The Past Few Weeks:

Ella and Zoe's class went to Orchestra Hall for a field trip -- they watched a special performance for young children and then were given the opportunity to try a variety of instruments played in an orchestra themselves.  SO cool -- SO glad Tom could go along as a chaperone.

We also celebrated my mom's 70th Birthday at a fun Italian restaurant.

LOVE this photo of my parents!!

The girls even got to make their own mini-pizzas ....

... and we all thought it was nice the Pope was able to make the party too ....

The Pope AND great big undies -- Grama's Birthday was perfect!!

Then we celebrated Conner's 5th Birthday at the zoo.

Another fun celebration -- Conner got super big undies too from Grama and Grampa, and Spiderman undies from us ....  VERY funny stuff for five-year olds ....

..... and when the kids toured the zoo they got super close to the wolves (who usually stay out of sight).

I've been putting in a ton of time with my job -- it's a very long day, all of the curriculum is new to me (and very specific) and I have a class full of very needy children.  When it's a tough day it's a really tough day, but when things go well I feel like I can do anything (so similar to parenting ....).

Despite me not spending as much time with Zoe and Ella (which is really hard for me and makes me sad), they are spending a lot of great quality time with their Dad (which makes me very happy) -- and all three of them have a blast together, going for bike rides .....

exploring the woods .....

and biking some more!!

A Few Funnies:

*Zoe and Ella are learning about nouns and verbs in Kindergarten (thank you Mrs. Olson!!).  The other night Ella told me she 'had one for me' and asked if I knew what was both a noun AND a verb.  The answer:  poop.  It is something and you do it (I love the stuff their Dad teaches them).  Ha!  Makes me laugh.

*The other day Tom told me he was holding Zoe and talking with her.  He said she was looking at him so intently the whole time he felt like he was really making a great connection with her.  When he finished Zoe told him he had a really small face and a big forehead, just matter-of-factly.  Ha!  This makes me laugh too : )

Now time for lesson plans ......a