Since I'm creating my own Teachers Pay Teachers store, I've also decided to take the plunge and start my own teaching blog. It's called Firstie Kidoodles. I thought it was pretty cute. Now I've just got to get it up and running. However, I am really dreading the trying to get it looking all cutsie so I'm seriously contemplating paying someone to do it for me. It really would just save me the hassle and I know it would look ten times better than I could ever make it look. We will see. I'm not even sure how much something like that might cost, so I may be reconsidering when I look a little deeper into it.
I know I haven't been the best at posting on this, my personal blog, so I'm sure being consistent with a teaching blog and personal blog will be quite challenging, on top of a TPT store, teaching, and being a full-time teacher and Mommy. Despite all of this, I figure it's worth a try. If it's too much, I'll back off. Hopefully it's not. Maybe this will force me to be more consistent.
In other non-school related news, we got another dog last Saturday. Yes-you read that correctly. We got another dog. A puppy actually. Bringing the grand total to 3 120+ lb. canines in our small 1600 sq. ft. house. A 5 1/2 week old puppy at the time. That pees and poos more than I even remember Tucker doing when he was a puppy. That loves to bite and chew on E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.! I'm honestly still in a little bit of shock, maybe some denial about the whole situation really.
Van, the guy Kyle used to work with on a daily basis, has a male and female French Mastiff. About mid-December his wife came home to find the female giving birth. She had 8 puppies, 4 of which died mainly because she started having them outside. Having puppies outside in the cold December weather is just not good. Poor babies. May they rest in peace. So naturally we were one of the first people he called. What began as "Oh, I think I'll probably keep all of them or only get rid of one or two", quickly turned into "We're getting rid of all of them". He took them to the vet last week and was told that they could be given away as long as they were eating dry puppy food, which they had been doing for almost a week at the time. So who showed up at our house last Saturday with three adorable, roly-poly French Mastiff puppies?!!! Van. How could I say no? We missed the puppy stage with Zeke since we got him when he was 4 1/2 months old. Those adorable little sad, wrinkled faces with precious ice blue eyes? I didn't, although I'm not sure I really had much of a say in the whole charade.
Let me just say that our world has been knocked upside down since this little guy made this place his home. I realize how much work I had forgotten that puppies were and on top of taking care of an 18 month old. If I'm not telling Kayleigh to get out of something or stop, I'm telling the puppy to stop. Stop peeing in the house. Stop pooing in the house. Stop biting at Tucker and Zeke. Stop biting my feet. Stop biting Kayleigh's pants or shoes. Stop trying to climb on the couch. Stop trying to climb up the stairs. Do you get my point here? Oh, and let's not forgot the 1:30 bathroom breaks every morning!!! This momma is over the puppy stage and ready for the independent stage of this dogs life where he realizes that he does his business outside and not everything is a chew toy. The good news is he's picking up on things quickly. We put him in a crate during the day while we are at work and not one day this week did he do his business in the crate. Now only if we can get him to do this in the house. He is getting better, but just not there yet. He has also already learned his name, Mac, in one short week. He's probably getting tired of hearing it since we're telling him no all the time (which is now one of Kayleigh's favorite things to do now also). As "bad" as it is, I keep telling myself that this is only temporary. He'll learn the ropes before we know it. I will admit that it is definitely much harder this time around since we have a toddler to watch after at the same time.
Look at those wrinkles!
He's feeling right at home and doing JUST fine.
Kayleigh is just too much fun at this age. Going back to work after winter break was really hard. Even harder than summer break I think. She is definitely talking more and more and developing that little sassy personality of hers. I wonder where she gets that. She LOVES the song "Come Over" by Kenny Chesney. It doesn't matter what she's doing or where she is, when that song comes on she stops and starts to dance. The chorus is her favorite part where she will sing "Come on, come on, come on". Melts my heart EVERY. TIME. She has a slight obsession with anything i-related-iphone, ipad. To the point where she screams and throws a fit if you take it away from her. So we are on the no i-related anything plan. Well I should say Mommy is. Daddy not so much. Somebody likes to always give her what she wants and would rather make her quiet than hear her cry and whine. She also is saying please, thank you, and you're welcome which makes my heart smile. I hope she continues to use her manners the older she gets. She's so sweet when she does and it makes me want to give her the world. She loves music, songs, and dancing. Our own little Britney Spears. When she was a baby and was upset, one of the only ways I could get her to calm down was to sing to her. It was usually the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or the Itsy Bitsy Spider. She is SO close to knowing all the words to all three songs and being able to sing them by herself. It's SO precious. As great as all of these things are, none of them hold a candle to my somewhat new favorite things that she does. Hugs, kisses, high fives, knuckles, and I love yous. We call a hug a squeeze and if you ask for one you will get one and I mean a good one complete with an actual squeeze. Kisses are not as consistent but do happen quite often. Daddy taught her knuckles and it's so cute to see her walk up to you with her pointer finger and thumb only touching telling you to knuckles. But the best is hearing her say "I wuv you". Words just cannot describe how that makes me feel.
The babysitter sent me this. I thought animal crackers were for eating? I want to know what kind of fridge she has?! Haha-and the facial expression is priceless. "I didn't do anything".
Anyways, that's enough from this sappy, bragging momma. Thanks for listening to my random babbling.
