Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from January, 2012

Snow Day #2

I have one smart child and three that *like* the cold and snow :) Here's Smart Margaret. . .cuddled on a cold, snowy day in her warm robe and another blanket, clutching her hot chocolate and vegging in front of PBS.  For the record I am, right this minute, sitting in that vacant bed right next to her typing this up. . .I'm smart too.  There's a feather mattress on it and lots of blankets. . .I haven't moved since Tom left for work almost three hours ago.  Pathetic?  Maybe.  Just enjoying a "real" snow day -- ha! Here are the other three, heading down the street looking for a place to go sledding:   Unbeknownst to me, they were all walking in only layers of socks!!!  Well, Frederick had some slippers on but still. . . I promise they have shoes and some even have boots!!!   Ugh.  Their excuse was "we were jumping on the trampoline and we didn't think about it when we left to go walk 1/2 mile down the street ".  Really?!?  Do I dare mention their

First Day

Frederick 3rd grade, Thomas 7th grade, Margaret 4th grade, & Marie 5th grade It was a wonderful first day of school today.  Tom took the younger two to their school (same campus as my school but different buildings) and then came over to the middle school to meet me in the office with the other two so he could get them situated with their schedules, lockers, etc. while I began my new life in a 7th grade social studies (geography & culture) classroom.  I have 125 names to learn -- ack!!!  I have lessons to plan. . .I'm spending huge chunks of time just trying to stay one step ahead in the curriculum :)  I'm not hooked up to grade programs, lesson plan programs, google.docs, websites, e-mail or anything else yet which is kind of a blessing. . .those, too, will take huge amounts of time to figure out I'm sure.  I love the classroom. . .the kids all seem to love their classes and teachers. . .so far, so good.  It's not bad starting this season with a 3-day wee

Christmas 2011

O.K., I simply and completely give up on this post.  I started it on December 28th.  I've been working on completing it off-and-on since then, and put a couple hours into it today.  It's gone.  Completely gone.  I could cry, but I'm not going to.  I'm going to brush of the perfectionist Jenni and just move forward.  Christmas Eve with cousins, prime rib, the *best* onion rings ever compliments of Uncle Brian. . . Grandma got all the Bell kiddos snuggies. . .they turned out to be a *huge* hit!   My favorite gift to give this year were 2011 photo books that I made for each of my nieces: And the best gift received (besides the gift of Jesus Christ, of course) was a scrapbook Tom's mother made for him.  It documents his life from birth to our wedding day. Here he, his sister Kathy, and Thomas are looking through it the first time This great group grew up together. . .neighbors and best of friends.  Sister-brother Kathy (UT) and Tom (TN) and sister-sister Debbie

January 3, 2012

Today was supposed to be the kids' and my first day back to school after staying at home together for the last 12 months. Hey did you catch it?  Let me zoom in a little bit. . . That would be a touch, a sprinkling, of s-n-o-w.  Snow combined with temperatures that aren't supposed to climb above freezing today equal. . . SNOW DAY!!!! (Or, as I saw posted on FB today, "a snowless snow day"). Ugh. One of the reasons last year for our lifestyle change . But I'm certain that God has placed us where we are today, in a new season , for a very specific purpose. So we will enjoy one.more.day together.  It's 7:30 a.m. and we should all be arriving at our new schools by now. . .and yet all the kids are still peacefully sleeping, blissfully unaware of their good fortune (the school cancellation wasn't called until after they were asleep last night) today.  They have been so excited, have spent a lot of energy on the anticipation of today. . .and Lord willing, tomor