If Mark's career as a teacher doesn't work out maybe he can...

cut little kids hair for a living. Mark has been wanting me to buy some clippers now for awhile so he can cut Jared's hair.  Jared hates getting his hair cut at a salon so Mark wanted to try to do it himself. Today I bought some clippers and Mark and Jared both did an awesome job! Jared didn't cry once and stayed super still  He has always been SO upset when someone else does it. After he finished Jared's hair Mark told me that he wants me to practice cutting his hair this summer while he is out of school.  I told him he better be ready to sit in a chair for like 3 hours because I would go SO SLOW.  I know lots of people who cut their spouses hair and that once you have done it a few times it is not a big deal.  We will see. 

It's a little bit shorter then I wanted but really he did a GREAT job.

I read some articles today about Colorado's proposed budget cuts for this year.  It looks absolutely pretty awful for public education.  I understand needing to make cuts, I really do, but do they all have to come from public education?  It makes me so sad. Colorado is number 42nd in smallest amount of funding per pupil.  The other day Mark and I were talking about public education and living overseas and I told him that I wanted to go live in an Asian country where school really matters and our kids will get a real education. (Too bad I can't teach them the language their classes would be taught in) It makes me sad that I feel this way. Being a teacher, being raised in a home with a parent who was (still is) a teacher I have tried so hard to support public education and look for the good but its getting pretty hard to see.  I know that kids CAN and DO receive good educations in the US but I hate seeing it stripped down to overcrowded, rundown, understaffed learning institutions. I know that as a parent I can (and will) do many things to support my children's education I (and Mark) just wish more parents would. Hopefully other states are having fewer problems then Colorado but I find that very unlikely.

Back to work... kind of

Today was my first day "back to work" since we moved to Colorado Springs in 2009. A few months ago I signed up on this website: to provide childcare.  It has you create a profile and then sends you daily emails about available jobs that fit your criteria.  Last week a woman contacted me about watching her 7 month old son 2 days week.  We met last Thursday and she offered me the job the same day.  I watch her little boy from 7:00 until 5:00 Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I love being at home with Jared and really don't want to teach full time again but we have not been able to save any money at all since we moved into our town home.  I have had a few other options but I have been waiting for the perfect job that I could do at our home, part time and it finally came.
I was a little bit nervous last night as I thought about watching 2 kids but today went really well. It gives me hope that having 2 kids won't be so hard, it won't be so easy either but I know I can do it when the time comes, it will be good practice. I am so thankful that I got this job.  It will be SO nice to save some money and not have to use our credit cards at all.  In case you weren't sure, prayers really are answered.

Snow day and Valentines fun

Mark had another snow day today only today it actually snowed. He had two last week because it was FREEZING here. Like highs in negative degrees and crazy wind chills but no snow.  So to help pass the time we made Valentine sugar cookies.  Jared did a great job helping out.

 Fish Face! We have wanted to get a picture of this face forever.  So fun!

 

 I saw this blog that shows how to make snowflake shaped quesadillas.  A friend did hearts too!  You could also make them with cinnamon and sugar which said friend did. We have also been working on lots of fun Valentine art activities that I think I have enjoyed more than Jared.

 I found all of these here. 

Since Jared is a little boy I especially like the dump truck.  The hearts in it are not glued so they can be taken out (its an envelope)

Jared LOVES taking the lids off containers so I saved these and put items in them based on the seasons/ holiday by color. These he can take off by himself which is great for me. He loves to tickle and be tickled by the feathers.

I think for the most part Jared is at a pretty fun age (1 week short of 16 months!) and I am making sure to enjoy it but I am really excited for when we he will be more into the art activities and have a longer attention span. I can't wait for him to learn all his colors and figure out numbers/counting. I have seen so many fun ideas.  It's amazing to me all the creative people out there.  I love the Internet for the access it gives me to other people's creativity. I am not super creative but I am pretty good at following instructions. Here are some of my favorite sites:
No time for Flashcards
Children's Learning Activities
Engaging Toddler Activities
Chasing Cheerios
Secrets of a Super Mommy
Toddler Teaching Themes

Do you have some favorites?  I especially like sites that have the activities broken up by age range, so helpful.  I am so thankful that other people are so creative.

