skills that they will need. It is NOT our children's teachers job to teach kids manners and respect. Its OUR job. If my kid is bratty and disruptive in class, I dont get to blame the teacher. I have to realize my child is out of control, and figure out what im going to do about it. So... in this light, I can see why teachers feel frustrated. Parents dont step in enough anymore. Period.

That being said.. I have read some of the things she posted about the kids, and her defense of those comments, and I do feel she was out of line. Let me be clear... I dont think that the things she FELT were out of line, I think the things she wrote down in a blog open to the public were out of line. First of all, these students now have seen these comments, and as a former student myself, I can see how they would carry a bit of a grudge. No one wants to feel like they are being looked down upon, and though her blog was written as a personal outlet for her feelings, it doesnt change the fact that it HAS been seen by her students, and it HAS offended, angered, and hurt some of them and their parents. I am guessing even if she is allowed to keep her job, she wouldnt be very welcomed there. Who knows, though? Like I said, she has a right to her 'freedom of speech' just as we all do. However, at what point do the things teachers say and feel interfere with their ability to teach our children without prejudice? I dont know the answer to that.

Well, thats it.. although that may be more like 10 cents instead of 2 ;)
Let me know what YOU think!