Taco Tuesday {SOLC} March 3, 2015 #sol15

One of the highlights of our week is Taco Tuesday!  Family dinners are important at our house and especially a meal that everyone likes.  Everyone has their favorite taco toppings and the way we each make our tacos is as unique as each of us, which makes for even more fun.  By far, the highlight a family meal night, is the opportunity to talk about our days and share our experiences with each other. Now that the kids are getting a little older, they will ask Joel and I about our days, as well as, ask each other.  

Family dinners afford us the opportunity to connect and reconnect after our busy days away from one another. I love the opportunity to sit around the table and share with each other.  I am thankful for this nightly opportunity and especially appreciative on Taco Tuesdays!

Increasing My PLN {SOLC} March 2, 2015 #sol15

This week I finish a four week course on Universal Design for Learning.  The course has been completely facilitated online through Google hangouts and Twitter chats. I underestimated how fulfilling of an experience I would have connecting with educators who share my passion for instruction for students!  I learned so much from these passionate educators!  

The Technology we used connected us across different states and countries, united by one passion: making learning experiences for children as meaningful as possible!  I am grateful for the experience over the last four weeks to connect with fellow educators to learn, digest, play, engage, dissect, discern, collaborate, discover and share.  

  I have always been a learner who learns best through social connections and discussing what I am learning. The use of technology has just helped me to take that learning to a new platform and level.  

Using technology to build my personal learning network or PLN has enhanced my ability to share meaningful resources with my colleagues. As I continue to reflect on this experience that I have had, it leads me to ponder how I can help build these experiences for colleagues and for students.

The little things are often the BIG things! {SOLC} March 1, 2015 #sol15

Some days there is one moment that sticks out to you as something that really makes your day special.  Although, today was not unlike any other Sunday with lots of chores and preparation for the week ahead, it was also a day that made me feel honored to be a mom!  I love my kids, each one with his/her unique qualities, that make them special to me.  They each have special ways that they show me who they are and how much they care. 

Today, as I was folding laundry, cleaning up, prepping and bustling around the house, I happened to glance at my middle son and from a room away and he blows he a kiss completely unsolicited!  His act of affection just warmed my heart and gave me another reminder of how much the little acts of love mean the most! 

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Army Men in the Hamper

After getting all the kids to bed and getting myself ready to relax this evening, I throw my dirty clothes into the hamper only to find six army men, Rex from Toy Story 3 and an airplane staring back at me.  Oh, it's the little things that make me smile.  Yes, I am sure I can guess whose little hands put all those toys in our clothes hamper.  It was the same little hands whose fingernails I cut at bedtime tonight.  It was the same little hands that carry around a toy in each hand all day just to have something to hold.  It was the same little hands who love to color and dig in the dirt.  It was also the same little hands that grab my face at night and turn my head so he can kiss my ears or eyes.  Those little, sweet, precious toddler hands belong to my Liam Christopher.

That boy can be one of the sweetest yet one of the fussiest kids I know and, yet, I love every bit of him!  He is every bit of two and one half years old and is just so loveable.  He is my emotional kiddo and gets his feelings hurt easily, but he truly is a blessing from God.  I loved finding the army men in the hamper tonight because it was a reminder to me to stop and slow down and again, Thank God for allowing to be the mother of three amazing kids!

My kids make me smile!

Being a working mother is incredibly hard for me because I would love nothing more than to be home full-time with my kiddos.  I love being a mom and I love every aspect of taking care of them (well, minus the whining and bickering!)  They are such cool lilttle kids!  I feel so blessed to be given the chance to be a mom three times over and have both two boys and a little girl! 

I was listening to the radio today and they were discussing how hard stay-at-home moms have it!  Granted I am not a full-time-all-year-stay-at-home-mom but I am one in the summer months and I would still trade my job anyday to be home every day.  There's just something to be said for the fact that you really don't have a specific schedule that someone else sets.  Yes, there is laundry and cleaning and all the stuff the comes with managing a household but you can be more leisurely about completing those tasks.  A working mother does not have that luxury.  The weekends are tied up with trying to get all those same chores done in much less time.

Overall, I do feel blessed and thankful to have a job!  However, my kids are and always will be my main priority and I miss them so much during the day!  Home all day or not, my favorite part of the day is our bedtime routine where we all cuddle together and read some books.  I love to have us all together enjoying each other and a good book!  Thanks, once again, to my babies, for making me smile!

I can't believe my baby is 6 months old!

My precious baby girl was six months old yesterday and I can harly believe it!  Where does the time go?  She is getting so big and doing new and fun things everyday.  She is one of the happiest little babies I have ever met and she brings tremendous joy to all our lives!  We are truly blessed to have her in our family! 

We all love you more than words can say, Olivia Louisa!

Here are my three little incredible blessings!  I have been blessed with three amazing children and I can't thank God enough for allowing me to be their mom!