Adoption

We get to adopt on February 8th, 2010. Woo Hoo!

Happiness is....

Pictures to Enjoy

Having yummy olives to put on my fingers.

Cheese! and Olives!

Seeing G'ma H

We went hiking with my nephews T & R and foreign exchange student Jakob (from Germany)...it's been awhile ago...

Cascade Springs

Oops, eyes shut there!

Timpanogos Cave!

The Heart of Timp Cave

R goofing off!

Pondering Andrew

T & R goofing off again! Save him! AHha!

T, King of the quartzite.

R, king of the sulfur tunnel.

Hiking, hiking, hiking.

Ahh! Caress the rock! (Dr. Harris would be proud.)

Good Morning

Ever since our new Tiny came into our home we have been working on getting him to stop screaming. Apparently he has learned that he must scream at everything. "I'm hungry."AHHH!!! "I'm tired." MWAHAHAA!!! "I'm hurt."RAUhHAHAHAHAH!! Not the normal, calm crying at first followed by a little more worried, but a bellowing full out make your ears ring scream. The wind chimes in my house even chime; that's how loud his scream is.

He wakes up screaming.

Sees the bottle screaming.

Diaper change screaming.

Changing clothes screaming.

Car drive screaming.

Sister is breathing my air screaming.

YIKES!

A few days I had to wear ear plugs, no joke. We used sign language with Sarah so we decided to try it with him. I got him to say"milk" the other day! Woo Hoo! After he has that mastered we'll move on to other baby signs. We finally replaced screaming during a diaper change with giggles. and have been working on having him say "dada" or "baba" while playing, instead of screaming.

Today I was so proud of Tiny. (and Andrew since he's the stay at home Daddy.) He woke up today and instead of screaming he started bouncing up and down in the crib saying "Dada!" He greeted us with smiles and gave us each the best hugs he can give. (Tiny is really cute with hugs, he grabs your shoulders, smiles showing his teeth, leans his head into your chest and says "ooohh." )

Great job Andrew!

Also, we woke up this morning to find Sarah right outside our bedroom door, asleep in the hallway. Anyone know the age when kids start having nightmares? or being afraid of the dark? We're wondering if she's at that age.

"Labor" Story

Yes, I am now the mother of TWO children.

Wow.

Sarah's little brother (new name pending) is our newest addition! We are thrilled to have another little one in our home and also with how close they are in age.

Sarah informed me the other day (few weeks ago), "Mommy, I need a baby."

I teasingly asked her, "Should we go to the store and buy a baby brother or sister?"

"Yes, mommy, go to Macey's and get the baby." (Every store is called Macey's- you can tell where we go grocery shopping.)

"Oh, Sarie, we can't buy a baby at Macey's. Mommy and Daddy have to save up lots of money and then wait for someone to let us adopt a baby. Just like you were adopted."

Grinning big, "I was adopted!"

"Hurray!"

"Hurraaaay!"

"Woo hoo!"

"Wooh...oo! Mommy baby coming."

Sarah was right. Our newest Tiny joined our family October 26, 2009. His birthday was October 24. He is 1 year old! He loves to crawl around the house, pull himself up on furniture, drink bottles, throw balls and play with cars. Definitely a little boy through and through! And just like his sister, the first words out of his mouth when he saw Andrew were, "DaDA!"

So... "labor" went like this....

I was at work, Oquirrh Hills Middle School. I had finished teaching for the day and had a bit of grading to finish. I stayed later than normal, corrected and entered all the scores then got ready to leave.

I checked my cell phone at the end of the work day and discovered a missed call, someone had left a message. I listened to it and it was our social worker. She informed me that I was to pick up a little baby boy in about 20 mins. So, instead of going home, I headed for SLC, and picked up our newest Tiny!

Legal adoption takes 6 months in the state of Utah. Once again, the waiting period starts. First court hearing is December 9th. :) and again, you won't be hearing his name or seeing a picture until final adoption... sorry... it's not allowed with Foster Care!

However, here are a few names we like, which one is your favorite? (remember the last name will be Rosenvall).

Alexander

Brendan

Michael

James

More about School

Six weeks and I still love teaching.

Last week I was shocked by receiving the "Bird Award." Every so often a teacher is elected for this award at my school, you are presented with a large stuffed bird and a paragraph is read to the school about why you received this award. I had several teachers and administrators coming into my classroom all day long congratulating me for the award. The teacher who received it prior elected me, so I get to pick the next one for the school! :)

I allowed my classes to listen to music today while they were working on definitions/vocabulary work. I asked them to suggest a few songs for me to add to the playlist. Several students requested "Fireflies" by Owl City. I looked it up and actually quite like it, so I've added it to my playlist for you to enjoy.

Have a beautiful day!

http://www.notonthetest.com/

Happenings

This week ended up being short, since UEA weekend made it so I only taught Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday.

This week I was awarded the "Bird Award" at my school. Apparently every so often a different teacher is chosen to receive this award, you are elected by the teacher who received the award prior.

Welcome to School

Three Weeks have already passed.

I'm probably still in shock from realizing that I am a teacher.

I was very excited to start teaching Earth Systems. I did take the first 2 weeks covering basics and then decided to hop straight into Astronomy. The students are currently studying the life cycles of stars and today I introduced them to Fusion vs. Fission. I took everyone outside, I held up a sign which I could switch to Fusion or Fission, I called out "Fusion!" while holding the sign and everyone(okay, it took a couple of tries) ran into small groups. The groups would continue to grow and compact the longer I said Fusion. Then I would switch to Fission.

Multiple times I have already had several 9th graders comment on how much fun they are having in their Earth Systems Science. Other teachers have commented to me as well.

However...8th grade.

*sigh* I have been reading a book called "The First Days of School" by Harry Wong. (Excellent book by the way.) He discusses how you need to structure your class in the first few weeks so that it may run more smoothly throughout the year.

I works. I tried it, and so far all of my classes have been quite pleasant. except one.There's always one. I had to change the seating 2 times and will be changing it again tomorrow... 2 students decided to pick a battle today (quickly stopped...but still?) I have 7 strong talkers. 6 severe special needs. I asked for help today from my fellow science teachers. I will be calling parents tomorrow.

If you think I'm complaining, think again, I prefer to view this class as a rather difficult mind puzzle. Some how the students can be seated in such a way that they will stop biting each others heads off. Leaving me with some sanity would be nice too!

I going to go pray about my new seating chart now. :)

I love Teaching!