Prayer Request

Over the last several years, Josh, Amy and Jackson have quickly become some of our closest and dearest friends.  They are the sweetest family and truly supportive friends.  Two Saturdays ago Josh's dad Bob had a massive hart attach and has been in a coma ever since.  This precious  family is on my heart constantly because I just can't even imagine what they must be going through.  Josh's family lives close by so they have been spending a lot of time at the hospital.  At this point they are really praying for a miracle, Bob's heart is stronger now but his brain waves are really low.  They are praying that he will wake up soon and be able to breath on his own.  As if this is not enough to deal with they are waiting to find out when Jackson will be able to have surgery.  He was born with club feet and has had to be in casts since he was born.  He is the sweetest and happiest baby I have ever been around.  He is such a trooper!  He hardly ever fusses or cries.  He is very strong and healthy other wise.  He was supposed to be having foot surgery this month but it keeps getting postponed.  At this point they know he really needs it and they would really just like to get it over with so that they can move on.  He is becoming very mobile now and they don't want him to be bound by casts.  Oh, and Josh is an accountant and this is tax season, his busiest season of the year.  Needless to say, they are going through a lot and could use any extra prayers they could get.  They seem to be holding up very well and their faith in the midst of it all is a true inspiration.

Lazy Sunday

This weekend we had some surprise visitors... Judd and Stephanie!!  Judd and Stephanie live in Colorado and Judd surprised Steph with a special Valentine's visit to California.  They couldn't come into town with out spending a little time with us and Jackson and Melissa. So, yesterday we spent the day goofing around at local parks, coffee shops and of course west campus.  Where else would we go?

Aren't they cute!!

It had been a long time since we had twirled on the bars but it came back to us pretty quickly.

I am screaming in this picture because we got on the bar one at a time and I was the first to get on.  By this point the blood was really rushing to my head and my knees were beginning to hurt!!  Hurry up and take the picture!!

The boys skills were not quite as impressive as ours!!  I love the look on Josh's face!

The Cookie Story

I know I didn't really explain much in my last post, so here's the story.  It all started a few years ago when Karen and I decided we wanted to make some sugar cookies for Easter.  She had found this great recipe that I have ended up using ever since.  I love to bake and decorate cookies for all holidays and then take them to school to share with the students and other teachers.  Everyone who eats them tends to love them and get excited when I make them for them.  One person who particularly loves my cookies is Joy.  So, I always make them for her Birthday and when ever I am making them for any other reason I bring her some.  Well, she and I have been talking a lot lately about the future and how when we have kids (some where way, way, way down the road... don't get to excited here, this is so not the point of this blog entry.) we really want to be able to stay home.  Being that both of our husbands are also teachers, there is no way we can just stay home, we will need to have some kind of an income.  Anyway, we have come up with a lot of interesting ideas but the one we keep coming back to is baking.  She ended up telling some of the moms at school of our idea and one of them happens to own a Deli with her husband.  Joy kindly told her how delicious my cookies are and that she would pay money for them.  This mom said her husband would totally sell them at the Deli.  So, for kind of a test run I made them a batch of cookies for Valentine's Day.  I wrapped them each individually and tied them with cute Valentine's Day ribbons and put them in a cute little basket.  They decided to sell them for a dollar a piece and apparently then ended up selling with in two hours the first day they were there.  Not only that, someone wanted to order 10 to be picked up on Friday.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited about this.  I made them a second batch and got the 10 ready for Friday and this time put labels on the backs of each cookie so that people could contact me if they wanted more.  Here are a few pictures of what the cookies looked like before they were wrapped up.  

The owners of the Deli told me that they would like to do this for every holiday.  Joy says that she will help me go around to different little Deli's and see if they will sell them as well.  We also have ideas for making flyers to let people know they can order them for parties.  The possibilities are endless.  For now I am still pretty busy with school so I don't see myself getting to carried away in the cookie business just yet but it is exciting to see the potential for the future!!

Josh was so proud of me for all this that he came home with this beautiful orchid.  How sweet is he!?

For Valentine's Day Joy brought me this special gift because she too was so happy for me!!  I owe it all to you Joy because I never would have even thought to do this if it weren't for you!!  Some how, some day, we can be stay at home cookie moms!! ; ) Anyway... If you know anyone who needs cookies for a particular occasion, you know who to contact.  I will do them for any theme, just let me know. 

