Our Roof is caving in

Slowly.  Yesterday when the huge snowstorm started we had a bubble on the ceiling, which completely freaked the kids out (I'll be honest, me too)!  We moved our couch to the other side of the room, put out a bucket and some towels and continued on.  We watched as it got bigger and bigger and finally opened up and it didn't pour out water.  Weird.  We can see the sopping wet sheetrock up under the paint (and popcorn) that did come off.  Today another bubble started up.  So, we moved the bucket and towels over.  I've been taking pictures to document it, since our landlord hasn't even called us back from us calling him yesterday.  You would think that a landlord would care that a roof is leaking.  But, as the ceiling popcorn/paint has been coming down, we can see that this was a previous problem that they neglected to fix the right way.  So, when it gets warmer and we don't have air and the roof has caved in, I'm thinking we want to move!  I understand no one coming out, but to not call back when we called his home phone; that's just rude.  My poor kids keep begging us to move.  It's just not an option right now.  If nothing else, we have the documentation that we called, and I've been taking pictures along the way.  In the meantime, my kids are loving the snow days!  Tomorrow  we're going to actually play in the snow.  Today was a take-a-break and wear pjs day.  It should be fun!

 The first crack

 Getting bigger

 And done!

 First thing this morning

 Our Winter Wonderland

 Then I saw a drip right in front of me.

 Getting bigger

 And bigger

 And even bigger

 Wow!  Still no pouring out!

Just now!  I thought for sure it would have busted, but not yet!

Snow days!

 Kira shoveled out a trail for the trash can to get back to the house.

 The girls were excited about their Peaceable Kingdom Glow-in-the Dark Fairy stickers!

 It's pretty cool!  I tried to take a picture of it glowing, but no dice.  It glows well though!

 Emma and her "biggest snowball ever!"

 Yes, Leah is wearing a skirt outside.  And she wondered why she was cold and had to go back in pretty fast.

 My adorable lil' snow bunny!  He LOVED it outside and it was still snowing!  Luckily he was able to sit on top of the snow!

 Kira was just shoveling all over the place!

 He's so cute!

 Right before she went in, because she was cold!

 Cecilia was loving it outside too!

 She's smiling so big!

 Look at those eyes!

 Starting our new Peaceable Kingdom cooperative game!  It took a lot of work to teach them how to play cooperatively, because they're used to being competitive!  Then they caught on and LOVED it!  Now they play it at least once a day.  Except today, because we were at church and my mom's house.  Either way, I LOVE it!

 She loves it when the camera is out and will tell me:  "Smile!"  "Cheese!"

 Josh and his food, carrots!

 Whenever the cat got to move (they were the mice), they felt the pain together!

 Look at that happy face!  I love happy smiley faces!

 The dance after Ben's mouse made it to the attic before the cat!

Cecilia looking cute after she had to have a bath (thanks to the shampoo she poured onto her head) and I braided her hair.

Hurray!

This week was super busy, so it's nice to have a 4-Day weekend!  So far, we've had Scott, Ben and Leah sick.  Kira and I felt funny last night, but feel better this morning.  Parent Teacher Conferences went great!  Ben and Kira are well-loved at school!  Ben entertains his teachers and para!  Kira is very conscientious and one of the best behaved in the class!  Her assessment scores are fantastic!  I'm so proud of how she's worked hard to get things done and learn more!  I've enjoyed spending more time with my kiddos!  We've got some cleaning done, with plans for more cleaning to get done!  I got half of my closet (also know as my craft/art supply storage) organized!  We're moving things around, because my parents are slowly getting rid of things and giving them to us!  We're super excited about the hand-me-downs!  I got to enjoy some time with Scott too!  We went to a dance on Friday night after eating out, and had a two and  a half hour date!  It's been a really long time since we've done that!  Then on Saturday Scott wasn't feeling well, but still got the new bed inside before he crashed!  When Kim and my Mom got our kids, I put Josh to bed and was able to help my Dad some with the Dining Room floor (and the touch-up painting).  Now we just need the new plywood screwed down and then we can put the new floor on!  Hurray!  That carpet was just gross!  My family does so much for us, so I'm so excited to help them with their house!  It's going to look awesome when it's all done!

I have pictures again!

