I'm Lovin' It

Well, it's about two months into my first school year as a non-teacher and you might be wondering how I'm feeling about it all....the answer is simple: I'm lovin' it!!! I'll admit that two months ago when everyone was setting up classrooms and meeting new students I truly missed it. I thought about what the other teachers and kids would be doing throughout the day and wondered if I was missing anything "important". It's only taken several days of substituting to realize that I'm certainly not missing much and life at school is still as stressful as ever. There is so much changing in education right now and it's definitely not an easy job to manage a class of 20+ kids while balancing all of the additional work that comes with teaching. I just hope that when I finally decide to go back to teaching I will still have some clue of what is going on in an average classroom and my training up until this point will still have me prepared for the profession.

So, there you have it....the short explanation of why I'm so glad to be away from the classroom for the time being. I suppose I should now give all the reasons as to to why I'm lovin' my new career. Wow, where do I even start?!? I think I'd be typing all day if I were to give you every reason for why I love staying home with my kiddos, so I'll try to narrow it down.

*getting to see all the baby phases at a much closer view this 2nd time around (with Caleb I feel like I blinked and he went from infant to toddler)

*being able to stay in our jammies all day long and hearing Caleb ask "are we going to be lazy bums today Mommy"

*reading books with my kids whenever I want to and not just at bedtime

*having time for all the household chores that used to get crammed into one or two days on the weekend

*sitting at breakfast listening to Christian radio while Leah "dances" and Caleb sings about Jesus

*hanging out with the other moms and kids in the neighborhood

*getting the kids ready in the morning without having to rush

*legos, coloring, playdoh, puzzles, painting...we've got a lot of fun stuff to do around here

*sneaking into their rooms at naptime just to peek at how peaceful and beautiful they are

*having time to "teach" Caleb new songs, bible stories, letters, numbers, shapes, and the list goes on and on

*taking walks, going for bike rides, playing at parks, having picnics, and doing just about everything else we can to enjoy being outdoors

*hearing Caleb's prayers before mealtimes and naptime

*watching Leah prove day in and day out that she will make it a goal in life to be nothing like her brother and teaching me that someday I'll have to stop comparing the two

*seeing the giant smiles on both of their faces when they wake up from naptime....

.....which appears to be what they're doing right now!

There truly are a million more things I could say, but I just don't have time and neither do you!

I'll finish this post by saying that I feel incredibly blessed to have had the experience of being a working mom at one point because I think it's made me appreciate even more about this new phase. When I spend time reflecting on the chaos that ensued while I was a working mom, I realize day in and day out how precious this new way of life is for our family...and I realize that I wouldn't trade the long days at home, dirty diapers, crying, tantrums, runny noses, and so on for ANYTHING. Sure, if I were working we could go on more vacations, have a bigger house, buy nicer things, go out to eat more often, buy better gifts for people....but in the end, none of that will matter! What will matter is that I was here for our kids during one of the most critical phases of their lives. Will they remember these years? Probably not. But what they are learning and experiencing during these years will last for an eternity....and I think that's a pretty important reason to be doing what I'm doing!

Gosh, they're cute!

Fall Fun

When you're spending day in and day out with these two little darlings, how could life not be fun?!?

Well, it's fun indeed that we've been having around here lately. Fall is such a great time to enjoy the changing weather and beautiful scenery. We've been trying to appreciate the season as much as possible before it gets too cold to do anything besides stay in our jammies all day and cuddle under blankets...can you tell how much I love winter too :)

We took a trip to a local corn maze/pumpkin patch. The kids had a ton of fun!

We hosted our 3rd annual Backyard Bash. There was a ton of chili to sample and the weather was perfect for hanging out on the deck and having a bonfire.

Caleb LOVES to watch the kids get on the school bus. He can't wait until he gets to ride in a few years.

Leah is keeping us busy by being everywhere and getting into everything. We've forgotten how much exploring kids do at this age....and there is no limit to what this girl likes to explore (the tv, dvd player, lamps, cords, stairs, and just about everything a kid should stay away from)!

I've had fun helping out friends by watching their kiddos. It's keeping us busy and is great entertainment for Caleb!

We hope that everyone reading this is doing well and enjoying the season as much as we are. Can you believe the holiday season is quickly approaching? Soon we'll be blogging about costumes, turkey, and Santa...wow!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy...but loving every minute!!!

It seems like the days and months just keep flying by. It's hard to believe we're already in the month of October! Leah just turned 9 months old and is amazing us everyday with how much she is growing and changing. At her appointment last week, the doctor let us know that she's in the 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight...our children sure don't have growing issues!!! Caleb is a whopping two and a half. I think he's a full blown toddler with his desire to just explore the world and his "I'll do it myself, Mommy" moments.

We've been keeping busy with our days at home. Being home more has given us the chance to hang out and have fun playing with the kids in the neighborhood. It has been so fun to see Caleb playing with the other kiddos...and I've really enjoyed getting to know the other moms. Hopefully as Winter comes, we'll still manage to hang out a bunch!

We've also had two very busy weekends. The first was spent doing our annual Susan G. Komen walk downtown. Every year I am amazed by how many people come out for the cause....and this year our group expanded by a few extra people. It's always so fun to do this walk and I'm glad our kids are learning from early on that it is important to put your time into things that truly make a difference for others. We also just got back from a great weekend traveling down to Champaign. On Friday, we walked around and saw all of the amazing changes that are being made to the campus. On Saturday, we nearly froze to death while tailgating and had a blast going back to a football game (even though they lost). We stayed in a hotel both nights with Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Kalyn and had fun with our quality time together. On Sunday, we headed to Curtis Orchard, which was one of our favorite places to visit every Fall while we were students. It was great to go back and have our kiddos to share the memories with this time!