Monday, October 31, 2011

And...MORE Birthday FUN!

Whew...ok, I think this is the last of the birthday posts....but who knows!

On the Sunday after Will's birthday, "Nana", "Bobo", and Nick came up from Salt Lake to celebrate. We had a great time eating loads of food, playing with Will, and playing Speed on the iPads!


Will and Bobo playing on the iPad...








Will loves to stand on the stool that came with his desk from
Grandma and Grandpa Cox....Even while he's eating....







Will adores Nana, Bobo, Nick, and Paul...he talks about them for days after they're here.
He'll randomly just say, "Nana?" as he's playing.


He loves to play with the rubber ducks at my mom's house.
She has quite a few, and he loves them.
So...he got two of his own for his birthday!

But the most meaningful gift he got was...a cuckoo clock! I know, sounds kind of random. BUT... My grandfather (my mom's dad) LOVED clocks, all kinds. He had many different kinds. My mom has a beautiful cuckoo clock in her house that I believe he gave her. Will adores it...he gets to excited when we're there and it cuckoos. So, clocks...especially cuckoo clocks...have a special place in our family. He loves it, and it will be a beautiful gift to keep for years to come. When it cuckoos, he stops whatever he's doing and looks up. He either says, "Cuckoo!!!" or names someone in my family...."Nana!" It's really sweet. Except lately, if I ask who gave it to him, he says, "Nick!" Guess we need to get that bike out to remind him what Nick gave him!

The grandpas getting the clock going!

Will had a wonderful birthday...and we're so very grateful
to all our family that helped us celebrate!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

More Birthday Fun....

Will's birthday cake!


"Bobo" encouraging Will to dig in!


Ha, by the time he figured out how to blow them out,
the cake was covered in wax and the wick was all that was left!





*Made by Grandpa Cox,
who could easily go into cake making...

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Vocabulary?

So I've posted before about how I do a class points system in which the class earns letters as points which then spells the "word of the day" ...which is usually a vocabulary word from our curriculum.

They earn it letter by letter and love to guess the word, then define it. (I learned not to use "Associative Property"...let's just say the third, fourth, and fifth point came as a package deal on that one!)

Yesterday, the word was "conclusion" as we've been working on predicting, inferring, and drawing a conclusion.

The board had "CON" when a girl said, "Constipated?"...completely innocently. I chuckled and said, "No, that's not it...do you know what that word means?" She said no and was sheepishly embarrassed when I (briefly) explained!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, October 21, 2011

Will's New Bike!


A little background....my dad and brother race motorcycles. And are obsessed! Whew...they race fast. Like my dad races drag bikes....so....close to 200 MPH in less than 7 seconds.
Can't even imagine it!

Anyway....when Will was tiny, my brother Nick gave him a leather jacket and boots. It was adorable. This year...Nick gave him his very first bike. There's no engine yet, but I bet that one's not far off.







Thursday, October 20, 2011

Will's Birthday....Part 1!

You know there will be many posts about my beloved Will's second birthday...right? It's because we l-o-v-e photos around here, and well, we also really love our child. So, allow me to indulge...

Last year, I had parent teacher conferences on Will's first birthday...sadness. So, this year, I decided I would take the day off and do whatever Will wanted all day. It was such a nice day! We slept in (10:30!...this kid is just like his parents!), got cokes, had lunch, made birthday cake, had pizza and opened presents....just played all day! At the gas station (our fave is Mooch's), the clerk (who we've become quite good friends with, we're there so often!) wished Will a happy birthday. He said, "Anks!", which means thanks...with a big smile. Then she asked how old he was and he said, "TWO!" while holding up his index finger on both hands. Adorable.


When he woke up, I asked him what he'd like for his birthday breakfast....his choice? Toast, milk, cereal, and OLIVES!




We took lunch to RJ at school. It was so fun to see him teach and see his class. They sang Happy Birthday to Will, it was sweet. Will enjoyed coloring while we ate.


We needed some birthday cake goodies at the store...which led us to picking out a pumpkin. Because who can say no to a 2 year old, excited about pumpkins, on his birthday?!


HA! LOVE this picture. This was after Will's nap...he spotted his presents all wrapped on the table...and wanted them NOW! He kept saying, "Presents..." while pointing and weeping.


Will opened his card from "Nana and Bobo" (my mom and dad).


We got Will these fun Converse sneakers...he loves them. The other day someone asked him how his birthday was and he pointed down and said, "Shoes!"



And the mushy part....cannot even believe this kid is TWO. How does this happen!? We love him with all our hearts. He brings such a fun spunk to our family, and an incredible amount of love and charm. We are so very thankful for him everyday.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Well. THAT was embarrassing.

My father-in-law made a fabulous cake for Will's birthday last year. It was a giant "1".

So...naturally, this year I wanted him to make a giant "2" cake.
But....It came out like this:

"Can you make a giant number 2 on Sunday?"

Awkward.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Annoying?

Random pet peeve moment....

When the radio station (or...someone) changes lyrics in songs to say Utah. As in... "Good Life" by One Republic. Suddenly it's, "My friends in UTAH..." and just sounds so forced and awkward. Then in Lady Gaga's "You and I"....she says Nebraska about 8,000 times. Ok, maybe like 4ish. But not here in Utah....she says Utah about 8,000 times.

Completely petty rant, I should really spend time on things that matter....OH! Like that darling child of mine who just happens to turn 2 next week! Don't worry, plenty of posts coming about that sweet boy.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday, October 3, 2011

Fall Book Order

New book orders are out! It's the October packet...with lots of fun Halloween/Fall books. If you'd like to order, it's due by October 14 to be back in time for Halloween.

Below is my previous post about how to order if you're interested!


I'll be honest...I LOVE ordering books from Scholastic book orders. Always have. I loved book order day. I'd circle all my top picks, my mom would do the final selection and write the check...and I'd wait anxiously to see them on my desk.

Still love it.

Only now I order a ton more for my classroom. So I got thinking....where would I get good, cheap books if I wasn't a teacher (and didn't have kids in school)? Then I got thinking some more (it's a rare event!), and thought maybe others are interested in ordering too. And if so....every time someone orders from my class site, my classroom gets a free book! And, well, many of my students don't own any books at home (SAD!), so what I have is what they have daily access to. Thus, I'm continually building up my classroom library.

They have books from $1 (good ones!), and I love the seasonal picks for Will. I've included all age level book orders...so from toddler-middle school.

So, if you would like to order any books, go to:

www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: GQVLJ


If you order, they will ship to my classroom and I will let you know they are here. Then I can either deliver or you can swing by and grab them. Also, you can pay online. Just click on the "parent" section and put your name as the kid, so I'll know who you are.... I'll post each month when I'm doing an order. So if you can't do it this time, there will be other times!

I feel sales-pitch-y, but I promise I have nothing to gain other than books for 22 sweet third graders. So, consider this your community service by providing books to adorable, witty, bright kids....there, two birds with one stone!