Words

Jared has decided that saying some words is not such a bad thing.  Here are some new words that he has discovered.
Moo -Whenever we sing Old McDonald and I hold up the cow he gets the biggest smile.
Vroom - His cars now make noise
Jesus - Mostly Sus We have a picture of the Savior in our staircase so we walk by it all the time.  Earlier this week Jared pointed to it so I told him who it was and he repeated the word. It was fun.  So now every time we walk by it he or I point to it and I ask who it is and he says the name.
Dog - Our neighbors have a small porcelain dog on their porch so one day we were talking to them and Jared wanted to pet it so we talked about what it was.  Now whenever we are getting ready to go somewhere he runs over to their porch to pet it.  He says it pretty well.  Then I remind him he will never have one. (not every time I am not that crazy but we won't have one, EVER)
Elephant - he doesn't say it but he will finally raise his arm and make the elephant noise.  We have been talking about animals basically since he was born but he never cared to comment or make the actions.  Now every time he sees one in a book he gets super excited so I do too.
Each day we try to do some structured singing time.  I looked up some fun Winter and Valentines songs.  One song I found was a Valentines Day version of "If you're Happy and You Know it..." Substituting "If you love me and you know it..." the actions they included were: clap your hands, blow a kiss, give a big hug, and say "I love you." So now when we sing the hug chorus Jared will always run into my arms and give me a big hug.  I LOVE it. He gets such a cute look on his face. 

2011

Here we are one month into 2011 and it has already been a very volatile year.  Here are just some of the headlines from January:
Floods and mudslides in Brazil.  600 poeple killed
Floods in Australia after 5 year drought. 17 people dead many more missing
Arizona shooting of  Representative Gifford and 16 others
Bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport 35 killed more than 100 injured
Tunisia riots and overthrow of government.  219 people killed
Egypt Protests already over 100 dead.
Bombing in Iraq Thursday the 27th 51 people killed.
Riots in Jordan, Yemen, Algeria with Syria watching closely

I am not a doomsday person but I can't believe how much has happened throughout the world in just one month. One month! And then I think about my safe quiet life here in Colorado and feel so blessed and well insignificant.  I think of facebook status's I could put up like "its -9 degrees here!" And think who cares!? People are trying to arrange for a new government.  People (hundreds of thousands or a million) are protesting on streets I have walked down by buildings I have been in. The school I worked at has evacuated all the teachers to Sharm El Sheik in the Sinai. I keep hoping to hear about people I know who live there still.
I do support the Egyptian people in their protests.  They have been repressed for so long.  Police brutality is exactly that, brutal and widespread.  Egyptians can't find jobs and many can't help their kids get a real education.  So many children are out in the streets collecting garbage when they should be in school  I don't know enough about politics to really know what is happening or what the result will be but I have been so happy to see that there have not been any sectarian or religious groups trying to claim it as their revolution. It is the Egyptian people uniting together to stand up for their rights. Seeing Egyptians form human chains to protect the National Museum and organize neighborhood watches to keep their homes safe or cleaning up the trash and debris from the police clashes in Tahrir square, watching as Egyptians check others for weapons before they are allowed into the protests, seeing them disregard religion or socioeconomic status's and watching them bring food and water to share with the other protesters has brought tears to my eyes.  I am so glad that the police have stopped engaging or interrupting the protesters with their water cannons and tear gas. I hope the protests will be as peaceful as possible and that Egyptians will accomplish their goals.  I do wonder what type of government will emerge and who will be the leader but I truly hope that it will be as smooth a transition as possible.

For the most accurate and up to date information I suggest watching Aljazeera. They have a live English stream.