They're not fantastic, but I desperately wanted to take pictures of my kiddos.  It was my little celebration for taking a huge test (110 questions) in under an hour and passing!  Woohoo!  It cost over $100, so I was thrilled to not have to take it again!  So, I came home as quick as I could to my adorable kids and proceeded to take pictures of them, koolaide mouths and all.  The turkeys found the koolaide stash (the kind you put into bottled water) and made some while I was gone.

 I braided Kira's hair last Sunday and took a picture, so she could see it.

 In her old glasses, she now has some pretty new ones, with both arms!

 Emma was pretty thrilled about her braids too!

 When Kira braided my hair.

 My adorable lil' man

 He was showing off his two teeth.  I helped him this time!

I managed to take a picture of us together.

She was so excited to have her picture taken!

This was after I convinced her to put her tongue in her mouth.

She's getting so tall!

You can really see the koolaide on his teeth.  Yuck!  I made him brush his teeth right after this!

Her shirt says it all!

My kids are growing up so well!  They're getting to be better helpers, slowly but surely.  I'm really working on Emma, because she'll be in Kindergarten in August.  Aaahhhh!!!  Although I feel a lot better about her after hearing the Kindergarten teachers talking about what they want the students to know before they start Kindergarten and she knows some of it!  Hurray!  I started working with her on Friday on her letters and letter sounds.  And I downloaded some awesome games on my Kindle to help encourage learning for my kiddos.  I have Starfall and it's fantastic!  Leah was playing it and was sad when I took it away!  It actually sounds out the words for you!  Which is great for kiddos who don't know the sounds the letters make yet!  I also got an Umizumi math game!  And a fingerpainting game.  Fun times on the Kindle!

Crazy week

I love that I'm getting a taste of what real teachers have to do!  It's making me think that they need to be paid a whole lot more!  (Not that I didn't already think that!)  I got to start teaching Math (Envision) this week, which I'll be doing for the rest of the Semester.  I also tested three students and started them out on ERI, so I have my own little ERI group.  I'm in charge of the line and all of the pick ups and drop offs.  My mentor is fabulous and wants me to get the real feeling of having my own class by myself!  This week I had extended learning for 4th graders on Tuesday and Thursday, plus Pre-K night (on Tuesday) and PE Night (on Thursday), plus my PLT test (HUGE test, cost me $125) on Wednesday and Cub Scouts on Thursday.  Today I was exhausted, but got a few things done.  Tuesday I have my first Supervisor Observation, and I just had my mentor observe me on Friday.  She is great at talking me up and helping me get better!  Phew!  We have so much in common that I think the people who match mentors and interns together are amazing!  Last night Mandy, Cecilia and I went shopping for shoes and clothes.  That was lots of fun, but I went to bed super late!  Which means I was moving sloooooowww...  Today (Saturday) poor Scott had a flat tire, so he had to buy a new one.  Then he went ahead and washed it and vacuumed it out after picking up a chest freezer from a friend (Woohoo!).  It took so long that I didn't get to go craft with my friend (as planned).  Bummer!  Instead I went grocery shopping and picked up lots of freezer sales to put in our "new" freezer.  Wow!  That was a lot of money for food!  I had at least a handful of random people comment on my amount of food.  I have 6 growing children that like to eat.  It's not a bad thing!  Scott and I got to go out for awhile by ourselves.  Thanks to my sisters and Mom!  We got to hold hands, share a pretzel and drink, and everything!
Scott's doing well and is still loving "teaching" Spanish!  He's feeling much healthier!
Ben's having a hard time with simplifying fractions, but loves his books and toys!  He drew an awesome fairy tale picture of all of us, he's the dragon, Josh is the frog prince...  I'll have to take a picture!
Kira's all about being helpful as long as there is a reward for her!  That's not how life works though, so I'm trying to love and logic her.
Emma's a hard worker for others, and is loving her Dry-Me Alarm.  It hasn't gone off yet, so so far, so good!
Leah's still talking about Preschool.  Poor Kiddo!
Cecilia loves her Josh and will gladly take him from anyone!  She is talking more and more all of the time!
Josh has his two middle bottom  teeth in and he started saying "Ma Ma."  Adorable!  He's getting faster at flipping over the one way.  And when I set him down on the floor, he starts in the correct crawling position, but it doesn't last.