Back on the Map

WOW!!! It has been forever since I entered in my last post. The reason: I am a working woman now. I say that with partial enthusiasm because my heart is at home with my princesses, but I am so grateful to have a great job with GREAT benefits.

So in case you are not part of the Snowflake rumor chain and haven't heard; I am the (not so) new English teacher at Snowflake High School. I can say that I survived my first semester, and I think I did OK. I mean the kids seemed to have learned something! HA! This next semester I hope to thrive. Its going to be crazy because I am going to be going back to school as well. I have some really great co-workers and I love being back with a lot of my old teachers - I appreciate them so much more now!! In addition to teaching English I am FINALLY back to teaching dance. I teach hip-hop to a great bunch of young girls at Raising the Barre in Snowflake. Its more hours but is so worth it. Besides, dancing is like vacation. Now we'll see if I will be saying that come recital time!!

Rolland is doing great and is enjoying being a stay-at-home Dad for awhile. He says its harder than he thought - uh...yeah!!!! I have been telling him that. But his break is soon over and he will be taking 18 credits this semester. Mostly online and in the evening, so the girls will see him, but I will not. :(

The girls both started preschool this year and I am so excited to announce that Aubrey is reading and writing!! And in true Aubrey fashion she went from simple words like "Cat", "Sat", "It" to more important words like "nail polish". Hilarious!! Rebekah loves school as well and is still her ........unique self. But she is officially a "Big Girl" and is potty trained. Which is great because I seriously thought I was going to lose my mind!!

We are so blessed! This year has brought about so many changes and new ways of life. We miss our friends in Virginia and New York TERRIBLY. No I really mean TERRRRRRRIBBLLY!!! These families were OUR family and I am really grieving their absence. However, we are close to our family and that is priceless. I love that the kids are able to rwally get to know all their family on both sides. I guess I just have to keep working to afford plane fare to get to everyone I love!!

My New Year's Resolution is to blog at least once a month so hopefully I stick to it. Enjoy some picture from the last 6 months though! HA!!!

They love their Christmas Present from Grandma & Papa (please ignore the finger in the nose)

Loving their new princess dresses

First trip to the ballet to see The Nutcracker. Posing with the Sugarplum Fairy

Fun in the Mud!

Halloween Fun - Princess Jasmine and The Octopus

Beautiful Fall Day...Beautiful Girls

Rainy Sweet Corn Festival

Camping trip with Grandma & Papa

First Day of Preschool

Merry Christmas!!

    I hope all of you had a wonderful CHRISTmas!  We had such a great time together as a family.  We didn't get to go to Arizona this year, so it was just our little family, and that was perfect!! We enjoyed some old family traditions and made some new ones.
    Christmas Eve we baked cookies and listened to carols and then watched The Santa Clause.  Christmas Eve service was AMAZING and really focused us to the reason for this special day.  We came home and the girls got to open one presents - Christmas (Tinkerbell) PJs, and then we watched The Nativity Story, put out the reindeer food and cookies for Santa, Aubrey sang Happy Birthday to baby Jesus in our Nativity and then off to bed!!!!

Rolland and I played Santa and toasted with champagne to a job well done... It was a busy, but perfect day!
 

Aubrey was so excited for Christmas morning that she woke up at 3:30!! It took an hour, but I finally got her to go to sleep.  (I told her Santa hadn't made it to our house yet, and couldn't until she was asleep.  What am I going to do without the Santa incentive at bedtime now?!)  So at 7:30 we were ready for Christmas.  The  girls were so happy with their Santa presents that they didn't really care to open the rest until after breakfast - so much different than me as a kid, a give it a couple of more years.  Rebekah loved her new Princess dolls and dress up and didn't take her gloves and shoes off all day!  Rolland surprised me with a new wedding / anniversary band. AMAZING!  I was totally shocked and it is BEAUTIFUL.  The boy did good, he is off the hook for the rest of the year (hee, hee... OK I'll give him next year too!)  He liked his gift too - a PSP, so he can play FIFA Soccer from anywhere now!  All of us made a haul...thanks AZ family for all the wonderful gifts!  The rest of the day was spent playing with all of our new toys and watching movies, eating too much, and enjoying each other.  It was a very Merry Christmas!!!

  

Its Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas...

Tonight for a family activity we made a gingerbread house.  So much fun!!! I love doing things like this, it makes me feel so Christmas-y.  Afterward we watched the Santa Clause as a family and I think Aubrey started to wonder is she was good enough to get presents because at bedtime she started crying and said, "I don't like to take naps and Santa isn't going to bring me presents."  Such a silly girl!

Snow Much Fun!

We are getting so much snow here! So earlier in the week, before we literally got snowed in, we took the girls to my good friend Jennifer's to play in her back yard. We had fun "painting" the snow and sledding. The kids lasted maybe a half hour and when we came into the house Jenn had sandwiches, snacks, and hot cocoa waiting for us (Thanks Jennifer!!) Maybe if we get brave enough we'll take the kids out to play again before Christmas!