An Early Easter Miracle

It's the power of the Magic Tree.
Aunt Jenny found the Magic Tree months ago when she had her kids pictures made professionally, then decided to try some on her own. The pictures in the tree were wonderful and we decided to try and see if the tree is still magical. Guess what? It is!



Isaac



Abby and Andy



Abby and Andy again. They are too cute!



Josh-e-wash



Julia

My kids do love their cousins! When they play around the house they pretend to be Joshua and Julia. :) We are going to have to play a lot this summer. I'm feeling another water day, Aunt Jenny!

Of course, we weren't in Murfreesboro just for the tree! It was a birthday/ Easter visit. We celebrated Isaac and Joshua's birthdays and the Easter bunny visited early.




That was fun. Andy did eventually get the idea of looking for eggs.















Aunt "Bunny" Boo



Miss Dee, Abby's BFF









After all the eggs were found (we hope) it was time for food and cake!



Isaac had to make sure that Joshua was included in the song, even though he was otherwise indisposed. :)












Thanks for everything, Grammy and Papa Joe!

Don't feed the animals!

But party-goers don't count.
A few weekends ago I got to take the twins to a birthday party for one of their Sunday school friends. The party was held at the Chattanooga Zoo.



Here's Abby, walking with another mom from church. Ms. Jennifer also poses as an Aunt Kitty fill-in as needed. :) Ms. Jennifer has a son named Luke who was at the party as well and her daughter was in the first grade class that Joe and I taught this past winter quarter. Abby loves Ms. Jennifer!



Abby and Andy talking to the chimps.



Large, ugly rodent. The kids were impressed.



Coyote



Monkey relative



Parrots



Not sure what we were looking at here



That hair is going to drive me batty before she's 10 years old.



peacocks



Waiting for cake. I need to point out that when everyone else had eaten what they wanted of their cake and had gone to look around, Abby stayed with her cake and ice cream until the very end. That's my girl!



Andy looking around

Everyone had a great time and Peyton made out like a bandit. Happy Birthday, Peyton!

Hello!

The title is to be read with a British accent. (right, Aunt Beth?)

Yes. it has been forever since we have posted, so here are pictures that I have taken over the past few weeks.



Here's Abby cleaning up the living room.

Joe has started teaching the kids the basics of economics by paying them for services around the house. Each kid has his/ her own mason jar with their name on it. Cleaning up the living room and bed rooms is worth 25 cents.

Abby is saving for a baby doll, Andy is saving for a Thomas the Train, and Isaac has already bought a Hot Wheels and is now saving for everything he sees on Cartoon Network.



Abby is picking up her new dollhouse. The dollhouse came to us from Aunt Kiki. Kiki bought it for baby Ansley, but the pieces are still too small. Abby gets to play with it until it is Ansley's size.



Here's Andy- not cleaning.



Abby playing with the felt board while waiting for dinner.



Abby's finished monster. Scary sight.

Just to update everyone, I was not chosen as one of the 3 Hamilton County Teachers of the Year. Instead, it went to 3 suburban teachers. I'm still working on not being bitter. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

That's not going to stop me from being the best darn urban teacher I can be. In fact, I have big plans for this summer. I plan on going through the Common Core Standards (what the US is now using instead of separate state standards) and making activities to go with the different units.
Wish me luck!