My Cookies

Ok, so I am really excited because my cookies are currently being sold at the Old World Deli!!   The Deli is located at the Eastland Shopping Center in West Covina.  If you haven't been there, they have delicious sandwiches and yummy pasta dishes.  Well, there is a whole story behind this but long story short, the owners of the Deli are the parents of one of my first graders.  Joy told them that I make really good sugar cookies and they said they would like to try selling them at their Deli.  I love to make these cookies so right away I agreed and made them some really cute Valentine cookies.  I will share more about this later, when I have more time.  But if you are a local blog reader, maybe you want to stop by the Deli and have a cookie.  ; )

The Others...

I've figured it out!  I feel like I am going to loose my mind with these children lately, hummmm, what else is new right?  Lately it has been worse than usual and I am like why are they getting under my skin so much...  Josh and I have been watching our LOST dvd's pretty much nightly for the past few weeks so I have LOST on the brain.  These first graders, they are like "the others"  there is this constant murmur, constant voices, constant whispering it's not loud enough to tell who exactly is doing it but it's just loud enough to get totally and completely under my skin.  If you watch the show you know that whenever anyone hears the whispers they get totally freaked out... well wouldn't you?  On a totally different note, I love LOST!!  I knew from the very first preview that I was totally going to get into the show and it has not let me down.  Especially when you watch it from the beginning on the dvd's because you see even more clearly that it all fits together.  I actually want to be apart of it.  I remember Andy and I playing stranded on an island in the backyard as kids.  I think that deep down everyone has a secret desire to be stranded on an island.  I think it's the thrill of seeing if you could survive and escaping your "real life." I was trying to explain this to Josh the other night and he doesn't get it, apparently he has no desire to be stranded on an island.  It's not that anyone would choose it, it just has to happen to you.  Of course no one would choose to have their plane crash on a deserted crazy island but I still think deep down many people wonder how they would survive.  I also think it's the thrill of being apart of something bigger than yourself... anyway, have I successfully distracted myself from my classroom for a few minutes?  Yes!  Maybe my desire to be stranded on an island is more related to my job than I thought... I know I am not making any sense here I just felt like venting I guess!

Just for fun

Ok, so you are supposed to try and answer these using only one word, it’s actually harder than you think it would be.  I know this might be kind of lame to some of you but for some reason I think these things are fun and kind of therapeutic.  Try it, cut and past it into a word document and type in your answers.  You could post it on your blog and I will read it there or if you don’t have a blog, you could e-mail it to me.  I love seeing how differently everyone answers.  I am trying to escape from my first grade classroom (at least in my mind) if you couldn’t tell!!!

Where is your cell phone? purse

Your hair? messy

Your father? best

Your favorite thing? pictures

Your dream last night? boring

Your favorite drink? Americano

Your dream/goal? survive

The room you are in? classroom

Your fear? alone

Where do you want to be in 6 years? home

Muffins? bagels

One of your wish list items? camera

Where you grew up? coast

The last thing you did? math

What are you wearing? earrings

Your TV? relaxing

Your pets? kisses

Your computer? addicting

Your life? random

Your mood? annoyed

Missing someone? Grandpa

Your car? functional

Favorite store? Target

Your summer? freedom

Your favorite color? plum

When is the last time you laughed? dinner

Last time you cried? Sunday

Three people who email me? Mom, Amy, Emily

Three of my favorite foods? Bagels, tri-tip, mango

Three places I would rather be right now? bed, beach, mall.

Three people I think will respond? Joy, Barbara, Mom

A cool gift from Dad

For Christmas my Dad got me this daily shoe calendar.  It is so fun, each day there is a different shoe.  Many of them are very unique and were probably not even made to actually wear.  It's super fabulous because it came from my dad.  He found it all on his own and thought of me.  How sweet is that?  I do love shoes and I get excited to turn the calendar each day to see what's next.  I thought this one was particularly spectacular so I wanted to share it.  Shoes make me happy.  Good job dad, this sure beats the plastic silverware from the airplane and the mini hotel shampoos.  Not that I didn't love those too ; )